Man Overboard

This effort was a little disappointing . I am a fan of J. A. Jance, as is a friend, and neither of us cared for this book . It rambles. Instead of focusing on the characters we love, it jumps among various characters, old and new. The most odious was Frigg. Give me a real person, please. Not a robot.Then the victims. What man overboard? We never heard another thing! If this is a precursor of things to come, I will press the Tolkien ring! The better part was the expansion of the Stu Ramey character. This seems like an exercise in moving on to a different level in this series, but it is getting to be too many characters. Did we have to lose Leland? Not sure whether to celebrate the new or mourn the old. And perhaps Ali could be just a little more like everywoman. After all, that is JoAnna Brady’s charm. Please come back to earth , JA Jance, and focus on what you do best!

This is one of the best of the Ali Reynolds series. It focuses on Stuart Ramsey, Ali and her husband, B.’s, computer genius, who is essential to High Noon, their security business. After Stuart’s best and oldest friend apparently goes overboard on a cruise, his friend’s aunt asks High Noon and Stuart to investigate what happened. She is certain her nephew did not commit suicide, despite his troubled background, and finds it suspicious that he may have fallen overboard by accident. While trying to unravel the mystery behind his friend’s death, Stuart is pitted against another computer expert, who is a unique villain, The plot contains a great deal of information about artificial intelligence, which is fascinating and intricate, yet moves at a steady and tense pace with clever moves by both the good guys and the bad guy. There is also a sad parting in the novel, one which left me with a sense of loss. One of the best of Jance’s recent books.

I always enjoy J. A. Jance’s book, but this one really kept me absorbed. The mystery here was revealed from the beginning of the book. What was not certain was if the murder could be determined by the authorities. The real issue was could the murderer be detected and if so, could anyone find him and could he be apprehended. Ali and her company are brought in when the death of a young man is ruled a suicide and his aunt doesn’t believe the ruling. The progression of understanding the role of Owen, his computers and the AI (artificial intelligence) entity, Frigg, (who is powered by a multitude of networked computers) comprises this story. The sciences behind the story, the psychology of suicide, and the interactions of Ali, Stuart and Cami Lee. I enjoyed the information about the developing AI entity, just as I found the growth of Stuart and Cami Lee. A very interesting mystery with fun characters and interesting science.

I have been a fan of J.A. Jance fan almost from the beginning and have enjoyed her books tremendously. In the beginning the Ali series wasn’t my favorite (J.P. Beaumont loyalist!) but it has grown on me. This book, however, has totally won me over. I think it was just captivating and I would recommend it to anyone. I recently had the pleasure of attending a function where Ms Jance was the featured speaker. I found her talk compelling, interesting and very touching. She is an accomplished and lovely woman. I thank her for the hours of enjoyment she has given me over the years.

Woven into the fabric of a page-turner thriller full of up-to-date cyber tools such as AI is the more primitive and haunting theme of the incredible pain, confusion, and self-condemnation that often moves an initial suicide through generations to become suicides of the suicide’s children. Amazing and compassionate education on suicide as well as adept and rather spine-chilling descriptions of the capabilities — both legal and illegal — of our digital world. And thereby hangs a tail — full of worthy characters!

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