Second Watch audiobook

I was provided an ARC of this title to review.Authors like J.A. Jance who speak through many different characters amaze me. Each character has their own distinct and separate personality. Initially, I discovered J.A. Jance through the Joanna Brady series, but quickly went on to read her other series. If I've ever had a crush on a character, it would be J.P. Beaumont, investigator for the state of Washington. In Second Watch (which was released on September 10, 2013) Beaumont has just come out of knee replacement surgery--both knees at once! He's dreaming or hallucinating, and his past comes hurtling into the present.J.P. Beaumont is visited by the ghost of his first homicide victim and the ghost of the man who saved his life back in Vietnam in 1966. He had made a vow to the mother of the first victim that he never fulfilled: he had never been able to discover the identity of the person who killed her and left her body in a barrel of dirty cooking grease. As memories come flooding back about Vietnam, he feels the need all these years later to contact the fiance of the man who saved his life.While Jance tells the tale of these two ghosts, seamlessly weaving the past and present together, Beaumont is forced to face other facts. How did he get his promotion into the homicide division of the Seattle Police Department when one wasn't available? Who perpetuated the tale that his first homicide victim was killed by Ted Bundy? Who altered records and stole evidence?This book made me cry. Jance states on her website: "Once you read it, I think you'll agree that this story belongs to so many in my generation who remain haunted by the Vietnam war." Through Beaumont, I hope she was able to put some of her own ghosts to rest.Read this book and be prepared to live through Beaumont's ghosts. Jance has a way of making them your own.This review originally appeared on my blog Motherhoot.com

This has to be my favorite J.A.Jance novel yet, It is sort of a prequel, but takes place now. If you haven't read her books yet, you owe it to yourself to start NOW!!! This is book #21 of a series, but I feel it can be read as a stand alone book, as it goes back before her first J.P. Beaumont novel

While undergoing double knee replacement surgery, Inspector J.P. Beaumont recalls his first unsolved case while in the hospital in which the body of a young woman was found in a barrel of cooking oil. He persuades his boss to re-open the case and things start to go bad for the officer assigned to assist him. A massive four decade coverup is soon apparent.

JP finally has both knees replaced and will on pain medicine he has dreams about one of his first murders cases that was never solved. He has to figure out what happened and gets the cold case reopened. He also comes to terms with his time in the service and a buddy's death.

Second Watch by J.A. Jance is a 2013 William Morrow publication. In the ever evolving world of J.P. Beaumont we much face the facts and accept J.P. Is aging, and so we open the story with our favorite homicide detective going in for duel knee replacement surgery. OUCH!Coming out of anesthesia, Beaumont has a vision or hallucination in the recovery room that has him thinking back on the first case he worked as a detective. He had promised the victim's mother he would find out whomurdered her daughter, but as the cases began piling up, Beaumont and his partner just couldn't keep up and the murder wound up being accredited to Ted Bundy although there was no real evidence to back that up, so the case went cold. Now Beaumont feels compelled to look into the matter while he is laid up. He also finds that without his wife around at the moment, and his being stationary, his memories are flooding back in regards to more than an old case. His military background also has a few open chapters Beaumont would like to see closed. His old friend Joanna Brady gives him a hand with this part of the story. Beaumont can't work cases like he once did and so it stands to reason he might need some repairs done to his body, while his mind is still quite sharp and active. This case takes him to a place he never dreamed it would when his investigation gets someone very upset and more murders occur. Meanwhile, Mel has her hands full with a public relations nightmare, leaving Beaumont to his own devices. I have stated many times that of the three series Jance writes, Beaumont is my favorite. ( I also like his teaming up with Joanna) Beaumont is more complicated and ridden with more demons, and his stories are always unique and perhaps a touch darker than the other two series. Beaumont fans might find this one a little off the beaten path from what they have come to expect, but I enjoy seeing cold cases solved, so this installment was especially rewarding. I know that as Beaumont grows older his life will change and the dynamic of the series will reflect those changes, but still, Beaumont is a tough, no nonsense, old school detective and always will be. 4 stars

So, I wonder why I've not got around to reading this writer! But, I thoroughly enjoyed this jaunt down murder, cold case, suicide, crookedness in a police department and let's not forget getting old!IYou see, first line is "getting old"--- and having to recuperate from double knee replacement! Yep! Getting'old is a b#$4%h!!!Enough of that.. Love the setting here and the cityscape and general area in our North sound areas! You see, I recognize all the areas described in this story and it's right on!But I digress. The recuperating detective and his wife solve a very cold case..sadly tho a detective assigned to help was murdered. And it was because of helping to solve a case.I found that I did enjoy reading this writer! And that she's from my neck of the woods! And because this is all part of a series, you can be assured I will be reading more!So! Go grab yourself a snack and a drink cold or hot, and sneak a peak at this story! Perhaps you too, will come to enjoy J.A.'s writing!--P/

