Jodi Luna Book 2
Book Blurb:
New Mexico game warden Jodi Luna disrupts a murderous wilderness adventure in this thrilling second installment from Alisa Lynn Valdés, New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty Girls Social Club.
Former poetry professor Jodi Luna hasn’t quite adjusted to life as a game warden. Her boss thinks she’s better with animals than humans, and the man she’s seeing wants a real relationship. Still reeling from her husband’s death, Jodi has to admit that she keeps people at a distance.
After her new friend, wealthy actress Claudia Evans, gathers with family members in the New Mexico wilderness, Jodi gets some unsettling news—that Claudia’s brother-in-law is missing. Eager to help, Jodi ventures into the wild to investigate, only to be thwarted by a blizzard that leaves the entire group stranded at a fishing lodge.
Jodi is no stranger to extreme weather, but when these reluctant adventurers start turning up mauled around the snowed-in lodge, Jodi suspects the worst: This was no bear. This was murder.
And inside the snowy confines of this rustic hideaway, everyone is fair game…
…for a killer.
My Review:
Lest you assume this might be the ole people stuck in a blizzard and start disappearing you could be right.
With a couple caveats: Jodi Luna was raised in New Mexico and has returned to try and chill both she and her daughter following the death of her husband on the East Coast where she was a professor. Her fifteen year old daughter Mila, whether or not having witnessed the death of her dad, certainly sounds like a typical teenager to me and a pretty smart one at that. So it is her daughter who saves the day.
Hoping to turn their lives around, Jodi has gotten a job as the local game warden. She loves animals and knows how to handle most people and the situations involving them.
Her new supervisor assigns her a job requested by the governor as a favor and is clearly no request. She is to proceed to a ranch compound owned by a billionaire who is hosting his annual elk hunt on his palatial estate. Teddy Evans and his wife invited his brothers and a sister, and their spouses then splits leaving the guiding up to Jodi.
Of course, the siblings feel ridiculously entitled, are obnoxious, and the men less than thrilled over having a female guide. The wife just wants Jodi to help organize and keep them from killing each other.
Oops.
The property is massive, beautiful, and there’s a treacherous storm brewing that threatens to cancel the hunt (for animals anyway). They are high up in the mountains and isolated. Jodi brought her daughter along who transitions from Godzilla to brilliant loving daughter (I had a little disbelief there).
There is a little property that straddles the ingress/egress road to the ranch compound owned by a woman been there longer than dirt and has a pet bear. She can effectively stop traffic going through but there are far more reaching reasons why the billionaire wants her property.
Jodi seems pretty intelligent but makes a few decisions that I wondered whether might have been irrational. They discovered a body that appears to have been mauled and she is taking no chances and isolates everyone. Jodi is dealing with other issues as well and her job is in jeopardy.
So many conflicts, themes of family dysfunction, entitlement, greed, and trust are interwoven into a plausible plot. The storyline keeps a good pace, pushes some disbelief, throws in twists and adds complexity. It’s entertaining. The female protagonist reminded me a little of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series, although I think Pigeon is softer around the edges than Jodi who could become grating.
I enjoyed the book, it kept my interest. Thinking I’ll go back to Book #1 and catch up, although this could very well be read as a standalone.
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars 
Book Details:
Genre: Political Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers, Police Procedurals
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: 1662507151
ASIN: B0BTJC7JFR
Print Length: 331 pages
Publication Date: April 16, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s):
The Author: Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many novels. Published in 11 languages and with more than 1 million books in print, Alisa was named one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States by Time magazine; Latina magazine named her a Woman of the Year; Entertainment Weekly hailed her as a Breakout Literary Star; and Hispanic Business magazine has twice named her among the 100 Most Influential people in the nation. Alisa is a former staff writer for the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, and holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. Alisa is also a screenwriter and TV and film producer, and a playwright and composer with a bachelor’s from Berklee College of Music.
©2024 V Williams
Rosepoint Publishing 