I didn't know this was the 15th book in the series when I requested it, therefore I didn't read this book. I've heard only great things about JA Jance and I am going to read some of the other books and possibly come back to this one late.

This was my first book from this author but certainly won’t be my last. Such a good story. Good character development

This is the fifteenth in the Ali Reynold’s series. I enjoy this series. It has a strong woman at it’s core that is well supported with other strong individuals. This is a standalone book, there is enough of the back story given so if this is the first you have read, you will not be lost and if you’ve read them all you won’t be nauseated with regurgitation.

I liked the iffy-ness of bringing back Frigg, an AI that was created for evil. Will Ali and B. Simpson and crew figure out who is trying to kill the Arch -Bishop before it’s too late. The twists, turns, and mis-directions were wonderful. I finished the book in one sitting.

I highly recommend this book and series. I was given an e-copy ARC after the publication of the book. I would like to that the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I am not required to leave a positive review.

Jance touches on a subject that has appeared in the news multiple times over the years—molestation of young boys by Catholic priests. This book is not descriptive in that sense, but it does discuss how it is handled in the Church and by families. Although, this is a work of fiction, some may find the topic to be offensive. Having said that, I believe that this was handled in an appropriate manner. This book was cleverly written. The impact of the choices made by the priest are far-reaching and affect many people differently. It’s all about the choices. I loved this book! Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Because my library’s selection of new large print books is limited, I’m always recommending that patrons give ebooks a try so they can adjust the print size. I know my mom loves JA Jance novels but prefers print and doesn’t usually read ebooks so I requested Credible Threat and asked her to give the ebook a chance. I’ll be using her feedback to share with those who prefer print and are reluctant to give ebooks a try.
As for the book, my mom says those that like the Father Brown tv series should read Credible Threat. She shared the book detailed as the plot progressed and we enjoyed seeing if Rachel would find redemption and if Ali would save the day.

3.75 stars

This is the fifteenth book in the Ali Reynolds series by J.A. Jance.

This book is about a mother seeking revenge for the treatment of her son by a local priest.

I am a big fan of Jance’s other series but this one just didn’t grab me for some reason. I thought it was good. The character development was on point and I could feel the pain of the mother who lost her son.

This is really a story for the current times. Great mystery and I plan to try my hat at other books in this series but may not do it quickly. If you love a good mystery, check this one out for sure.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

In my opinion you can't ever go wrong reading a J.A. Jance book. This is the 15th book in the series and it's as riveting as the previous ones. Ali is a smart, tough character and she'll stop at nothing to succeed. This book is a real page turner that's hard to put down once you start. You know immediately in this book who the "villian" is and why she is targeting the Catholic Church but that's not a distraction from the fact that this is just a sound, well written mystery.

Ali Reynolds and her husband B. Simpson are friends with Archbishop Francis Gillespie of Phoenix. Because Ali and B. are owners of High Noon Enterprises-a cybersecurity firm, Archbishop Gillespie seeks their help when he receives death threats. The death threats are been discovered in the collection baskets throughout the diocese. Jance's plot involves a current crisis facing the Catholic Church, pedophile priests and the way the Church handled this problem in the past and the repercussions facing families today. Ali and B are there to help their friend and the Phoenix Police Dept.

Credible Threat by J. A. Jance is book fifteen in her Ali Reynolds series, featuring a former newscaster turned cybersecurity specialist. This is the second book I’ve read in the series, and I enjoyed both and had no problems following the stories without having read the entire series.

Seventy-year-old Rachel Higgins has never gotten over her son’s fatal drug overdose. She and her husband have both withdrawn into themselves, creating a lonely existence. When old mementos lead her to re-evaluate her son’s last years, she comes to the conclusion that David was abused by a local pedophile priest and is determined to get revenge on her son’s behalf. Rachel becomes obsessed with the highest ranking church official in her area, Archbishop Francis Gillespie, and makes a plan.

High Noon Enterprises, the security firm owned by Ali Reynolds and her husband, B. Simpson, has been hired by Archbishop Francis Gillespie to find and stop the person threatening his life. The Archbishop knows he’s truly being targeted, though the police don’t believe the threat to be credible. With her husband out of the country, Ali is on her own against a threat that sometimes seems intangible. When the abstract morphs into a flesh and blood killer, Ali must make a tentative alliance with a local cop.

Credible Threat is another great addition to a successful series. The characters are strong and vibrant. Ali delivers as always. The plot is intriguing and holds the reader’s attention throughout. There are great twists at just the right time. I completely enjoyed this novel. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to all lovers of mystery.

My thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

Credible Threat is another solid hit by JA Jance. This author always gives readers a great story, solid, familiar characters and criminals that you love to hate....even when you shouldn't. We learn at the first of the book that our criminal in this case is a mother whose son committed suicide. She has discovered evidence that he was driven to this by abuse at the hands of his coach at his Catholic school. Since she is unable to avenge her grief on the coach, she has chosen the Archbishop as her target. Enter High Noon Enterprises.
The local police have refused to investigate the threats to his life, so the Archbishop has asked his friends at High Noon to investigate and report. As the avenging mother moves closer to her target, with lots of collateral damage along the way, the story heats up to the point where you are NOT going to put this book down for anything. I have to admit to a few gasps of OH NO along the way, but the end was so good. Great job, again.

