Search - Cruel Intent (Alison Reynolds, Bk 4)

The Ali Reynolds series is getting better and better! The characters are developing nicely and have improved from the first two novels in the series. I've thoroughly enjoyed the last two, and am looking forward to the fifth. Ali's contractor and friend Bryan Forester's philandering wife is found bludgeoned to death, and naturally suspicion falls on him. Ali seems to be the only one who believes in his innocence, to the point of causing some friction between her and her sometime boyfriend Dave Holman, who is in charge of the investigation. She starts doing a little digging on her own, but opens up a major can of worms that soon spins out of control.

I was a little leery at first about having the identity of the murderer revealed to the reader from the very beginning, wondering if that meant the suspense in the novel would fall flat. I needn't have worried - Jance handled it splendidly. The ending did feel a little bit rushed and maybe could have been more drawn out to milk the most out of the villain, but for me the best part of the book is the character development. I have come to like them much better in the last two books, and the secondary characters too are much more interesting, though her love interest the detective could use a little more polishing. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment!

This is a good gripping crime story. There's quite a bit of detail about unrelated characters that's probably necessary to build interest in the series but I found it distracting.

Love these books!

Not as good as the first one in series, but I still liked it.

Excellent read, lots of action.