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bookwyrmbella's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 🌟
The voice actor does a good job but I am still getting used to his interpretation versus the original voice actor.
While the ending is predictable I still found the story entertaining. The main story took you through two possibly connected investigations and made you wonder exactly how they were going to tie them both together. There were some unexpected surprises along the way.
Even this far into the story, J.A. Jance still finds a way to give us and Beau more insight into his family history. It adds depth to the character. I was glad to see his friend Ralph make and appearance again.
I would recommend this to anyone who has read any of Jances other books. For the most part you can even read them as a stand alone because there is usually enough recap to help you catch up.
The voice actor does a good job but I am still getting used to his interpretation versus the original voice actor.
While the ending is predictable I still found the story entertaining. The main story took you through two possibly connected investigations and made you wonder exactly how they were going to tie them both together. There were some unexpected surprises along the way.
Even this far into the story, J.A. Jance still finds a way to give us and Beau more insight into his family history. It adds depth to the character. I was glad to see his friend Ralph make and appearance again.
I would recommend this to anyone who has read any of Jances other books. For the most part you can even read them as a stand alone because there is usually enough recap to help you catch up.
dontmissythesereads's review against another edition
4.0
Book #67 read in 2016
Love the Beaumont series!
Love the Beaumont series!
dootler's review against another edition
5.0
I had waited to do a review on this book because when I finished, I was still reeling from it. This book was fabulous! There were twists and turns, you thought it was one person who did the wrong, then it took you off in a completely different direction. So then you think it's this person, and then, once again, you are whisked off in a whole other direction! I have loved the J.P. Beaumont series for a long time, but I think this was one of my favorites. I love reading all these clues and how they detectives piece them together. It all makes sense, and being able to get inside their heads is really great.
If you like cop mysteries, drama, who-done-it's, and never knowing what is going to happen until the very end, then I would highly recommend this book!
It was also really fun to see some rich people get their down fall and seeing adults remember to act like adults when dealing with stupid kids.
Read this book!
If you like cop mysteries, drama, who-done-it's, and never knowing what is going to happen until the very end, then I would highly recommend this book!
It was also really fun to see some rich people get their down fall and seeing adults remember to act like adults when dealing with stupid kids.
Read this book!
psalmcat's review against another edition
4.0
Beaumont and his wife Mel are asked to investigate the Washington State governor's step-grandson's activities when the governor finds an apparent snuff video on the kid's cell phone.
From that, the case explodes into the death of the boy, the death of the girl in the video, the intermixture of the rich and poor at a teenage sort-of-halfway-house, and politics. Not a strong plot, but the characters are so well-drawn that it feels like more than it is. And I do like Beau, even as he gets old and creaky and his knees get more and more painful. Oh, and he gets to meet his father's side of the family finally, too.
From that, the case explodes into the death of the boy, the death of the girl in the video, the intermixture of the rich and poor at a teenage sort-of-halfway-house, and politics. Not a strong plot, but the characters are so well-drawn that it feels like more than it is. And I do like Beau, even as he gets old and creaky and his knees get more and more painful. Oh, and he gets to meet his father's side of the family finally, too.
davidpaige's review
3.0
This is another great book for J.A. Jance. Beau and Mel are selected by the Attorney General to investigate a case involving the Governor. It's sensitive, so it can't be handled by the local police. Along the way we get to see more interaction between Mel and Beau.
There is also a nice surprise at the end of the story.
There is also a nice surprise at the end of the story.
canadianbookworm's review
4.0
This thriller set in Washington state involves many issues. The state governor is shocked when she finds what appears to be a snuff video on her young ward's cellphone. She realizes she needs to know more, but she wants to avoid a media onslaught.
She calls the Attorney General for assistance and he brings in two officers from his Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont and his partner (and wife) Mel Soames. These two are highly skilled, with lots of experience and work well together.
The first task is identifying the young girl in the video and a hunt is on for missing persons. The trail leads to a more remote part of the state, and back to the capital again. With a focus on young people, bullying and abuse of privilege, this is a story that speaks to an issue that is in the news more and more.
The story is told from Beaumont's point of view, and issues take him back to his own teen years, growing up with a single mother. At the same time as the case is happening, Beaumont is contacted by someone claiming to be his father's sister's daughter. Since his own mother didn't reveal his father's information to him, except to name him after his father's hometown, Beaumont, Texas, Beaumont is unsure about trusting this sudden revelation.
