Sheriff Joanna Brady juggles crime & family in fine yarn...We'll admit we're big fans of JA Jance, having read every novel she's written, some two dozen to date. This tenth book (or so, depending if you count "Partner in Crime" featuring both her fictional stars) in the Sheriff Brady series sees Joanna incredibly busy with an unfortunate murder of a lonely poor woman surrounded by 17 dogs; a horrific car crash filled with 20-some illegal aliens; and family issues in abundance including morning sickness! Deaths of two reporters, a bigamist cult, and a dysfunctional family filled with incest only add to the headaches and heartaches. Joanna tends to be a workaholic anyway, personally doing much of her detective's leg work or attending trouble calls at all hours of the day and night. If you're wanting to read about a highly competent, driven law enforcement officer, you need to look no further. Indeed author Jance not only develops her plot carefully, with plenty of character work to get you hooked on the people involved (as is our leading lady), but also spins the story with enough complexity to keep you guessing 'til the end.An ulterior motive with this book is to describe a mental illness called "hoarding", in which usually an unbalanced loner starts accumulating far more animals than they can begin to feed or care for properly. Using the ploy that the county Animal Control operation has recently been turned over to the sheriff to manage, she and we learn about the difficulty in placing animals for adoption and the surprising number being put to sleep every week. Pictured on the back cover with two dogs, it's clear Jance makes a compelling case for more awareness of the issues and the funding such shelters really need.With a realistic cast of characters hard not to like, with family tensions and murders galore, it's hard to put down the latest Joanna Brady. Enjoy!
Carol Mossman, a dog hoarder, is shot through her locked trailer door. Unfortunately she has no electricity, so the seventeen dogs trapped in there with her die of the overwhelming heat before she’s found later that day. Two other women are found dead in another county and what ties them together are that the bullets were all made in 1917. Sharing info with other agencies is needed to solve not only these murders, but right wrongs connected to them. Lots of stuff is going on at the home front as well. Joanna’s period is one week late and she’s not only doing her job as sheriff, but is also spending quite a bit of time campaigning for reelection. It’s going to be an interesting campaign as her opponent sets the Sheriff up for bad, unjustified publicity; although that just might work in Joanna’s favor in the long run. Some expect her to drop out due to the pregnancy and others are thrilled that she’s staying with it. We’re faced with some uncomfortable truths in a number of areas. As someone who lives in the Midwest and not nearly as familiar with challenges due to illegal aliens crossing the border, what we learn is kind of disturbing on a number of fronts. The topic of dog hoarding and why is addressed, as is incest and polygamy. The mystery itself is interesting and the whodunit was somewhat surprising, although it makes sense. I love that with Joanna we find not only a tough, effective sheriff who isn’t afraid to fill in when her detectives need help, but also makes decisions based on compassion, even knowing it could come back and bite her in the butt later. The supporting cast of characters is a great deal more than frames that bring Joanna’s character to life. Each is interesting and adds their own personalities to the stories.
What do You think about Exit Wounds (2004)?
390 pages. Good female protagonist. Mystery of a dog hoarder found dead because she was going to publish her family's dark secret
—Mel Plav
Excellent story! Three dead women, two of which are reporters that were working on a cult (The Bretheren) story which involve young children. The third woman (Carol) was part of the cult years ago when she was a child and was saved from the hell that she lived every day and was ready to tell her story to make others aware. The women in this cult are worthless according to the cult and are sold and traded like items they no longer need. By the age of 12, young girls are sold and married off to old perverted horny men. One wedding in which was secretly filmed and given to the reporters to make public. They find Carol dead in her trailer with her 17 dogs shot to death. And they find the reporters in a field striped naked as if it was a case of sexual assault.Who is the killer? Is it someone from "The Brethren" that does not want their existence known or is it Carol's own father that doesn't want the world to know what he did to her.At the end of the book as in most of her books she gives an explanation of how she came to writing her story. Mostly she'll find something factual that most people don't know about or are unaware of and uses it to create one of her many stories.
—Chris
Exit Wounds, the 11th Joanna Brady book in the series, is the first one I've read since I read the original Joanna Brady book, Desert Heat. Someone loaned me this book, and I read it as a change of pace, on the heels of reading Georgette Heyer's Sprig Muslin. I remember reading about the loss of her first husband, and how she came to be Sheriff, and that I had enjoyed the book. Not sure why I didn't read more-I think I might have been entering into my reading English mystery phased, authors like P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Val McDdermid etc., and just didn't get back to J.A. Jance. I'm glad that I've rediscovered Joanna. I read this book in a day, and enjoyed Joanna's feistiness, and her determination to continue in her position as sheriff, despite being pregnant.I need to go back and fill in her back story by reading the books between #1 and #11. I haven't read any of the J.P. Beaumont series either, which I'm going to try. Finding Joanna again, is kind of like finding an old friend that you've lost touch with, and reestablishing your connection.
—Laurel
