Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York: Avon, 2006
Description
The end of her high-profile broadcasting career came too soon for TV journalist Alison Reynolds-bounced off the air by executives who wanted a "younger face." With a divorce from her cheating husband of ten years also pending, there is nothing keeping her in L.A. any longer. Cut loose from her moorings, Ali is summoned back home to Sedona, Arizona, by the death of a childhood friend. Once there she seeks solace in the comforting rhythms of her parents' diner, the Sugarloaf Caf�, and launches an on-line blog as therapy for others who have been similarly cut loose. But when threatening posts begin appearing, Ali finds out that running a blog is far more up-close and personal than sitting behind a news desk. And far more dangerous. Suddenly something dark and deadly is swirling around her life . . . and a killer may be hunting her next.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member page.fault
This was my first J.A. Jance book. I also plan for it to be my last.
Despite my low rating, I have no violent outrage; it just irritated me in a multitude of different ways. This was mainly due to my own personal outlook: this book definitely has a bad case of Did Not Do the Research and I tend to
What pushed it over the edge was one particular authorial conceit: Jance has her character start blogging. While I understand the benefits here, such as allowing her character to speak in first person, I thought it not only fell flat, but also caused the rest of the book to do an impressive pratfall. Ali as blogger is disgustingly indiscreet, posting personal details and histories of those around her; for example, details of her friend's death, her own marriage, and more. At some point she attempts to switch to pseudoanonymity....after having posted everyone's names, marital problems, past histories, etc. Hun, h'it don't work that way. I think someone should have taken her to court for slander. She is also impressively egocentric, and views a blog with curated comment section (curated as in she only posts the comments she likes) as a "conversation." She tends to appropriate the grief of all those around her. Her friend dies? Make it about her. Her father has a terrible accident? Ali must undertake the terrible sacrifice (which all the characters treat as impressively noble) of waiting tables at the family restaurant. A woman contacts her about domestic abuse? Ali feels afraid for herself. Add to this that any disagreement to her point of view comes from shrewish strawman commenters spewing hatred as well as what would otherwise be reasonable objections, and I got extremely impatient. All of her commenters apparently have a second-grade reading level, as they write in simple sentences with words less than three syllables. Because the rest of the plot apparently isn't unrealistic enough, Ali ends up in contact with an abusive husband whose wife leaves him, leading him to decide to hunt Ali down. If someone was that insane, attacking any internet persona that his wife read, he would been in an insane asylum far before Ali encountered him.
I found the characters to be unlikable, most of them intentionally so, and found the mystery to be problematic. Ali's friend goes off a cliff in her car; since this is a murder mystery, we of course all know that she was pushed. Apparently, the police are unable to tell the difference in the snow tracks--a forensic impossibility. A typed, unsigned suicide note is found, with no evidence of where it was typed. The police take it as true without question. The list of improbable and naive elements goes on and on, leading to a bad case of Did Not Do The Research.
My major issue with this book is that I am one of those people who always sweat the details, and this book has a multitude of small inconsistencies, contradictions, and plot holes. I couldn't warm to the main character and was therefore unable to forgive the improbabilities and lack of research. If you are more easygoing about the plot and facts, then I think this might very well be a cute cozy mystery involving small-town life.
Despite my low rating, I have no violent outrage; it just irritated me in a multitude of different ways. This was mainly due to my own personal outlook: this book definitely has a bad case of Did Not Do the Research and I tend to
Show More
be very quickly exasperated by incorrect real-world details and inconsistencies. I also found the protagonist to be self-righteous, unlikeable, and egocentric. The author attempts to make various political statements about issues like ageism, domestic abuse, and gun control, and there is something rather impressive here: in several cases, I considered that the strawman arguments won the debate.What pushed it over the edge was one particular authorial conceit: Jance has her character start blogging. While I understand the benefits here, such as allowing her character to speak in first person, I thought it not only fell flat, but also caused the rest of the book to do an impressive pratfall. Ali as blogger is disgustingly indiscreet, posting personal details and histories of those around her; for example, details of her friend's death, her own marriage, and more. At some point she attempts to switch to pseudoanonymity....after having posted everyone's names, marital problems, past histories, etc. Hun, h'it don't work that way. I think someone should have taken her to court for slander. She is also impressively egocentric, and views a blog with curated comment section (curated as in she only posts the comments she likes) as a "conversation." She tends to appropriate the grief of all those around her. Her friend dies? Make it about her. Her father has a terrible accident? Ali must undertake the terrible sacrifice (which all the characters treat as impressively noble) of waiting tables at the family restaurant. A woman contacts her about domestic abuse? Ali feels afraid for herself. Add to this that any disagreement to her point of view comes from shrewish strawman commenters spewing hatred as well as what would otherwise be reasonable objections, and I got extremely impatient. All of her commenters apparently have a second-grade reading level, as they write in simple sentences with words less than three syllables. Because the rest of the plot apparently isn't unrealistic enough, Ali ends up in contact with an abusive husband whose wife leaves him, leading him to decide to hunt Ali down. If someone was that insane, attacking any internet persona that his wife read, he would been in an insane asylum far before Ali encountered him.
I found the characters to be unlikable, most of them intentionally so, and found the mystery to be problematic. Ali's friend goes off a cliff in her car; since this is a murder mystery, we of course all know that she was pushed. Apparently, the police are unable to tell the difference in the snow tracks--a forensic impossibility. A typed, unsigned suicide note is found, with no evidence of where it was typed. The police take it as true without question. The list of improbable and naive elements goes on and on, leading to a bad case of Did Not Do The Research.
