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Title: Damage Control (Joanna Brady Mysteries, Book 13)
ISBN: 0060746769
Author:
J. A. Jance
Publicate Date: 2008-07-22
Publish: 2008-07-22
List Price: $25.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $12.48
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $10.95
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.13
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Joanna Brady Returns
Once again, Jance returns us to the southeastern Arizona desert town where she grew up. Numerous deaths under suspicious circumstances, the trials of a new mother working as the county sheriff, a difficult mother, and the interactions at home and work make this a page-turner. If you've ever been in Bisbee, AZ, as I have, the location of the story adds an extra dimension as I visualize the events taking place.
Jance doesn't disappoint, and all her books are good mysteries.
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2: Frustrating read!
Warning: spoilers
Now, I love Joanna Brady. I love the series so much I drove hours from Tucson TWICE to visit Bisbee. But this book was a frustrating read. I kept waiting for the main story line to begin, only instead of a main story line, it was a series of fragmented stories. No mention of the beauty of the desert in Cochise County, no mention that Butch is apparently set for life after selling his restaurant in Glendale, or that Joanna inherited $300K in insurance money after her first husband was murdered, no mention of lots of details that were established in earlier books. I find that insulting. And how did Jenny get Kiddo her horse to Cassie's place? Off the highways, it's all mountain and steep gorges 'round those parts.
What else? Oh yes: a 4 month old does not get bottles at night any longer. Especially if the 4 month is started on solid food. Joanna and Butch and baby should be sleeping more during the night. And Joanna doesn't spend nearly as much time as she should with her baby. She has deputies! I'm a working mother too, but the descriptions of Joanna's days without meals or sleep are ridiculous. Why does she have to come off as a superwoman or martyr? It's the worst portrayal, in my opinion, of Joanna since "Partners in Crime" (one case with JP and she's ready to abandon Butch?).
The opening chapter set such a tone of terror but its denouement (for this strand of the story) was so unsatisfactory, I wanted to throw the book in disgust.
And how did Larry Wolfe manage to drive from Cochise County to Hudspeth County Texas in something like 2 hours? Just to drive from Gallup NM to Albuquerque takes on the order of 4 hrs, and that's only half across NM.
Joanna's stepfather just ups and quits on her right after Frank Montoya tells her he's in for Chief of Sierra Vista- and she's down a deputy due to the death of the rookie! What will she do, hire Dick Voland back to be Chief Deputy? I don't think so. The entire shtick with Eleanor made zero sense (when did Eleanor ever?), but to wrap it up with George quitting and Eleanor and George motoring off, towing a Mazda Miata to Minnesota (at $4.50 a gal for gas) made me wonder if Jance is losing her zest for Joanna. She's long said that JP Beaumont is her favorite creation and that's fine. But if she's going to dilute the Joanna Brady series by writing this kind of loose pablum she's going to loose a significant fan base, the one that doesn't like her 3 other series.
Maybe that's what happens when authors leave too much time elapse between books in a series. The Joanna Brady series is one of my favorites. Let's hope for better in the next installment and hopefully, that will come soon.
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3: Damage Control
Excellent book. I have read it and passed it on to my friend to read.
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4: A week at the sheriff's office
I did not like this novel as well as the previous novels in the series. It starts out a bit slow, and wanders between various cases and Sheriff Brady's personal like. About halfway through, it picks up a bit as activities concentrate more on two main cases. You learn a little more about Brady's family.
It's an OK read, and recommended if you are following the characters.
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5: Reviewing: "Damage Control"
"Damage Control" is the aptly named latest novel in the Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady series. Much of this novel finds Joanna Brady practicing damage control in one form or another at home and at work.
One of the two central cases in this novel is the aftermath of an elderly couple's death at the Montezuma Pass Overlook in the Coronado National Forest. The couple died when their fifteen year old Buick Regal rocketed through a guard rail, went airborne, and smashed down the mountain side flipping end over end and ejecting the elderly couple. Cochise County doesn't have a helicopter and the mountain side is extremely rugged making recovering the bodies very difficult. Especially with a late afternoon storm coming as it is monsoon season.
Elsewhere, those same rains will dislodge a pair of large trash bags from their shallow grave in the Greenbush Draw. They will be moved by the torrent of water far from their resting place until they are pushed into the scrawny branches of a mesquite tree. The bags will be left behind by the receding waters waiting for somebody to take a peek inside them. The bags will be found by a local boy out scavenging for anything left behind by the many illegals that cross the desert in search of a better life. The young teenager hopes for money or even drugs that he can sell. Instead he finds skeletal remains.
As the two cases strain her small department already dealing with manpower and budgetary issues, Joanna's home life is becoming increasingly strained as well. Like many a new parent, Joanna Brady is permanently sleep deprived. Dennis is now four months old and while their teenage daughter, Jenny and Joanna's husband, Butch are a big help, all three are feeling the strain. Butch has a hard deadline to meet in four days for his new novel and really needs to go on a book tour. A book tour is something his publisher is more than willing to do despite the fact that such things are rare especially for a new novelist. And her Mom, Eleanor is acting weirder than normal.
All of these elements combine into a 374 page cozy style novel that is one of the best author J.A. Jance has penned in years. Funny at times and intensely moving towards the end of the book, J. A. Jance writes of sacrifice in so many ways in this latest entry to the series. Along the way, Joanna Brady ties up a couple of aspects of her own life history while helping to resolve current issues. As such, character development is virtually non-existent in this novel and limited to filling in a couple of old questions.
As in any series, it really is best to read these in order. However, if you haven't, go ahead and grab this latest one. Read it and then go back and see how it all came to be. Reading this one won't really mess up the others, and you'll be entertained by a mightily good novel.
Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008
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