Unfinished Business - J.A. Jance

Ali Reynolds Series #16

Genre Thrillers & Suspense

“In this heart-pounding and sharply written thriller from J.A. Jance, the ‘grand master of the genre’ (The Providence Journal), Ali Reynolds’s personal life is thrown into turmoil . . .” so the review promises. I mean, I’ve had a heart attack but this book didn’t quicken my pulse. “Sharply written”? I’m not sure what that means.

J.A. Jance has written forty-six contemporary novels in this genre. She is a professional. She travels a lot (at least she used to before the pandemic). I like professionals - professionals in any profession from cutting down trees to working behind the counter in a delicatessen. They know what they are doing, and they do it well.

But this book seems like it was written in a kind of a hurry. There is an interesting plot element of a guy in jail for a murder that he didn’t commit and unwilling to admit that he did it just to get out earlier on parole. All the while he is in prison he is studying computer science so that he can get a good job and turn his life around when he gets out.

Pasted on top of this is a nasty character who has killed a number of people — including his mother — who has settled into trying to make a living as a home inspector. But he doesn’t pay his rent and gets evicted by Ali Reynolds which causes him to develop a serious grudge and Ali and members of her staff to get in the way of a psychotic killer.

Meanwhile, Ali’s father is losing his mind and causes Ali other extenuating problems.

Ali is certainly the thread that ties all these pieces together, and I guess if you’ve read the other books in the series you could empathize with the character development. But this was my first experience with J.A. Jance and Ali Reynolds so I found this story a bit like one of those threatening murder notes where the words are cut out of different printed articles. They delivered the message, but it wasn’t a joy to read.