Reader reviews

• cdnshopaholic

  (4/5)

  This was another great book in the Selena Alvarez/Regan Pescoli series. The book has a crazy serial killer and two strong women detectives. In previous books the focus was more on the Regan Pescoli character, but this one focused on Selena Alvarez and her background. It was an absorbing read that I didn't want to put down.
• Mary Ladner

  (5/5)

  I enjoyed this book very much can’t my interest all the way through
  
  
  
• Jen Henderson

  (5/5)

  Thank you for not killing the dog!!! I liked the rest too
• booksgaloreca

  (4/5)

  This was another great book in the Selena Alvarez/Regan Pescoli series. The book has a crazy serial killer and two strong women detectives. In previous books the focus was more on the Regan Pescoli character, but this one focused on Selena Alvarez and her background. It was an absorbing read that I didn't want to put down.
• chymekeeper

  (5/5)

  This book definately kept me on my toes. Everytime i thought it was this character no it wasnt. Then that character no it wasnt. It was a guessing game and a good one at that . You have to read it ....
• miyurose_1

  (4/5)

  This was enjoyable. I haven’t read the other books of the series, but there’s enough background to give you the gist of things. I do find it a little odd that serial killers keep ending up in this tiny Montana town during the holidays, but it wouldn’t be the first fictional location to see more than its share of strangeness. I found the tie to Selena’s past to be interesting, and the killer’s methods compelling. Also, the author does a nice job of using the weather and terrain to her favor. So, nothing exciting, but not a bad read with a satisfying bit of romance.
• gma2lana

  (4/5)

  Enjoyable book, However, I felt that the ending was rather abrupt, as if the author ran out of time and had to finish the story. I guess it could have been a bit more detailed for me.
• dearheart_1

  (4/5)

  This fourth book in the Selena Alvarez/Regan Pescoli series is my first experience with a book written by this author. I was hooked very early into the story that is more mystery/suspense than romance.The story is mainly told through Detectives Alvarez and Pescoli, but we also get into the minds of some of the victims, the serial killer, those that find the bodies and Dylan O’Keefe, now a PI who had once worked with Alvarez in the San Bernadino PD until she’d messed up and a set-up went horribly wrong.Grizzly Falls, MT has a new serial killer who is having a problem with the fact that the police and media aren’t considering each ice sculpture containing a dead naked woman in them the work of art he’d put so much effort into creating and displaying. Alvarez starts to realize with the second body found that the only thing the women are wearing is a piece of her jewelry which had disappeared. The killings have become personal.Alvarez had last seen O’Keefe years ago in San Bernadino so he’s the last person she expects to see chasing after a teenager who’d run into her house. All of her closely guarded secrets become unveiled when realizing there is a good chance the boy, adopted son of O’Keefe’s cousin, is the baby she’d given up for adoption. The boy is in trouble and O’Keefe had been hired by his cousin to find him. They've both still got feelings for the other, but her feelings and history scare her and she'd run away from him once already.The characters were alive for me. I felt for each of them; frustration, fear, anger, relief, determination and hope. The emotions ran the gamut. Now add in tension, suspense, a personal breakthrough and action, and you’ve got a well-rounded story. A good chunk of the book moved at a fairly fast clip, although there were a few areas that could have been tightened up a little more.Reviewed for Library Thing.
• bookdivasreads

  (4/5)

  Ms. Jackson has, once again, managed to create a story that pulled me in. AFRAID TO DIE provides more insight into Selena Alvarez, especially her back-story, and links it to the serial killer and a runaway. As with most of Ms. Jackson's serial novels, each book provides more information on the lives of the primary characters, and AFRAID TO DIE helped to humanize Selena. A great mystery-suspense read.
• twylyghtbay

  (5/5)

  I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read a Lisa Jackson book in several years and was quite surprised at how gripping and suspenseful this one remained throughout the book. I haven't read the prior books in the series. This one still made sense and made me interested in reading the prior books. I've been reading primarily paranormal books and was surprised how well this story maintained my interest.
• caitemaire

  (3/5)

