Product Description

A new and chilling tale of suspense from the New York Times bestselling author of Hand of Evil

On a dating site, singleatheart.com, bored housewives can find romance with married men looking for sex without strings. But these "married singles" are flirting with more than just their vows. At the heart of this seemingly innocent service, a vengeful computer hacker is playing games with people's lives...and deaths.

Ex-television journalist Ali Reynolds just wants a break from excitement. In the midst of a remodel, the last thing she expects is a murder investigation that will stop the construction on her home. But when the savagely murdered body of stay-at-home mom Morgan Forester is found, Ali's contractor Bryan is the prime suspect. Bryan swears he has nothing to do with his wife's murder -- but as the investigation progresses, Ali seems to be the only resident of Sedona who believes him.

Determined to prove Bryan's innocence, Ali unknowingly lands herself directly in the path of a calculating killer. In a world filled with encrypted computer traps and life-threatening lies, will Ali be able to decode the actions of a ruthless man determined to destroy women -- before he uses his wicked website to find her?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1628833 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-02
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 487 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As if remodeling an old mansion near picturesque Sedona, Ariz., isn't stress enough for Ali Reynolds, the plucky former TV newscaster must also deal with cybernetic lonely hearts, frustrated lust and murder in bestseller Jance's uneven fourth Ali Reynolds thriller (after Hand of Evil). After serial killer Peter Winter claims his fifth victim, who happens to be the unfaithful wife of Ali's contractor, Bryan Forester, homicide detective Dave Holman suspects Bryan did it. At considerable personal risk, Ali has to clear Bryan in order to get her house ready for Thanksgiving dinner with her gossipy, meddling mother, Edie; her son, Chris; Chris's amputee fiancée; sometime boyfriend Holman; and the rest of her cozily predictable entourage. A too conveniently noted license plate number and some unlikely Taser-wielding by Edie undermine credibility. Still, Jance's trademark breathless pace compensates for stale situations and shallow characterizations. Author tour. (Dec.)
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From Booklist
During a career that started in the mid-1980s, Jance has honed her talent for writing entertaining, accessible mysteries that readers can zip through in a weekend. That’s certainly the case with her latest Ali Reynolds novel, a lightweight mystery about fortysomething Reynolds, a magnet for trouble, who apparently just wants to get on with ordinary life. The suspense part comes in the form of one Peter Winter, who introduces himself as the novel opens, quickly revealing that  his favorite pastimes are identity theft and bludgeoning women who visit his Web site, Singleatheart.com. When Ali’s contractor is suspected of murdering his wife, Ali’s loyalty to him kicks in and, predictably, her support and her curiosity compromise her own safety as well as that of others she holds dear. Characters introduced previously are accorded a bit more definition here (especially Ali’s mother, who proves that, as well as being pushy, she’s just as resourceful and brave as her daughter). Consider this as mostly a pleasant diversion for backyard or beach rather than a thrilling page-turner. --Stephanie Zvirin

Review
"Jance, whose books are read by millions, is on to something."-- Kathleen Daley for The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)

Customer Reviews

disappointing work from a very good author
JA Jance is one of the authors whose books I buy in hardcover as soon as they come out. I follow and look forward to both her Joanna Brady and JP Beaumont series. When heard that she started another series, this with Ali Reynolds, I couldn't wait to try it out.

This is the last in that series I'll read. I expect detectives, police, rescue workers and so on to approach trouble. I can even deal with an intellectual non-professional like Miss Marple or the title characters in the current TV series Numbers and Mentalist working along with the door-bangers and gun-carriers to solve the mystery. However, I just can't buy into a retired newscaster stumbling upon mayhem and murder, then being better focused and smarter than the law enforcement professionals.

In addition to all that, the underlying plot line is quite plausible, but Jance focused more on the involvement of the characters with each other than on the mystery. Other authors, such as John Harvey in Lonely Hearts (ISBN-10: 1932859446) did a much better job with the same concept.

This book took me through a long plane ride. If I had had the ability to put it down and switch to a different book, I would have.

The Web Stalker
We often hear of the dangers from predators lurking on the internet. Now, prolific mystery writer, J.A.Jance, has written a nicely chilling and satisfying tale of a psychopath stalking women on the web. He uses a web site, singleatheart.com, that attracts married women looking for sex with someone besides their husband. Ex-TV journalist Ali Reynolds (You may have met her in Jance's Hand of Evil, Web of Evil, and Edge of Evil.) becomes interested when the wife of the building contractor restoring her house is brutally murdered. Naturally, the husband is suspected, but Ali does not believe it. She starts snooping, finds the web site, and innocently draws the attention of the psychopath. After that, the story plunges into breathtaking suspense, as the murderer decides that Ali is a threat, and he must find her and kill her. It comes to a great climax in a thoroughly enjoyable story.

Fast paced and entertaining!
Ali Reynolds (divorcee and single mother) is having her Sedona home renovated and finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. Bryan Forester, her contractor, is the prime suspect in his wife's (Morgan) death, and only Ali believes in his innocence (after all she was blamed for her ex-husband's death). While uncovering clues to Morgan's death (which involve a single's dating site) and cheating spouses, Ali also deals with a well meaning mother (Edie), an ex-lover/Detective (Dave Holman) who is convinced of Bryan's guilt, her son's pending marriage, the construction of her house, a serial killer, and the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays (of which she has promised to host and prepare dinner for her entire family).

Two things that I loved about the story were the well meaning butler (Leland Brooks) and the one-eyed cat. While I am not sure that this was a stand alone novel (there were several references to past novels or storylines) I really enjoyed "Cruel Intent". This was my first Jance novel, and I found it to be easy to understand and entertaining. And although you know from the beginning who the killer is, you enjoy reading about his eventual unmasking and capture.