Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) - , reviewed on 2/28/2015 + 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.

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