J A Jance: Moving Target

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Not a very exciting thriller
"Moving Target" is one of the most unexciting crime/cyber thrillers that I have read recently. It is a lot of mundane private detective mumbo jumbo mixed up with a bit of cyber nonsense to give it a contemporary feel.

Ali Reynolds is getting stressed with plans for her forthcoming wedding to wizard computer security expert, B. Simpson. She is only too happy to go with her octogenarian gay assistant Leland Brooks to see his estranged family in England that he hasn't seen since his father disowned him at the end of the Korean War because of his sexuality. The big plus is that she can choose a wedding dress away from the watching eye of her interfering mother.

While in England they meet with Leland's mixed up family ranging from a charming and helpful gay young man to a couple of bitter and nasty cousins - Maisie and Daisy (oh dear!). In the process they find out that nobody had told Leland that his father was murdered and the case is still open. Ali and Leland get access to bloodstained clothing and set out to get DNA to try to prove that the murderer was Leland's unscrupulous but now dead brother, Langston.

Back in Texas teenage computer genius Lance Tucker has developed some ground-breaking software GHOST that will revolutionise web security. Before he can finalise the software he is put into juvenile detention after he hacked and closed down the school district's computer system in protest at a proposal that all students should wear a trackable identity bracelet. While Lance is in detention someone sprays him with a flammable liquid and sets him on fire. His computer teacher apparently commits suicide and Lance and his family are in danger from people wanting to use the software for criminal purposes.

Ali's fiancée B. Simpson, called B. because his real name is Bart [oh dear!] is a rich computer security expert. B investigates what is happening to Lance because he feels responsible for Lance getting an excessive sentence for a reasonably trivial offence. B. is interested in hiring Lance to develop GHOST for legitimate purposes. From all parts of the world B. get his associates try to protect Lance from evil forces. The most charismatic character is a Catholic Sister that B. sends to help Lance. She doesn't believe in guns but always carries a taser for her personal protection (of dear!). B. also uses a retired priest who happens to be a former Navy SEAL (oh dear!).

All in all this was not a very exciting read. The English sidetrack added nothing to the plot and IMHO Ms Jance should leave cyber-crime to others who are better qualified in that complex area. This is the first time I have encountered Ali Reynolds and B. who are not exactly the kind of charismatic characters I would expect to see as the lead in a popular crime series.

J A Jance: Ring In the Dead: A J. P. Beaumont Novella

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Early days for J. P. Beaumont
This is an easy reading novella that gives an interesting look back at Beau's early days as a Detective in the Seattle PD. It is a very good introduction to Second Watch (#20 in the series) released recently where an ageing Beau recovering from knee replacement surgery reflects on an early case that he has never solved.

"Pickles" Gurkey was unhappy when his partner was promoted and he had to train a new one, Jonas P Beaumont (or JP or Beau to his friends). They weren't very close until Pickles had a heart attack while confronting an offender who had left a restaurant without paying. Pickles collapses and the offender shoots the waitress who has also followed him using Pickle's gun. Internal affairs is convinced that Pickles shot the waitress and charged him with manslaughter when he recovered. This novella tells how Beau takes up the case unofficially on his own to clear his partner.

This is a well crafted short story that fills in some early background on how Beau becomes such a great detective.

J A Jance: Second Watch

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A fascinating 'prequel' to a long running series
Authors find it difficult to keep up the momentum with a long running popular series. Over nearly 30 years J A Jance has written 21 books in the J P Beaumont series and in this book she has found a way to keep her series young by writing a fascinating prequel where "Beau" looks back at his early life, especially his early days as a detective in the Seattle PD and his time in Vietnam.

Beau is getting old and has opted for knee replacement surgery after years of discomfort. To get it all over at once his doctor agrees to do both knees at the same time. When waking up from surgery under very strong pain killing medication he is visited by people from his past who look real and speak to him about things that happened a long time ago. Are they drug induced hallucinations? No one else sees them but they are so real to Beau and bring back some things from his early life that continue to haunt him.

The first visitor is a lovely girl, Monica, who was the victim in his first homicide investigation. During a routine Sunday afternoon "Second Watch" Beau was first on the scene when her naked body was found in a barrel of waste cooking oil. Beau had promised her parents that he would find the killer but despite intensive investigations the case is still unsolved. He knows that he must reopen the case and hope that new forensic technology may provide some answers.

Beau is also visited by his commander in Vietnam, charismatic and natural leader Lieutenant Lennie Davis who saved Beau's life but lost his life in the process. This reopens the unhealed wounds of a Vietnam veteran and Beau vows to track down the fiancé that Davis was never able to marry. In doing so Jance explores explores the loss, heartbreak and personal cost of the Vietnam War. It is even more telling because the story is based on the the real Lennie Davis, who Jance knew at high school.

Jance has made Beau young again with this clever prequel which connects the past to the present. Other authors have written prequels (Lee Child/Jack Reacher, Daniel Silva/Gabriel Allon, and Vince Flynn/Mitch Rapp) but this is the most unusual, clever, and moving of these kind of prequels that I have read.