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Rating: 
Summary: It Went Ahead and Made My Day
Review: As Joanna Brady makes the shift from Candidate to Sheriff, Jance takes us on a quick-and-dirty primer of police procedure. Attending the Arizona Police Officers Academy (APOA) so she can hold her own with her more-experienced law enforcement staff, Brady finds herself struggling to keep up with classwork, coping with changes in her familial network (the recent loss of her husband, among other things), dodging Cupid's arrows, and trying to keep an innocent man from throwing his life away. And then a homicidal maniac starts stalking her.
Shoot/Don't Shoot has a very convoluted structure, with Jance keeping half a dozen plot lines running at any given time. At times the book was a bit angsty for my taste, and the final few chapters seemed plot-driven, rather than developing as a result/consequence of choices the characters made. It diminishes the quality of the book slightly, but with so much taking place in the novel she can't dwell on any one thing for long.
The "mysteries" in the book aren't that complex. Granted you don't know the name of the serial killer until the end, but you can make some pretty accurate ballpark guesses about his identity. There are also some odd details about the APOA facility that seemed fairly obvious; Jance does a fairly good job using them to enhance the suspense, though. Other details, however, are hidden so obviously in plain sight that I found myself getting irritated that Brady wasn't paying any attention to them.
If you haven't read any of Jance's Sheriff Joanna Brady mysteries, this would be an okay place to start. It brings you up to speed fairly well with the events of the first two books in the series, without straying far from its own storyline in the process. On the other hand, if you don't deal well with blatant melodrama, you might want to get to know Joanna under less stressed circumstances so you're already invested in her character before reading this at-times-frustrating book.
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy on talk...plodding plot.
Review: Chose this as part of vacation reading while on holiday in Scottsdale and was not disappointed. Very fast read and one of those situations you can believe really happens. Sets the scene in the Phoenix area beautifully and you get to know all the characters quite well. Action is fast paced and found it successfully resolved. Will go for more in this series. Thought Joanna Brady to be a worthy protagonist.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb Series, Great book
Review: I have been reading this series in order. Although each book can stand alone, later books reference earlier books and it is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable to read them in order so you know the complete history. Having said all of that, this is the best book I have read to date in this series. Joanna was elected sherrif and is off for training. By doing a favor for a friend of a friend, she runs into a serial killer that has escaped detection for many years. There is a touch, just a tiny touch, of romance. There is also a very stressful period of time when her daughter has been kidnapped and the kidnapper has killed himself and the police are searching frantically for Joanna's daughter and the daughter's friend. This book moves right along, the characters are well developed and there is excitement. I particularly liked the ending. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding read
Review: I'd recommend this book to anyone. I lived in Phoenix for several years and Jance's descriptions of the area are accurate. This book is excellent. I'm not a huge mystery (or even fiction) reader, but this author is outstanding.
Rating:
Summary: A good addition to this series
Review: Joanna Brady has been sworn in as the new sheriff of Cochise County. She realizes that she has no experience in the law-enforcement business so she goes to a police academy with a class full of rookie cops. While there she befriends LeAnn, the only other woman in the class. They serve as support for one another in the face of instructor Dave Thompson who tends to teach by intimidation. She also takes time to investigate a murder at the request of the accused murderer's mother. The case is outside her jurisdiction, but that doesn't stop Joanna. A series of brutal murders occur which eventually intrude into Joanna's life. The murderers seem obvious, but Joanna isn't so sure. Through her investigation, the identity of the real murderer is revealed. This is more concise than some of the books in this series and is well-paced. I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A good addition to this series
Review: Joanna Brady has been sworn in as the new sheriff of Cochise County. She realizes that she has no experience in the law-enforcement business so she goes to a police academy with a class full of rookie cops. While there she befriends LeAnn, the only other woman in the class. They serve as support for one another in the face of instructor Dave Thompson who tends to teach by intimidation. She also takes time to investigate a murder at the request of the accused murderer's mother. The case is outside her jurisdiction, but that doesn't stop Joanna. A series of brutal murders occur which eventually intrude into Joanna's life. The murderers seem obvious, but Joanna isn't so sure. Through her investigation, the identity of the real murderer is revealed. This is more concise than some of the books in this series and is well-paced. I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Terror at the police academy
Review: New sherriff Joanna Brady finds terror at the Arizona Police Officer Academy. She must solve multiple homicides before she becomes a victim. Will she live? Hint: there are more books to come. This is not a whodunit. The reader will not know the killer's identity until our hero finds him.
Rating:
Summary: Terror at the police academy
Review: New sherriff Joanna Brady finds terror at the Arizona Police Officer Academy. She must solve multiple homicides before she becomes a victim. Will she live? Hint: there are more books to come. This is not a whodunit. The reader will not know the killer's identity until our hero finds him.
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