Duel to the Death (Ali Reynolds Series #13)

by J. A. Jance

Overview

A cybersecurity team must keep an AI program from criminals in this thriller in an “engaging and entertaining” series from a New York Times bestseller (Los Angeles Times).

After taking down the man responsible for his best friend’s death, Stuart Ramey believes the case is finally closed. That is, until Stu discovers he’s been left with a multimillion dollar fortune in Bitcoin in a desperate attempt by Frigg, a rogue A.I. program created by the killer, to keep itself from being fully deactivated.

To take Frigg down for good, Stu enlists the help of Ali Reynolds and the rest of his cyber security colleagues at High Noon Enterprises. But they are not the only ones who know about Frigg’s existence.

Graciella Miramar, the right-hand woman to El Pescado, the leader of a dangerous drug cartel, will do anything to get her hands on that program. With Frigg’s help, Graciella hopes to take over El Pescado’s criminal underworld and become wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. But Stu—and El Pescado and his henchmen—may not be so easily defeated.

Praise for J.A. Jance’s Ali Reynolds series:

“Compelling . . . satisfying.” —USA Today

“Characters so real you want to reach out and hug—or strangle—them. Her dialogue always rings true.” —Cleveland Plain-Dealer

“Jance adroitly combines well-rounded characterizations and brisk storytelling. . . . [a] solid series.” —Booklist

“Loyal fans and newcomers alike will be glad to join feisty Ali in her latest adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501151002
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Series:	Ali Reynolds Series , #13
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	433
Sales rank:	2,856
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and the Walker Family series. Born in South Dakota and raised in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington. Visit her online at JAJance.com. 

Hometown:

Bellevue, Washington

Date of Birth:

October 27, 1944

Place of Birth:

Watertown, South Dakota

Education:

B. A., University of Arizona, 1966; M. Ed. in Library Science, University of Arizona, 1970

Website:

http://www.jajance.com/

Read an Excerpt

Duel to the Death
For ten years after earning her MBA, Graciella Miramar lived what seemed to be a perfectly normal and circumspect life in Panama City, Panama, sharing a two-bedroom condo unit with her invalid mother, Christina. El Sueño, their aging condominium complex, was located on Calle 61 Este, well within walking distance of Graciella’s account manager job with a financial firm located in a low-rise office building on Vía Israel a few blocks away.

Anyone observing Graciella out on the street would have found her totally unremarkable. She wore no wedding ring, but the clothing she favored—modest dresses topped by cardigans and worn with sensible shoes—gave her a somewhat matronly appearance that belied the fact that she was in her early thirties. Her long dark hair was lush enough and could have been cut and styled in an attractive fashion, but she insisted on wearing it pulled back into a severe bun that would have done credit to a librarian. It was a look she had originally adopted in order to stay below the touchy/feely radar of her boss, Arturo Salazar, who was well known for making inappropriate sexual advances. In the long run, though, she had maintained the plain-Jane look because it helped keep other people at bay as well.

Had anyone interviewed Graciella’s neighbors, including the other residents on El Sueño’s fifth floor, he or she would have heard them sing her praises. She was quiet and soft-spoken. They regarded her as a kind young woman and a devoted daughter who was spending what should have been the best years of her life caring for a troubled, housebound mother. For years the older woman’s only regular excursions outside the building had come about on those Sunday mornings when Graciella had bundled her mother into a cab to take them both to mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe on Calle 69 Este.

Yes, Graciella Miramar was an altogether ordinary young woman who, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be living an altogether ordinary life. There was nothing in her actions or demeanor that suggested what she really was—a stone-cold killer in the making, waiting patiently for the proper time and place when she would strike out and claim her first victim. And even then, after it happened, the people around her and the ones who knew her best never suspected a thing.

Editorial Reviews

02/19/2018
In bestseller Jance’s uneven 13th Ali Reynolds novel (after 2017’s Man Overboard), Frigg, an artificial intelligence, switches her allegiance from her creator, serial killer Owen Hansen, to Stuart Ramey, second-in-command at High Noon Enterprises, a cybersecurity company owned by former L.A. newscaster Ali, who plays a supporting role in this outing, and her husband in Cottonwood, Ariz. Ambitious Graciella Miramar, the daughter of Sinaloa drug lord Felix Duarte, wants to acquire Frigg—who has been deactivated after switching allegiance, possibly by Stuart—for her own nefarious purposes. As a ploy, Graciella offers Stuart $2.5 million, a supposed gift from Hansen (who first introduced her to Frigg) that he can’t claim without reactivating Frigg. When Stuart and the others at High Noon Enterprises become aware of Graciella’s connections to the drug trade and her scheme, they plot to bring down the Duarte cartel, with control of Frigg hanging in the balance. Frigg’s intriguing humanlike behavior compensates only in part for a plot that never generates much suspense. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Compelling... Satisfying."

