What You See: another thrilling installment in Hank Phillippi Ryan’s award-winning Jane Ryland mystery series. Why would a father abduct his own child? A wedding is planned in Jane Ryland’s family, but there’s a disaster instead. Nine-year-old Gracie-supposed to be the flower girl-has been taken by her stepdad. Where are they? Is the girl in danger? Reporter Jane Ryland learns there’s a limit to … there’s a limit to the bonds of family-and learns to her peril what happens when loved ones are pushed too far.
Meanwhile, Detective Jake Brogan’s got a doozy of a case. At Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall, a man is stabbed to death in front of a crowd of tourists snapping photos of the murder on their cell phones. Solving the case should be easy, but the pictures and surveillance video lead him to a dark conspiracy of extortion and stolen lives.
Jane and Jake must explore where their loyalties lie-to each other? To their families? To their careers? If they make the wrong decision, the consequences could be fatal.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Jane Ryland (who we met in three previous books in the series) has quit her job as a newspaper reporter and is now working freelance when she gets an intriguing new assignment from Channel 2’s news director: covering a stabbing near Boston’s famed Faneuil Hall. Her boyfriend, Jake Brogan, is a BPD detective—and has been assigned to the same stabbing. They’re looking for footage of the event, via mobile phones and surveillance cameras. And then, in a seemingly unrelated subplot, Jane becomes involved in the kidnapping of a child—by the girl’s stepfather.
Readers who—like me—have watched far too many British crime dramas, will be well familiar with the CCTV coverage of nearly every street, building, and intersection in London; but Americans have an uneasy relationship with surveillance cameras, and Ryan invites us to think more deeply about the issue and weigh cameras’ usefulness… and ethics.
Ryan knows the worlds she describes so well here (she is herself in the broadcast news business), and there’s a real sense of relaxing and trusting her to get it all right. That goes for the venue as well: if you’ve never been to Boston, you’ll gain a strong sense of the city here—I love novels that take place in real locales—and for those of us who know Boston, the places she describes are familiar and recognizable.
It’s also a delight to watch Jane learn and change and grow throughout the series. A lot of authors say they develop characters; Ryan actually does it. This book manages to be fast-paced and thoughtful at the same time—something of a feat. Highly recommended!
relationships, deception, betrayal, love. another winner.
What you see is what you get – a GREAT read!
This is the 4th book in this series. Jane is a reporter (currently unemployed) in Boston and Jake Brogan is a BPD detective. They have an on-again, off-again relationship and trying to keep it away from their respective supervisors.
This book involves a murder in broad daylight and a possible child abduction. Jake is investigating the murder. Jake’s case has too many witnesses but could it have been recorded? It took place right outside City Hall and they have surveillance cameras but were the cameras actually recording? Did any of the witnesses see anything or capture anything on their own phones?
Jane is in the office of a TV station when the call comes in about the murder and she agrees to cover the story for the station “per diem”. While she’s at the site of the murder, her sister (Melissa) frantically calls her to inform Jane that Melissa’s fiancee’s daughter has been abducted.
While Jane focuses on solving her family issues, Jake, running on pure adrenaline, attempts to solve the murder.
This was another new author for me. The novel is well written, but it may progress more slowly than many would like. On the other hand, you may like getting to know the characters in more depth as I did. The story line is complicated with twists and turns and the main characters are likeable. There are a couple of things that are somewhat unbelievable, but otherwise, the plot seemed okay. The last half of the book is more intense than the first half, but the action continues throughout the book.
Reporter Jane Ryland is hoping that a freelance assignment she’s been given might be her ticket to a new job. She’s covering a stabbing in mid-day in a Boston park. However, she’s barely arrived on the scene when her sister calls with news that could lead to a family crisis. Can Jane balance the two?
Really, this book deftly blends two different plots into one compelling book. I did find it a little slow at first as it the stories build and the new characters are introduced, but once it gets going, I couldn’t put it down. Jane and her boyfriend, detective Jake Brogan, are fantastic lead characters, and it’s always great to see them back in action.
I received an ARC of this book from the author after doing her a small favor. I have also met her several times. But neither has affected my opinion of this book.
What a tangled web we weave…
Lies and keeping the truth from others forms the crux of several plotlines running through this novel. Elected officials, spouses, children, parents, and witnesses practicing one or the other cause Jane and Jake no end of trouble in this fourth excellent entry in the series.
Ryan again takes several seemingly unrelated threads and weaves them into whole cloth by the end. For once a cover blurb (Ryan is one of the most adept masters of plot on the planet – John Lescroart) is absolutely on the money. The tension is high, the pacing is dead on, and the story flows as smooth as a quiet stream.
Jane and Jake’s relationship continues to evolve as they try to balance their personal and professional lives.
I hope this is not the last we’ll see of Jane and Jake.