Thursday, May 22, 2014

LYING IN WAIT A FINE CHILLING CRIME NOVEL



Lying in Wait   
Author: J. A. Jance
Copyright: 1994
ISBN: 0-380-71841-3<

This one will give you chills. It’s now available in a variety of formats and while it was written more than ten years ago, it holds up extremely well. I don't think Jance has written a better book; here she's at the height of her narrative powers. Expertly blending family and personal relations with a historical reality, Jance first introduces the reader to Seattle detective J. P. Beaumont's grandmother, a delightful old lady. Then the world turns dark. A fisherman is found murdered in a peculiarly brutal way and his widow turns out to be a woman from Beaumont's teen-aged past. The case quickly develops odd and puzzling elements. Jance provides clues aplenty in this complex story of terror and greed, but you have to pay attention.

Woven into the tight fabric of the main plot Beaumont pursues a better relationship with his grandmother, assists his new partner with some domestic problems, and resolves some lingering questions from his own background. The characters for the most part are fully-rounded, and the pace of this complex mystery may keep you up past your bedtime.