Review of "Credible Threat: An Ali Reynolds Mystery" by J.A. Jance

In this 15th book in the 'Ali Reynolds' series, the security expert protects a Catholic Archbishop whose life has been threatened. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Ali Reynolds and her husband B Simpson run High Noon Enterprises, a highly respected cybersecurity firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. During a Halloween party for High Noon employees - where Ali looks great as Wonder Woman....



…...Ali and B get a surprise visit from their acquaintance Archbishop Francis Gillespie.



Archbishop Gillespie, who heads the Phoenix Diocese of the Catholic Church, reports that he's been getting death threats. The police don't take the threats seriously, but the Archbishop does, and he's worried about the writer's immortal soul. Ali and B sign on to help, planning to identify the sender and protect the Archbishop.

As Ali and B start to organize the Archbishop's security, B is summoned to Europe by an important client. This isn't a problem since Ali and other High Noon personnel are very clever and capable.



Though Ali doesn't know it, the threats are being sent by a woman called Rachel Higgins (not a spoiler). Rachel's 25-year-old son David died from a drug overdose, a tragedy that shattered Rachel's life and marriage.



Rachel recently learned that David was sexually abused in high school, by a pedophile priest named Father Needham. The priest, who abused many boys, was since prosecuted and sent to prison, where he died from AIDS.



When Rachel realizes her son got AIDS from Father Needham, and may have overdosed on purpose, her fury is off the charts. Rachel wants revenge, and since Father Needham is dead, she vows to kill Archbishop Gillespie....even though the Archbishop has zero tolerance for pedophile clergy and has removed several from his diocese.



The story is told from the viewpoints of Ali and Rachel, pinging back and forth between the two women. Rachel carefully plans her assassination of the Archbishop, and even sets up a fall guy to take the blame.



For her part, Ali plans to protect the Archbishop, and assembles a cadre of priests and nuns (who could double as Army Special Forces) to help.



Some of Ali's best assets are her colleague Stu and his Artificial Intelligence (AI) Frigg.



AI Frigg, who was originally created by criminals, has a felonious brain and the ability to hack into anything. Frigg illegally accesses police files, phone records, credit card records, etc....and provides very useful information.



I don't want to give away too much but the story includes a shooting and an arrest, which gets Ali Reynolds talking to a Phoenix police detective.



All this heightens the suspense and moves the story forward. The novel isn't exactly preachy, but - since one of the main characters is an Archbishop - does include Catholic rituals, prayers, and chitchat about immortal souls (in case you need to know).



I enjoyed the book but felt the story faltered towards the end, which I expected to turn out differently. On the upside, I love Frigg, who's one of the best detectives around.

On a serious note, the book highlights the damage done by abusive priests and strikes a laudatory note for high-ranking clergy like (fictional) Archbishop Gillespie, who root then out. 👍

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (J.A. Jance) and the publisher (Gallery Books) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars