Moving Target

A Novel

By: J.A. Jance

Narrated by: Karen Ziemba

“Humming with suspense and never-ending action” (RT Book Reviews), this unputdownable thriller follows Ali Reynolds as she unearths a cold case that puts her in the crosshairs of a deadly arsonist—from New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance.

Lance Tucker, an incarcerated juvenile offender and talented hacker in his own right, is set on fire while hanging Christmas decorations in a lockup rec room. B. Simpson, Ali Reynolds’s fiancé and the man who helped put Lance in jail, feels obliged to get to the bottom of what happened. With Ali off in England to help Leland Brooks at a reunion with his long-estranged family, B. turns to someone else to help out—Ali’s good friend and Taser-carrying nun, Sister Anselm.

Meanwhile, in Bournemouth—Leland’s hometown—Ali begins to investigate the decades-old murder of his father, which Leland himself was once suspected of committing. With unsolved murders on both sides of the Atlantic, Ali, B., and Sister Anselm are united by their search for answers—and the danger they get into as a result in this high-flying thriller that “hits the bull’s eye” (South Florida Sun-Sentinel).

Lance

Great story lines! I liked the multiple storylines all in one. The characters were believable and the ending was put together well!

a cold case and a new case

I read somewhere that this is J. A. Jance’s 50th book. I believe this is the 9th book in the Ali Reynolds series. This book has two complicated mysteries one in England and one in Texas. Ali and Leland are in England to meet his family and B Simpson is in Texas looking into the ‘accident” of a young teenage computer hacker that his company had caught on behalf of their client the school district. Jance does a good job with developing the characters and the story details; it was no problem juggling the two mysteries in my mind while reading. The story has lots of technology and internet intrigue which sort of gives a warning about the security of your information on the net. I noted that Jance had the DNA scientist in the story been denied admittance to Oxford because she was a woman. The character goes to the USA to University and comes back to take over her Uncles DNA lab next to Oxford and only hires women. I had read that Jance was denied admission to the University of Arizona’s creative writing program because she was a woman. Women have made some progressed on the road to equality. Looks like this book is setting up for the next one to have Ali’s and B’s wedding. Karen Ziemba does a good job narrating the story.

Story good- narrator not the best

Liked the story but the narrator sounded like it was the first time she had read it. Not like telling a story.

A Real Page-Turner ---

J.A. Jance's Ali Reynolds novels are hard to put down. I move the i-Pod speakers into the kitchen to do dishes and clean up as I listen. It's amazing how painless a distasteful chore becomes when you're listening to a good book.

Some repetitiveness

While there are some interesting stories, I am a little tired of the repetitiveness of burn victims and hospital waiting rooms. It would be interesting to have a sister Anselm doing something different. I am reading these as I recuperate and maybe I read a few to many back to back so it feels tired to keep hearing phrases like “coin of the realm”.