My major issue with this book is that I am one of those people who always sweat the details, and this book has a multitude of small inconsistencies, contradictions, and plot holes. I couldn't warm to the main character and was therefore unable to forgive the improbabilities and lack of research. If you are more easygoing about the plot and facts, then I think this might very well be a cute cozy mystery involving small-town life.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jepeters333
TV journalist Alison Reynolds has been ousted from her job in LA in favor of a younger woman. In her mid-forties, Alison faces not only the end of a lucrative career, but the end of a ten-year marriage to a cheating studio executive. Escaping to Arizona, Alison begins blogging for therapy, and to
Show More
help others deal with being cut loose - from marriages, jobs, life. It's an OK story but the narrator of this one (Susanna Burney) wasn't as good as the narrator for the other one I read. Show Less
LibraryThing member jamespurcell
Excellent start to a new series from a proven winner. Interesting new protagonist; Ali Reynold, with offbeat support team, mom and dad the local cafe owners, in a neat location, Sedona Arizona.
LibraryThing member theeclecticreview
Ali has lost her job, her marriage and her best friend all in a few days. The job and marriage are a wash due to replacements with younger women, but her friend's alleged suicide does not ring true. Ali moves home to Sedona, Arizona and with the support of her family and friends starts an
Show More
investigation of her own into her friend's death. Show Less
LibraryThing member LivelyLady
This is the second book by this author. They are OK, but I would not go out of my way to buy one. Both I got at a book exchange at an RV resort. In this one, Alison Reynolds loses her job with a network and at the same time her best friend is found dead. Supposedly it is suicide. Being out of work
Parts of this were predictable. The story was entertaining, but I could not take a steady diet of Jance as I have read so far.
Show More
gives Alison the time and psychic energy to further investigate what happened to her friend.Parts of this were predictable. The story was entertaining, but I could not take a steady diet of Jance as I have read so far.
Show Less
LibraryThing member librarygeek33
Hokey title for a hokey book but it kept me occupied on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I feel obligated to give at least 2 stars to any book that keeps my attention until I read the last page. I won't be looking for other titles by this author (the old "too many books, too little time" thing).
LibraryThing member shelleyraec
A rather thin plot but enjoyable nonetheless. The first half of the novel is overcrowded with introductions to characters who have no relevance in the book at all, like her gardener and Duarte and his family, and too much detail is dumped at the introduction of some characters instead of becoming
Show More
part of the story. Willing to try some more in the series though Show Less
LibraryThing member JennaSmith
I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I love how it starts out over a snowy mountain pass, it hooked me in. I thought over how Ali Reynolds was fired abruptly from her position at a news station and how true that is. I was swept away for many chapters as the stories unfolded. To me there
Show More
a lot of extra bits that we did not really need, the Sugarloaf Café parts are almost not needed at all. Yes its funny to have her working there again but we don’t to hear about the buyers interested as Ali has no standing on if it should be or not. I hate that there is not more of her cop friend, there is a hit of something more but it left me wanting more. I also wished we could have seen more of the lady that worked with Reenie- she looked like a partner in crime in the making, wanted more interaction. I love the blog, it was a great idea to have her venting like that and the plot in that area was refreshing and something new. I do wish that end result of the blog happened later in the book and not as soon. It felt more powerful than the real climax. The climax itself felt a bit rushed to me and left me wanting more from it. There are a lot of opening in this book, hopefully they continued on into the next one. Show Less
LibraryThing member caroren
This was the audio edition -- still a little boring. The most interesting aspect was the blog concept! The end of her high-profile broadcasting career came too soon for TV journalist Alison Reynolds—bounced off the air by executives who wanted a "younger face." With a divorce from her cheating
But when threatening posts begin appearing, Ali finds out that running a blog is far more up-close and personal than sitting behind a news desk. And far more dangerous. Suddenly something dark and deadly is swirling around her life . . . and a killer may be hunting her next.
Show More
husband of ten years also pending, there is nothing keeping her in L.A. any longer. Cut loose from her moorings, Ali is summoned back home to Sedona, Arizona, by the death of a childhood friend. Once there she seeks solace in the comforting rhythms of her parents' diner, the Sugarloaf Café, and launches an on-line blog as therapy for others who have been similarly cut loose.But when threatening posts begin appearing, Ali finds out that running a blog is far more up-close and personal than sitting behind a news desk. And far more dangerous. Suddenly something dark and deadly is swirling around her life . . . and a killer may be hunting her next.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BingeReader87
honestly wasn't expecting to enjoy this one but I was wrong. it was a really great story. I can't wait to read other stuff by JA Jance.
LibraryThing member Zumbanista
Our protagonist has a few character flaws and irritating qualities as she deals with the loss of her job, impending divorce, aging parents, college aged son and proving the murder of her best friend in high school. The author tries hard to add controversial issues into the mix with only some
Edge of Evil is adequate light reading suitable for the beach, but not impressive enough to say I’ll continue with the series.
Show More
success. Edge of Evil is adequate light reading suitable for the beach, but not impressive enough to say I’ll continue with the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mirihawk
I loved this - the switching between blog posts and the action itself was well done. I liked the characters, too!
LibraryThing member Picathartes
I found this book to be a lot of nothing. Even the tile Edge of Evil didn't seem to correlate to anything. The synopsis: A couple of good "guys" got hurt, and a couple of good "guys" died, the end. Other than that it was a whole ton of pedestrian filler that meandered around adding not much of
All the characters were stereotypes and the themes trite and pedantic; as whole I found this particular J.A. Jance dull and unimaginative.
Show More
anything, and then in the last few pages it all comes together in a way that is almost completely separate from the story. And the bits that got filled in happen to be the more interesting parts, but how those played out we'll never know since that's where it ended.All the characters were stereotypes and the themes trite and pedantic; as whole I found this particular J.A. Jance dull and unimaginative.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2005
Physical description
296 p.; 8.3 inches