J. A. Jance has never written a novel that didn't grab the reader immediately and keep you riveted.
I just think that it's a little too science fiction for me. Her novels always leave you wanting more!

Jance is a prolific novelist, with three long-running series to her name. Credible Threat is the fifteenth in the Ali Reynolds series. Thanks go to Net Galley and Gallery Books for the review copy; this book is for sale now.

The star rating is a tricky thing sometimes. In this case, I wonder whether, had I never read anything by this author, I might tack on that fifth star. It’s the curse of the brilliant, being measured against oneself, but ultimately, I couldn’t help comparing this mystery to The A List, which came before it.

What I like—a good deal, in fact—is the trajectory Jance has taken with this series, making all of the important characters women. In addition to protagonist Reynolds, we have the villain, Rachel Higgins; a third long-running character is the AI named Frigg, who identifies as female. Two key assistants are female, and Sister Anselm, a nun friend of Reynolds, also plays a key role. There are men here, of course. There’s the victim, Father Andrew, who doesn’t last long, and the intended victim, Father Gillespie, who has the meatiest male role in this installment. Ali’s spouse is the co-owner of High Noon, the security firm through which Ali is drawn into one mystery after another, but he is conveniently called out of the country early in the game.

The story begins with a call from Archbishop Gillespie, a friend of B, Ali’s husband. He’s been getting a whole string of threatening notes placed in offertory collections all over the Phoenix area. The police have brushed him off already, and he’d like the matter handled discreetly. He is concerned about his would-be killer’s soul.

Our killer, meanwhile—whom we know right up front, so I’m not giving anything away here—is grieving, embittered, and unhinged. She has recently discovered clues in her late son’s memorabilia collection that suggest his addiction and suicide were the outcome of his molestation at the hands of the swimming coach at the Catholic high school he attended. The coach has died of AIDS, and Higgins still wants somebody to pay for her son’s death; an eye for an eye. Since it’s clear to everyone that the Roman Catholic Church stonewalled and swept abuses under the rug for generations, it makes sense, she decides, to go right to the top. But clearly, even if she were up for international travel, it would be absurd to attempt killing the Pope. Who’s in charge locally, then? Archbishop Gillespie. And so Rachel commences to plan Gillespie’s murder, sending the missives in advance so everyone will know why he had to go. She finds a fall guy to frame for her crime and is off and running.

My first impression is that this story is substantially similar to the last Reynolds mystery, in which a mother planned to commit murders to avenge her son. I’m surprised a pro like Jance would slip like this. But that’s my sole complaint.

I love the way Jance battles stereotypes, and in this case, it’s the Catholic clergy—the good ones—that benefit. Though the layers of abusers, sexual and otherwise, are deep and wide, I bristle at the cracks that are made by comics and the general public almost reflexively about all priests. I have known some wonderful men that abused nothing and nobody, who gave up marriage and family in order to spend their entire lives in the service of others, via the Church. Not all nuns are frustrated savages looking to beat children with rulers; not all priests are pedophiles. The way Jance takes that apart makes me want to stand up and cheer.

The clever loophole that Ali finds and that Gillespie widens with regard to Frigg’s extralegal snooping is terrific.

Whether we call it four stars or five, this is a solid mystery and a good deal of fun. I recommend it to you wholeheartedly.

I will read any book written by JA Jance. As usual, this was an amazing Ali and B book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved reading the next in the series and seeing old characters. Thank you for the Advanced Copy; I cannot wait to recommend this one!

As usual, Jance delivers in this latest Ali Reynolds mystery. Up to this book, I was beginning to think that Jance was depending too much on violence to motivate readers. I was glad to see this mystery concerning death threats to the Phoenix Catholic archbishop returning to more thinking than blood. I love the AI Frigg and seeing how Frigg’s abilities continue to be an important part of an investigation. If you haven’t read previous books in this series, this can be read as a stand-alone, but having the background from previous books makes it much more enjoyable.

Rachel Higgins has been living in the shadow of her son’s death for years, it isn’t until a box with his few possessions is delivered to her that she takes the time to put the pieces together. What the story tells is a nightmare for any parent. Father Needham, the swim coach at St. Francis High, was behind the destruction of several students. Systematically he picked his victim, groomed them, and until the Church became aware went undetected. Once Archbishop Francis Gillespie was made aware, Needham was sent to prison. But the damage was done and Rachael is determined to hold Francis Gillespie accountable for allowing the assaults to continue, for the death of her son, and the destruction of her marriage. Systematically, she begins to leave threats and when the day comes, she will take the final step and hold the Archbishop personally accountable.

