Left to die by Lisa Jackson
Sometimes it seems that I get to review a lot of first time authors. However, from her bibliography page on her website, Lisa Jackson is an accomplished and popular author well experienced in producing suspense novels with just a touch of romance.
In this book a serial killer is loose in Montana, one state in the US that still has vast wilderness areas. This killer is regularly shooting out the tires of a car driven by a woman on a lonely mountain road, ‘rescuing’ the victim and holding her in an isolated cabin until she is partially healed, then tying her to a tree naked, leaving her to die from exposure. A team of detectives/FBI and others are working desperately to find this man. Enter Jillian Rivers, her tire is shot, she is rescued and she is even tied to a tree, but her rescuer is for real. Gradually they fall in love. The police agree that Jillian’s attacker is a copycat seem at a loss to find even the impostor.
This was a very effective thriller. The characters work, the plot is interesting with enough twists to keep the pages turning, and even the romance is conceivable. I will admit to thoroughly enjoying the read, right until the very end. But the story stopped so suddenly that it almost seemed like the publisher had a word count limit that could not be breached. Then why on earth were there 10 blank pages at the end. Was my copy incomplete? Or are the readers expected to wait for 12-18 months for a sequel.
My advice, wait a year before starting this. And make sure you have the sequel in your possession before you even start. Left to die? more like Left Hanging…
