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Book Reviews of Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15)

Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15)
Judgment Call - Joanna Brady, Bk 15
Author: J. A. Jance
ISBN-13: 9780061732805
ISBN-10: 006173280X
Publication Date: 4/30/2013
Pages: 448
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 56

4.1 stars, based on 56 ratings
Publisher: Harper
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

7 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

ladycholla avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 2081 more book reviews
Once again, no disappointments here. Wonderful story, starts out like a shot and never stops. Every page delivers something special. Great story and several twists and turns. Also a solved cold case. Great reading, got lots of enjoyment from this one and looking forward to more Brady and Beaumont as well. J.A. Jance thank you once again for some great reading.
jerjer avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 54 more book reviews
Very good suspenseful book...Have read all of J.A. Jance's
books as they are so well written...Never bored...
sfc95 avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 686 more book reviews
I enjoy the Johanna Brady series. I especially enjoy learning more about her and her family. This novel had the perfect mix of outside mystery and familial mystery. Well written, a page turner until the end.
cyndij avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 1031 more book reviews
It's strange, but I seem to like the odd numbered books in this series better than the even-numbered ones. Liked this one, didn't like #14, liked #13, didn't like 12. I'm sure it doesn't hold up through the whole set but, y'know, weird. This had a nice pace to it, some interesting detective work, a bit of misdirection and not too too much family drama for Joanna. As always nice sense of place, you could probably navigate perfectly around Bisbee just by reading these books. Not to say that there are not some unbelievable moments - Joanna is clueless about texting and social media in general...in 2012...my MIL at 95 I accepted that, but all the 70+ yr-olds I know (a lot) are at minimum Facebook savvy. And I would rather the resolution have gone another way but it was okay. There's a subplot at the end that felt clumsily placed. Either it should have been woven into the rest of the story and unfolded gradually, or I could see it as an entire book on its own. I do wonder how Joanna is going to like Butch mining her father's journals for his own book plots. But - I did like it, I have #16 on my TBR shelf, I'll see how I like that one.
kuligowskiandrewt avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 569 more book reviews
Some veteran authors fall into a rut it could be due to reader demand, or to pressure from the editor/publisher, or that they're a one-trick pony who has to keep repeating themselves, or many other reasons. It's always interesting when an author realizes that there's a formula to their work, and attempts to break out of the pattern. Sometimes it works, sometimes not and sometimes it falls in between.

Judgment Call is the 15th book in J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady series. In the others (the two crossovers with her J.P. Beaumont series excepted) are very good, but follow the same general stages that we all learned in creative writing. - Intro, Conflict, Climax, Resolution at about the same approximate pace. In Judgment Call, Jance decided to try something a little different. Yes, our creative writing instructors would still approve of her use of the 4 stages. However, Jance decides to take TWO stories and interweave them. Two SEPARATE murders, with two SEPARATE sets of suspects and witnesses and family members well, almost, it IS a small town, after all. She succeeds in telling BOTH stories at the pace they need to be told, bring the lagging story and the novel to a successful and satisfying conclusion at what feels an appropriate time and pace.

Hats off to J.A. Jance. She loves her characters and her readers too much to risk them becoming stale.

RATING: 4 stars, and I had to stop to think awhile before not bumping up to 5.
maggieminnich avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 400 more book reviews
Joanna Brady is the Sherriff of a town in southern Arizona, taking after her father. In this book, her daughter Jenny, from her first marriage, discovers the murdered body of her high-school principal. After calling her mom and not being too bright (as a typical high schooler), she snaps a picture of the gruesome body on her cell phone and texts it to her best friend, who quickly proceeds to upload it to Facebook for the entire world to see. Sherriff Brady is introduced to Facebook and the enormity of the internet/social media through this case. Dealing with Jenny and her classmates, Joanna discovers that the principal is not well liked by the kids, but thats really just the tip of the iceberg where Principal Highsmith is concernedor is that really her name? And how in the world does Joannas deceased father get thrown into the mix?

As typical of J.A. Jance, this story throws several curveballs at the reader to keep you off guard and guessing, with a surprise ending. Ive read all of the Joanna Brady series and so far none have managed to replicate each other, which provides for a fresh, interesting book every time. A new reader will also be able to jump into the middle of the series and not feel lost. An excellent read all-around!
Joliet avatar reviewed Judgment Call (Joanna Brady, Bk 15) on + 7 more book reviews
Great book with many twists.