There's that case that lingers in the mind of every single cop. The one that will never go away. The one in which the victim can never rest. For Detective J.P. Beaumont, that is the case that happened forty years ago. The one that was simply tagged at the Girl in the Barrel. The only reason that it remains on J.P.'s mind is that while undergoing double knee replacement surgery, he's been haunted by the ghost of Monica Wellington, the girl in the barrel. She reminds him of the promise he made to her mother, Hannah, that they would never rest until the case was solved. And they hadn't solved it. Like another cold case, this one torments the sleeping hours while J.P. recovers in the hospital. Taken back to that time period in rich detail through his dreams he remembers the case as if it just happened. Yet something besides the ghost of Monica is plaguing his sleep. It is why they were never able to solve that case. Taking into consideration, that things like DNA testing and technology were not as prevalent as they are today, he's hoping that he can finally solve the case and lay both Monica's spirit and his conscience to rest. Now his only issue with not being able to walk or drive is how to reopen a case that was sealed forty years ago while he remains in the hospital? Just what would be his reasoning? He knew that sharing that the ghost of Monica was haunting his dreams wouldn't pass, so he opted for the case that was never solved that every cop wants to see come to a resolved end. J.P. only ghost however isn't just Monica, he's also seeing Lt. Lennie Davis or Lennie D as his friends referred to him. Lennie has something he needs J.P. to do and he can't rest until there is peace in his life, the one he never was able to return home to after serving in Vietnam. So J.P. is once more transported back to Vietnam and that fateful day that changed both of their lives forever. I received Second Watch by best selling author J.A. Jance compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for a favorable review. This is a first for me, reading J.A. Jance's novels but I absolutely LOVED this one. It truly is a must read for fans of crime murder mystery's or shows like Criminal Minds. In fact while reading it I heard Jack Webb (Dragnet) as the narrator's voice so it really made the novel that believable for me. The flash backs into J.P.'s past were well done and gave you insight into what is the character's motivation to find have absolution and resolution in his life in each of this situations, with one being personal with his past in Vietnam, one he hasn't even shared with his wife and fellow cop, Mel. This is one of those novels that you will think about long after it's over primarily because it's that real. I rate this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars and look forward to reading more from J.A. Vance in the near future.

First, I have to admit that I've been a Jance fan for many years. I love her Sheriff Joanna Brady series but I'm just as much a fan of J. P. Beaumont, her Seattle homicide detective. Earlier this year I read her novella about Beau called Ring in the Dead and if you also read it, you have a kind of head start on characters and locations in Second Watch. Reading that one isn't necessary before reading this one though.The novella ended with Beau's wife, Mel Soames, driving him to the hospital to have a double knee replacement. Second Watch begins there. Since I was in the hospital part of the time I was reading this book, the part where he is gradually awakening from anesthesia and he's in that weird place where you just don't know for sure what's real and what isn't, I was laughing in empathy. During the drug-induced dreams post-op Beau is visited by two "ghosts" from his past, both of which send him on an investigation.The first is the victim in his first murder case as a homicide detective, and while we're at it, that promotion was so sudden as to be positively hinky. The investigation is intense and pulls skeletons out of many closets. The second visitor was his lieutenant in Vietnam. The guy had loaned him a paperback copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, insisting he read it. Later the book saved his life when schrapnel dug into the book rather than his chest. Suddenly Beau is determined to learn more about the guy and the girl Lennie D. had been engaged to.All of the characters are, as usual for Jance, excellent but one will have you laughing out loud. Since the doctor won't let Beau go home alone and Mel is out of town on an important case, he hires a nurse his doorman knows. She is one of those old-fashioned nurses who gives you your marching orders and you had better behave, or else. It doesn't take Beau long to learn that if he wants to live, he should shut up and do what she says. You will absolutely love her.Please read the afterword. It tells us one reason the characters in this one are obviously created from the heart. Hint: the lieutenant was from Bisbee where Jance grew up.Recommended highly. Please do read this book. As they say, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll have a wonderful time. This is one you'll sigh and hold to your heart as you turn the last page.Source: publisher via Partners in Crime Book Tours

Entertaining story of a police detective who undergoes bilateral knee replacements and, thanks to powerful narcotics, has hallucinations about "unfinished business " from his past. A few interesting twists.

What can you say about A. J. Jance's writing. She has done it again. The story flows through even though she blending 3 different periods of time. 1966, 1973 and the presence time in doing so she has honour the Vietnam Vets. There were tears in my eyes as I finished the story. Had to read it again at once. I have like her stories from the time I read the first one. This one is one of her best.

Following a double knee replacement operation, state homicide investigator J. P. Beaumont is inspired by drug-fueled dreams to reopen a forty-year-old unsolved murder case, the one that led indirectly to his promotion from patrolman to detective. To his great surprise and dismay, four decades later there's still someone willing to kill to prevent the truth coming out.

Beau is feeling his age and finally goes in for knee replacements. While recovering, he has disturbing drug-induced dreams which urge him to act on two unresolved issues from his past: his first homicide case which remains unsolved and his experience in Vietnam with the loss of his commanding officer. Driven to resolve these matters, he has the old case reopened, thereby opening a violent can of worms affecting the case in its original time as well as extending all the way to the present, and he also manages to reconnect with his Army buddies and find the former fiancee of his Lieutenant in a powerful story based on Jance's personal experiences in Bisbee, Arizona, in the 1960s. There is a lot going on in this book, and it moves along quickly. My favorite part, though, was her extended note at the end telling how the idea for the story was born and developed. Another great read from one of my favorite authors!