Collateral Damage: An Ali Reynolds Mystery

In bestseller Jance’s uneven 17th Ali Reynolds mystery (after 2021’s Unfinished Business), disgraced ex-cop Frank Muñoz, recently released from prison, is hell-bent on taking revenge on his wife, his girlfriend, and the police detectives who got him arrested for a money-laundering scheme 20 years earlier. Meanwhile, Ali’s husband, B. Simpson, founder of the cybersecurity company High Noon Enterprises, is on his way to the Phoenix, Ariz., airport for a ransomware conference in London, along with his driver, ex-cop Hal Holden, when they’re run off the freeway. Both B. and Hal are seriously injured in what appears to be an accident, but the reader knows that Hal was one of the detectives who helped put Frank behind bars. Not knowing of this connection, B. and Ali wonder whether someone is trying to prevent High Noon from being represented at the conference. Ali flies to London in B.’s place, and when she returns home, she sets out to unravel what’s going on. She eventually uncovers a complex plot that threatens those closest to her. Well-defined characters make up only in part for lengthy backstories that slow the action. This is not the place to start for newcomers. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary. (Mar.)