Rating: 
Summary: Possibly the best yet in the series
Review: Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full with an election campaign, unexpected pregnancy, and her house-husband Butch's frustrating career as a novelist. But when a woman is killed and her seventeen dogs die in the woman's non-air-conditioned trailer, Brady is plunged into mystery. The first murder is followed by two more--with the same weapon signature. But the deeper Brady digs, the uglier she things look. The dead woman was already a victim--of child abuse so severe it made her incapable of holding a steady job and turned her into a hoarder for dogs. Brady swears she'll find the killer, but can any punishment be enough for what has happened? Author J. A. Jance writes a compelling and exciting mystery shot-through with authentic visions of the desert mountains of Arizona. Brady is well developed as a character--with a rich but complicated family life and the drive to serve as sheriff. A subplot involving a SUV crash that killed a number of undocumented aliens being smuggled across the border from Mexico deepens the story and adds emotional depth. J. A. Jance has written a series of novels featuring Sheriff Joanna Brady and EXIT WOUNDS may be the best I've read so far. I couldn't put the book down and was practicaly out of breath when I finished it. EXIT WOUNDS may be read independently of the other books in the series.
Rating: 
Summary: J.A. Jance writes book of a consistently good quality
Review: This is another of them -- they keep you reading (I read this one in a couple of days) and you enjoy them while you're reading them. And yet...
They are not all that memorable and sometimes I find her "detective" characters (Brady and Beaumont) indefinably irritating -- they're just too good to be true, just too competent, and not vulnerable enough. Quite frankly, them and their near-perfect lives are intimidating. I'll bet Joanna Brady's house is never a mess -- she's got the perfect husband staying home taking care of everything for her. I guess that's every working woman's dream...
Aside from that...this is a well-constructed and well-written mystery. Although one reviewer said he/she knew all along who did it, I didn't, although in retrospect it all made sense, which makes for a good mystery in my opinion. The plot involves a woman murdered in her trailer -- for some reason she has 17 dogs in the trailer with her and they die of the heat before her body is discovered. With all those dogs, there's a subplot about animal welfare issues (although personally I think the word "hoarder" gets thrown around too much and the issue ought to be not the number of animals but whether they're adequately cared for). Another subplot involves polygamous communities in the Arizona area (where the Joanna Brady series is set). Then there are two other bodies that may connect to the woman in the trailer, and a coyote driving an SUV full of undocumented aliens trying to slip across the border -- all in all, there are a lot of subplots being juggled in this story, and the plot moves back and forth among all of these subplots.
All in all, Jance is an excellent craftsman, and I like the Joanna Brady series, but there are days when I wish that Sheriff Brady was less intimidating. I can recommend this book as being at least equal to others in the series (and maybe better) for those already familiar with the Joanna Brady series.
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable Story
Review: This is the second Joanna Brady mystery I've read buy MS Jance and I really enjoyed it. I will not go into details about the story since others have done that but I will say that until I read Exit Wounds, I was unaware of the polygamy cults that inhabit the "strip" on the Arizona/Utah border. It was weird that I read the book and then heard a story on the news about that same subject! The story held my interest all the way through and I liked the way she drew the characters. The pacing was also top notch. I am now adding her to my must read list.
Rating:
Summary: Sheriff Joanna Brady juggles crime & family in fine yarn
Review: We'll admit we're big fans of JA Jance, having read every novel she's written, some two dozen to date. This tenth book (or so, depending if you count "Partner in Crime" featuring both her fictional stars) in the Sheriff Brady series sees Joanna incredibly busy with an unfortunate murder of a lonely poor woman surrounded by 17 dogs; a horrific car crash filled with 20-some illegal aliens; and family issues in abundance including morning sickness! Deaths of two reporters, a bigamist cult, and a dysfunctional family filled with incest only add to the headaches and heartaches. Joanna tends to be a workaholic anyway, personally doing much of her detective's leg work or attending trouble calls at all hours of the day and night. If you're wanting to read about a highly competent, driven law enforcement officer, you need to look no further. Plus author Jance not only develops her plot carefully, with plenty of character work to get you hooked on the people involved (as is out leading lady), but also spins the story with enough complexity to keep you guessing 'til the end. An ulterior motive with this book is to describe a mental illness called "hoarding", in which usually an unbalanced loner starts accumulating far more animals than they can begin to feed or care for properly. Using the ploy that the county Animal Control operation has recently been turned over to the sheriff to manage, she and we learn about the difficulty in placing animals for adoption and the surprising number being put to sleep every week. Pictured on the back cover with two dogs, it's clear Jance makes a compelling case for more awareness of the issues and the funding such shelters really need. With a realistic cast of characters hard not to like, with family tensions and murders galore, it's hard to put down the latest Joanna Brady. Enjoy!
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