[.ca] Damage Control (ISBN 0060746769)

SUSPENSEFUL, ENGROSSING, ENTERTAINING:
Popular Arizona author J. A. Jance is an expert at opening her stories with grabbers. She pulls this off again in Damage Control by introducing Lauren Dayson, a young woman, "a good girl daughter" in jeopardy. After Lauren's junior year in college she had moved in with Rick Mosier . He was kind of a wild guy, prone to carrying knives in his backpack. She was sure pairing with him would drive her parents crazy. Rebellion time for this once obedient daughter! Nonetheless, Rick had once fascinated her - until he blackened her eye for supposedly flirting then later broke her arm. Fascination turned to fear so she moved into her own apartment, had window bars installed, even bought and learned how to shoot a Glock 26 semiautomatic. He had sworn that he would get to her even though she "papered Pima County with restraining orders," and she believed him. Awakened one night by the barking of her little dog, Lauren just knew Rick had broken in. Mustering all of her courage, she sat up in bed , waiting until a tall form entered her room and then she fired - again and again and again. She had killed him and she had every right to save for the fact that the dead man was not Rick. Case 1 for Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady. It doesn't seem difficult, and what Joanna doesn't need is anything tough as she's a hard working mom to a baby and a teenager, married to a writer, and her mother doesn't make life easy. True to form, of course, it is a very tough case - not at all what it seems. Then Case 2 faces her when an old car drives through a retaining wall to do a half gainer off a mountain side. It's necessary to use a helicopter to reach the victims, but victims aren't all Joanna discovers. It seems that everywhere she turns new clues turn up revealing a much darker side to events as well as information of a personal nature. With this, the 13th in the Joanna Brady series, Jance slows down not a bit but continues at full throttle to entertain and intrigue countless readers. - Gail Cooke