Chosen
to Die
A
Regan Pescoli and Selena Alvarez Mystery
Lisa
Jackson
Zebra
(Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0277-X (142010277X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0277-2 (9781420102772)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $7.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): He'll Choose Them
… Detective Regan
Pescoli has worked the “Star Crossed Killer” case
for months, never imagining she’d be captured by the madman
she’s been hunting. Regan knows exactly what he’s
capable of—the way he leaves his victims to freeze to death,
terrified and alone. And avoiding the same fate will take every drop of
her courage and cunning.
Abduct
Them … Regan
Pescoli is unlike any woman Nate Santana has met before. But now
she’s missing, and Nate knows something is dangerously wrong.
The only person who can help him find his lover is Detective Selena
Alvarez, Regan’s partner. As Selena digs deeper into the
Star-Crossed Killer case and the body count rises, the truth about
Regan’s disappearance becomes chillingly clear.
And
Kill Them … In
the desolate Montana woods, evil is lurking. And with time running out,
the only way to save Regan will be to get inside a killer’s
twisted mind and unravel a shocking message that is being revealed, one
body at a time …
Review:
Montana detectives Regan Pescoli and Selena Alvarez search for a serial
killer during the worst winter blizzard Pinewood County has experienced
in years in Chosen To Die,
the second thriller in this series by Lisa Jackson.
A web has been skillfully woven by a serial killer in the old silver
mining town of Grizzly Falls. The killer chooses a woman as his target
using their initials as a guide. The woman is always alone in her car.
Most of the time he shoots out a tire causing the woman to drive off
the road. He then drives by, stops, and offers his assistance.
Unfortunately, the car has broken down in an area when there is no cell
phone access. He takes her to his nearby home until someone can be
notified to come and repair or tow the automobile. When he decides his
captive should die, he takes her nude body to the forest in the
Bitterroot Mountains, gags her, ties her to the tree, attaches a note
with the woman’s initials above her head, and leaves her
there. For Regan and Selena the case has more questions than answers.
How does he know a woman with just the initials he needs will be on
that particular stretch of the road at that particular time? What do
the initials stand for? Is this some kind of a clue? When Regan herself
comes up missing, Selena fears that she has become one of his victims,
especially when her car is later found off the road, down in a gulley,
and a hole blown in her tire.
But their case is about to get even more complicated. A wealthy man
arrives unexpectedly to his winter home in the area and this same
killer murders him with a single shotgun shot to the chest. How can the
Sheriff’s Department reconcile the womens’ murders
with this new case – other than the bullet that killed the
man came from the same shotgun that blew out the women’s
tires.
Chosen
To Die is a thrilling
mystery, the isolated setting adding to the suspense generated by the
plot. The reason for the killer taking Regan also contributes to the
puzzle: his previous victims had been trusting, relatively helpless
women. Why choose Regan, a detective who would almost certainly fight
back with everything she had? The only serious flaw in the book is with
its length; Regan and Selena are compelling, well drawn characters that
are interesting to follow. But there are other characters and side
stories that add little to the plot and ultimately detract from the
suspense of the detectives' investigation. It would seem these could
easily have been edited out, allowing for better continuity and tighter
pacing.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Chosen to Die and to Joan Schulhafer Publishing and Media Consulting for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Chosen to Die? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Left
to
Die
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback), July 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0276-1 (1420102761)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0276-5 (9781420102765)
Chosen to Die
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback), July 2009
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0277-X (142010277X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0277-2 (9781420102772)
Omnimystery
keywords for Chosen to Die
...
Location(s) referenced: Montana.