Another case of personal and professional development in the life of a police officer. Interesting mentions of the realities of different police working with each other, and the necessities of facing up to hard facts in order to make true progress.
She calls the Attorney General for assistance and he brings in two officers from his Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont and his partner (and wife) Mel Soames. These two are highly skilled, with lots of experience and work well together.
The first task is identifying the young girl in the video and a hunt is on for missing persons. The trail leads to a more remote part of the state, and back to the capital again. With a focus on young people, bullying and abuse of privilege, this is a story that speaks to an issue that is in the news more and more.
The story is told from Beaumont's point of view, and issues take him back to his own teen years, growing up with a single mother. At the same time as the case is happening, Beaumont is contacted by someone claiming to be his father's sister's daughter. Since his own mother didn't reveal his father's information to him, except to name him after his father's hometown, Beaumont, Texas, Beaumont is unsure about trusting this sudden revelation.
Another case of personal and professional development in the life of a police officer. Interesting mentions of the realities of different police working with each other, and the necessities of facing up to hard facts in order to make true progress.
vkemp's review
3.0
J.P. Beaumont and his wife, Mel Soames, are called by their boss, Ross Connors, to report to him immediately. They meet in a coffee shop near Ross' office and he shows them a video, that may or may not be a snuff film. The catch? It is on the phone of the governor's step-grandson. As Beau and Mel investigate, they begin to question if the film is real, but then the body of the young woman who was filmed turns up. Except she has only been dead a shorter time frame than the film indicates. The young man commits suicide. The governor's daughters appear to be involved in some manner, connected to the dead girl through their volunteer work at a local shelter for runaways in Olympia WA. Meanwhile, Beau has been contacted, out of the blue, by a woman who claims to be his cousin, from Beaumont TX, the place Beau's mother always told him his father came from before he enlisted in the Navy and got killed in a motorcycle accident before Beau was born. Jance writes nice twisty plots with few loose ends. I always enjoy checking in with Beau to see how his life is going. I am looking forward to finding out more about his long-lost family.
brettt's review
1.0
"First novel syndrome" is a catch-all phrase that describes some of the rougher edges first-time novelists may display in their work. Even though a publisher thought the book worthy of purchase and edited the manuscript, there are still ways in which first-time novelists are finding their voices. They may also be prone to citing back-story on characters, especially in a potential series, using expository passages to flesh out the characters since readers as yet have no history with them.
J.A. Jance's Betrayal of Trust has a lot of those first-novel tendencies, but the problem is that it's her 45th novel, not her first. Trust has husband-and-wife Washington state homicide investigators J.P. Beaumont and Mel Soames dig into how the governor's grandson wound up with a video on his cell phone that may show a young woman being strangled. They have to navigate political minefields as well as the usual problems that may crop up in a police investigation. Beaumont also has to decide what he will do about connecting with his father's family, whom he does not know since his father died before his birth but who have recently contacted him.
I don't know if the Trust manuscript needed editing, a rewrite or a complete and total do-over. Beaumont and Soames get much of their info about the case on concurrent cell phone calls to their respective numbers and deal with not one but two unpleasant medical examiners in different situations for no reason that the novel makes clear. Trust is a loooooooooong string of cliches, both in terms of writing and storytelling set pieces, woven into a prissy sermon about evil rich kids that almost never chooses to show when it can tell instead.
Original available here.
J.A. Jance's Betrayal of Trust has a lot of those first-novel tendencies, but the problem is that it's her 45th novel, not her first. Trust has husband-and-wife Washington state homicide investigators J.P. Beaumont and Mel Soames dig into how the governor's grandson wound up with a video on his cell phone that may show a young woman being strangled. They have to navigate political minefields as well as the usual problems that may crop up in a police investigation. Beaumont also has to decide what he will do about connecting with his father's family, whom he does not know since his father died before his birth but who have recently contacted him.
I don't know if the Trust manuscript needed editing, a rewrite or a complete and total do-over. Beaumont and Soames get much of their info about the case on concurrent cell phone calls to their respective numbers and deal with not one but two unpleasant medical examiners in different situations for no reason that the novel makes clear. Trust is a loooooooooong string of cliches, both in terms of writing and storytelling set pieces, woven into a prissy sermon about evil rich kids that almost never chooses to show when it can tell instead.
Original available here.
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