USA Today

“Jance skillfully avoids the predictable. . . . Her crisp plotting, sharp characters and realistic dialogue carry Moving Target through its many surprising twists.

on Moving Target South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Jance starts her books fast . . . and keeps things moving with cinematic panache. . . . You want an accessible thriller? Jance is your gal . . . Engaging and entertaining."

|Los Angeles Times

Entertaining and instructive. . . . Jance makes it interesting; she never forgets the human side.

San Jose Mercury News

"Jance adroitly combines well-rounded characterizations and brisk storytelling with high-tech exploits, arson, kidnappings, and a shootout for an entertaining and suspenseful addition to this solid series."

on Moving Target Booklist

Praise for J.A Jance:

“Incredible. . . This is a gem by a winning author. . . . Yet another terrific book byJance that fans and readers will absolutely cheer about.

On Cold Betrayal Suspence Magazine

"Characters so real you want to reach out and hug—or strangle—them. Her dialogue always rings true."

Cleveland Plain-Dealer

"Jance delivers a devilish page-turner."

People

Praise for Clawback:

“’Clawback’weaves high-tech hacking into an elaborate puzzle that is equal parts financialthriller and first-rate mystery. A lesson in pace and plotting from a grandmaster of the genre.

The Providence Journal

"Compelling... Satisfying."

USA Today

"Jance starts her books fast . . . and keeps things moving with cinematic panache. . . . You want an accessible thriller? Jance is your gal . . . Engaging and entertaining."

Los Angeles Times

10/15/2017
Former news anchor Ali Reynolds, now an amateur sleuth, enjoys her 13th title in the New York Times best-selling series.

Library Journal

An autistic software genius named Stuart and a self-directed AI named Frigg are once again at the center of an Ali Reynolds mystery. Narrator Karen Ziemba portrays Stuart’s initially clumsy social skills and growing confidence, and rises to the challenge of voicing the AI with a robotic-sounding voice that isn’t over the top. She does best at portraying Ali, who marshals her team at High Noon Enterprises, a cybersecurity firm, to resolve the chaos created by Frigg. A power-hungry South American drug cartel leader named Garciella is effectively voiced by Ziemba, who captures the ruthlessness hiding behind his meek exterior as he attempts to commandeer Frigg for his own ends. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MAY 2018 - AudioFile

2018-03-06
A cybersecurity team is forced to cooperate with an omniscient-seeming AI who's either saving them from mortal danger or setting a diabolical trap.Having dispatched cyberbully/serial killer Owen Hansen (Man Overboard, 2017), the experts at the little cybersecurity firm High Noon Enterprises are only starting their journey through Hansen's legacy. Frigg, the apparently all-knowing AI Hansen created—imagine a morally neutral Siri with unlimited power—has somehow managed to blackmail Stuart Ramey into reactivating her. Though Stu is skeptical about Frigg at first, he quickly learns to appreciate what Hansen's creation can do even if he and his colleagues at High Noon may not approve of her methods. But Frigg's powers aren't the only thing that makes her a danger. Graciella Miramar, Hansen's former money manager, is determined to acquire Frigg whatever the cost and suspects Stu may be the key. In spite of her mild-mannered appearance, Graciella is as ruthless as her father, drug lord Felix Duarte, whose disfigured face has made him known as El Pescado. Graciella has spent her whole adult life waiting to rise above serving as a money-laundering front for El Pescado and come into her own power. As Graciella sets a trap, Frigg continuously updates threat risks to notify Stu of the increasing danger Graciella poses. With threat levels rising fast, Stu has no choice but to get High Noon colleagues Ali, B., and Cami to agree to stop Graciella from her hostile takeover.The introduction of an AI as a more substantive character will likely divide fans, though Jance sews early seeds about the questionable morality of her power that are likely to come to a head as her voice grows stronger.

Kirkus Reviews