Paperback: 484 pages
Publisher: Zebra August 1, 2008
English language
ISBN-10: 1420102761
ISBN-13: 978-1420102765
To buy, click here.
Book Synopsis:
In the lonely woods around Grizzly Falls, Montana, four bodies have been discovered. Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli have been waiting for a career-breaking case, but this is a nightmare. Even with the FBI involved, Selena and Regan have nothing but a killer’s cryptic notes and the unsettling knowledge that there’s much worse to come…
When Jillian Rivers opens her eyes, she’s trapped in a wrecked car. Then a stranger, claiming to be a trail guide named Zane MacGregor, prays for her freedom. Although she is grateful, something about him makes Jillian nervous. And, if she knew what was in the Montana woods, she would be truly terrified. Because someone is waiting… watching… ready to attack and make Jillian the next victim…
I reviewed Lost Souls a few months ago and that was the first Lisa Jackson book I read. I knew after reading it that it would not be the last, as I loved its style and content. I was also shocked when I walked into Wal-Mart and saw the hardcover right in front of me. That’s when I said to my husband, look, that’s one of the books I just reviewed for Pump Up Your Book Promotion, it was really cool! So, needless to say, when asked if I’d be willing to check out Left to Die, I jumped at the chance. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be as good as Lost Souls, but let me tell you, it was even better.
Let me start by saying that I was thrilled to see that the two main characters are detectives. Selena Alverez and Regan Pescoli couldn’t be more different both in their personal lives and in the way they approach the cases that are handed to them are also vastly different. But they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle and her drive and work ethic is what is sorely needed in her department to catch the sadistic serial killer on the loose. They were hoping to make a name for themselves, but this case is quickly turning into a nightmare, with a killer calculating and impeccable in all of his actions.
The serial killer in this book is chilling…no pun intended. He sets up his victims by shooting out their tires as they drive down a ravine. They lose control of their vehicles and crash, leaving them totally helpless. So when a kind stranger rescues them and nurses them back to health, who would think he’d lead them to a freezing death, tied to a tree, naked, left to brave the elements and essentially succumb to them?
This book had me on the edge of my seat, literally. I’m so excited to have had the chance to review two of Lisa’s books and can’t wait for the sequel: Chosen to Die. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in suspense and can’t really guess the ending.
For an impressive trailer for the book, see below:
About the Author:
Lisa Jackson can’t stay away from murderers, especially serial killers. She’s been killing people everywhere from Savannah and New Orleans to San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest, and it’s paid off. Readers of hers return again and again, and her novels are fixtures on national best-seller lists. In fact, his book Fatal Burn was the #1 New York Times paperback bestseller, and the first two of his hardcover novels, Shiver and Absolute Fear, were in the top five on the bestselling list. New York Times Sellers. Next, readers will search for LOST SOULS, which will be published in hardcover by Kensington Books and will go on sale on March 25.
Having made serial killing his business, he has put his characters to the test. They have been up to their necks in danger and have faced death, usually quite bloody, right to the face. She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers: the personal, the professional, and downright twisted. As he builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies, and personal stories that haunt his protagonists, he must also confront the fear and terror his victims face, and the hard, enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and the madness touches too many lives and families.
Lisa began writing at the urging of her sister, the novelist Nancy Bush. Inspired by the success of the authors she admired and the booming market for romantic fiction at the time, Nancy was convinced that they could work together and succeed. They sat down, determined to write and be published.
They did and they were.
Initially they wrote together. Later, they moved in different directions. Lisa brought more and more suspense to her work and began to write much darker stories. Nancy’s writing expanded to include not only her own novels, including her lauded Jane Kelly Mysteries, such as the recently published Ultraviolet. She also spent several years writing for one of television’s biggest soap operas, even relocating for a time from her sister’s Pacific Northwest roots to Manhattan. This year they plan to work together again on a thriller to be released in 2009.
Meanwhile, for Lisa, the killing continues as this mother, daughter, workaholic, and amazing writer continues her habit of making readers’ hair stand on end and having her books published in The New York Times, USA Today, and The New York Times. Publishers Weekly National Best Seller Lists.
Lisa Jackson’s novels include the upcoming LOST SOULS and the bestsellers Absolute Fear, due in paperback for the first time in March, Hot Blooded, Cold Blooded, The Night Before, The Morning After, Deep Freeze, Fatal Burn and Almost. Dead. Last year, Most Likely to Die, written by Lisa, Beverly Barton and Wendy Corsi Staub, was published and became the number three New York Times paperback. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America.