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    Desert Vengeance
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    Desert Vengeance
    Unavailable
    Desert Vengeance
    Ebook339 pages3 hours

    Desert Vengeance

    By Betty Webb

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "Webb offers fans the profound pleasure of watching Lena mature as she comes one step closer to understanding and accepting her difficult past, while providing new readers with an introduction to this strong and genuinely likable character." —Publishers Weekly

    When the man who raped Scottsdale PI Lena Jones when she was a nine-year-old foster child is released from prison, Lena is waiting for him in the parking lot—with a big knife. "Papa" Brian Wycoff survives their meeting, but the next day, his wife, who knew about his crimes but did nothing to stop him—in fact enabled him—is found dead in their Apache Junction home, shot through both eyes. Terrified he will be next, Wycoff, violating his parole, flees north to the small town of Black Canyon City, taking shelter in an RV on his brother-in-law's small ranch. A couple of days later, he is found tortured to death, eight horizontal marks burned into his flesh. One for each of his victims?

    Suspicion first falls upon Lena, who has trailed Wycoff to Black Canyon City to make sure he doesn't come near any other children. When the local authorities arrive to question her, she admits to having been tempted to kill her former foster father, but someone beat her to the punch. Suspicion then falls on Wycoff's other victims, the now-grown men and women he abused when they were still in his care, and on the mothers of the children who went missing before his arrest.

    When Lena takes up the case, more to protect one of the mothers who has been arrested than to find the real killer, her conscience is torn. Does a serial child rapist, a pedophile also implicated in the disappearance of several children, really deserve justice? That choice might not be left up to Lena when members of a local group, Parents of Missing Children, start working to prevent her investigation from succeeding. How far will they go to make sure she fails?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateFeb 7, 2017
    ISBN9781464205965
    Unavailable
    Desert Vengeance
    Author

    Betty Webb

    As a journalist, Betty Webb interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts, and Nobel Prize winners, as well as the homeless, dying, and polygamy runaways. The dark Lena Jones mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. Betty's humorous Gunn Zoo series debuted with the critically acclaimed The Anteater of Death, followed by The Koala of Death. A book reviewer at Mystery Scene Magazine, Betty is a member of National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the National Organization of Zoo Keepers.

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    Reviews for Desert Vengeance

    3.5/5

    12 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Lena Jones is back. And this time the novel starts with her on a 'case' of her own. The man who raped Lena when she was a foster kid gets out of jail. And Lena is not chill about it at all. Quite the opposite actually. I was going to say that it was like she almost stalked this man after he was released, but, there was nothing almost about it. She stalks him, and then when this man and his wife are found dead (at two different times) she is the prime suspect.I did appreciate how Webb write this part of the novel. She didn't try to bamboozle us, the readers, into endless wondering if Lena did it or not. Instead Lena had to struggle with whether or not she really wanted to pursue the case of these two deaths.And then there was her and Jimmy's relationship. I have mixed feelings about how it was portrayed and continued in this novel. At times it felt like it was moving forward, and at other times as though it was going backwards and was weird and uncomfortable.Overall, though, it was a very, very intense mystery/thriller (not surprising in a Lena Jones mystery). At times it was hard to read too, but it was really well done and for the most part I enjoyed it (and definitely look forward to the next one since the end of this one was a bit of a cliffhanger).I got this galley through Netgalley on behalf of Poisoned Pen Press.
    • 3/5
      This mystery may appeal to fans of J.A.Jance, with its Arizona setting and spunky female detective. Detective Lena is determined to pay back the monster who abused her, as well as his enabling wife, when she was a nine year old in their foster care.She stalks and harasses them, but they are each murdered by someone else. With no regrets about their demise, Lena is determined to find out who the murderer is so that an innocent person won't be convicted. As one of a long series, this book has a great deal of back story about Lena's past, and since I haven't read others I don't know if her demons intrude on the other mysteries, but there was certainly plenty of unfinished personal business to be dealt with in later installments. This presents a powerful picture of the aftereffects of child sex abuse, but I found some of the characters to be rather flat, almost caricatures.
    • 5/5
      Webb's ninth Lena Jones mystery is a visceral, informative look into the world of serial child rapists and the long trail of victims they leave behind. Although far from being graphic, Desert Vengeance is disturbing reading. Of all the things that have happened to Lena in her lifetime, her abuse at the hands of "Papa" Brian have left some of the very deepest scars. Even though we know Lena shouldn't come anywhere near the man when he's released from prison, it's almost impossible not to cheer her on when she greets him in the prison parking lot or dogs his every move to let everyone around him know exactly what sort of lifeform he is.It's once the action moves out to Black Canyon City that the moral questions begin coming thick and fast. As Lena becomes acquainted with the members of Parents of Missing Children, her conscience is torn. Does a serial child rapist, a pedophile who's also implicated in the disappearance of several children, really deserve justice? Does his wife who looked the other way and aided and abetted his actions? Webb delves deep into the lives of survivors of child rape. How do they fare after such a horrendous event? How do the parents of missing children cope with their loss?This is some of Betty Webb's most powerful writing. It makes you think. It makes you feel. It makes you question some of your long-held beliefs. And to top it all off, Desert Vengeance is a damned fine mystery. If you're not acquainted with Lena Jones, you should really do something about it.