Unable to brush the threats aside, Gillespie approaches High Noon Enterprises owned by Ali and her husband. With their help and that of Figg, the clues all begin to point to one person. A person who has taken all precautions to complete her task. But what Rachel wasn’t prepared for was the grace of Francis Gillespie and the words she has waited years to hear.

There are multiple layers to this story and multiple viewpoints, but the only one which matters and that will be the path the reader follows. There was a different depth to this book than the previous in the series. A smoother flow and a deeper connection to the characters. Having wondered in the past if I was going to continue with this series, this book has cemented me into sticking with Ali and her team, no matter where J. A. Jance takes us next.

I love J. A. Jance novels, and her Ali Reynolds series is my favorite. I live in Scottsdale, AZ, so I enjoy reading stories that take place in Phoenix and Sedona where I recognize the streets, highways, and landmarks. In this latest offering, Ali and her husband B. are called upon by the Catholic Archbishop who has been receiving veiled threats by way of collection/offering envelopes left throughout the district. The reader meets the perpetrator early on in the novel. It's a 60-something woman who discovers that the cause of her son's suicide years earlier was a predatory priest who coached his high school swim team. Even though the Archbishop was actually instrumental in ridding the church of pedophiles and bringing them to justice, Rachel still holds him responsible.

Jance is a wonderful writer, and Credible Threat is a great read. Even though it #15 in the series, it reads well as a stand-alone. If it's your first introduction to Ali Reynolds, you'll definitely want to go back and read the entire series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I loved every page of this novel.

4.5 stars.

I’m a big fan of J.A. Jance and her Ali Reynolds series. This is one of the better books in the series.

You know what is happening, or going to happen, in the very beginning. Rachel, whose son died from an accidental overdose, plans to kill the local Archbishop after she realizes he was sexually abused by a priest who coached his swim team in high school.

The Archbishop realizes someone might be out to get him because Rachel has put threatening notes in the collection basket at various Catholic churches around town. He turns to Ali Reynolds and her team to see if they can find out who has been writing the notes.

Jance’s writing keeps you interested and it’s another win in the Ali Reynold’s series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for receiving an advanced copy. The book came out on June 2, 2020.

Credible Threat by JA Jance is the newest in the Ali Reynolds series and a good one, not that they aren't always. Ali and B's friend, Bishop Francis Gillespie, has been threatened. When the Phoenix Police don't think it's credible, he calls upon his friends at High Noon to help him. He seems safe at his compound just off Lincoln Drive but one can never be too careful in today's world. Meanwhile, just yards from his home lurks a broken woman who has just put together a set of clues which lead her to believe that her son had been molested during his years at St. Francis High School, leading to his death from an overdose. She is wild with grief all over again, but slowly starts for form a plan. The priest who molested him is now dead...from AIDS...but she can hold others to account. Most specifically: the Bishop.

Jance has spent years building characters that a read wants to be involved with. Ali Reynolds has gone from angry news anchor dismissed because of ageism, to beloved wife of a younger man and partner in a high-end cyber-security firm. She leads a good life surrounded by her husband, her parents, her son and daughter-in-law, and her grandchildren. Her work is challenging. Who else would receive phone calls from an advanced AI (artificial intelligence) named Frigg who has become an integral part of the team, as well as the comic relief. Frigg, originally developed by a criminal mastermind, has had to be retrained. Making him more human an ethical has its entertaining side. He has come to be one of the better characters in the series, certainly one of the more valuable, although everyone makes at least a small appearance. I have been a Jance fan for years, and Ali Reynolds, in particular. I recommend Credible Threat. Fan will find it satisfying and new readers will enjoy the fast-paced, private crime fighter.

I received a free ARC of Credible Threat from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #crediblethreat

J. A. Jance was one of the first mystery writers I fell in love with. I flew through her Joanna Brady series, and enjoyed her other two series. But the past two Ali Reynolds books just haven’t done it for me. I like my mysteries to be more rooted in realism and the intelligence of people. The introduction of “Frigg”, B’s AI, is just too much for me and feels too Sci Fi.
I liked the storyline and felt a mother seeking revenge for the loss of her son to Catholic pedophile abuse was realistic. Although I did struggle with the idea that she was so cavalier about collateral damage.
We learn a lot about Archbishop Gillespie, the victim. I’m not sure this served to advance the story at all. I was pleased by the ending, as it was a different approach than most mysteries.
I’m not sure I’ll be continuing with this series. It’s no longer working for me.
My thanks to netgalley and Gallery Books for an advance copy of this book.

Credible Threat by J.A. Jance is the 15th book in the Ali Reynolds series, and another great addition. I love all of Ms. Jance's books, they are always a wild roller coaster ride that keeps you reading until the very end. Ali Reynolds is helping her friend Archbishop Francis Gillespie find the person who is sending death threats. B. Simpson, Ali's husband is out of the country on a cybersecurity emergency, so Ali must do it without him. If you love thriller/mysteries, I strongly recommend this book/series, along with all the authors books.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.