  It's Christmas, and what says Christmas more than a serial killer?OK, well this serial killer has a special wintery twist. Not does he just kill woman, but he freezes them to death and leaves them around town, encased in ice, frozen sculptures. He is an artist in Murder. This is fourth book in this series by Jackson, but the first one that I read.Which maybe is my problem with this book, although I really do not think so.Because I did have a problem.While it is not a bad book, I did not love it.If I had been more vested in the characters, with Selena and her love interest Dylan O'Keefe and her partner Detective Regan Pescoli would I have liked it more? Maybe, but honestly, I should not have to read the whole series to like this one in my opinion. I have said this before, but I think ever book in a series has to be able to be read as a standalone and still enjoyed, or the author is not doing their job.But that was not my biggest issue with this book. My biggest problem perhaps was with the killer and how he is portrayed..or not portrayed. Even though there are a number of chapters from his point of view, I never felt I understood his motivation. Even worse, I did not felt a sense of fear, or evil, or danger from him. I never really felt much of a sense of suspense. Woman disappears... frozen body found. Woman disappears, frozen body found. Police getting nowhere. Another woman disappears..bet you can guess what happens. Yes, frozen body found, police are still clueless. The ending felt rushed..after a long, wandering middle...and never felt real as to how he was caught, why he did it. I actually went back and reread part because I though I had missed something. And maybe worse, it left a lot of questions hanging in my mind, something I hate in a mystery.There is lots of Selena and her 'love him/hate him/fall in bed with him' relationship with O'Keefe and her Big Secret..which is not that much of a secret. Lots of Pescoli and her very badly behaving teenagers..who are in need of some Tough Love in my book. These are not very interesting, especially those kids, and take up way too much of the book in my opinion.As I said, it is not a bad book. It is well written, the dialogue is pretty good, some interesting characters ( and a few not) and I liked the setting. But then I love the cold.Fans of Ms. Jackson may enjoy this book and fans of the previous books in the series may want to read the latest installment. But I can not honestly say reading this book makes me want to run out and read more of Jackson books and in my mind, that is very telling.
• joyfiction_1

  (4/5)

  Well enough written book with some good characterization and some scary points. It was a pleasant enough read that I may in fact read it again- even if I could use with a little less mention of the Christmas holidays. Once it’s established that it’s around Christmas it doesn’t seem pertinent to bring it up over and over again. Besides that, however, Afraid To Die is a good book- even if you haven’t read the other books with these characters.
• bookbeat

  (4/5)

  It’s almost Christmas in Grizzly Falls, Montana, where the winters are brutal and the killers even more so. Detectives Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli must work around the clock to stop this killer, all while still dealing with their personal lives. The background history of the main characters is interwoven into the story so that reading the previous books is not necessary. However, after you read Afraid to Die, I am sure you will want to. Lisa Jackson is one of my favorite authors, and she never disappoints. Highly recommend this book.
• bookworm1954

  (5/5)

  I am now reading what is the 4th book of this series. Lisa Jackson makes me fall in love with her characters, it's like I know them. Every book of hers I have ever read, and there's alot is incredible. If you want suspense, crime, romance all in one you will want to pick up this series. Or, any of her books for that matter.
• traann_1

  (4/5)

  “Afraid to Die” is the fourth book in Lisa Jackson’s Selena Alvarez/Regan Pescoli thrillers and she does not disappoint her fans of this series. She picks up the lives of Selena and Regan about a year after “Born to Die” ends. We learn more about who Selena is and how she developed into the character we know and love. Regan is still battling her children and as a parent you can totally relate to all of the little problems that come up. We get to see Regan and Selena’s romantic lives develop with the men in their lives as well as the now expected Christmas rituals that happen around the station that add to the richness of the characters that allow you to feel as if you are a part of the story. Along with all of this is the very unsettling story of a serial killer who is drawing in Selena and her past by introducing items of hers to each crime scene. Lisa Jackson does not disappoint with the creepiness of the serial killer and the unique way the victims are killed and discovered.There is some predictability to the series, there is the setting, the cases all seem to crop up at the holidays year after year. There are the issues with Regan’s children who as teens whose behavior is similar to so many teens we all know. There are the holiday preparations that occur down at the police station and the odd residents of the town. Some may not enjoy the repetition but then again this is what makes the characters seem so real and like someone from your own neighborhood. I look forward to the next chapter in the Alvarez/Pescoli to Die for series.
• debralu_1

  (2/5)

  A fan of Ms. Jackson's I was glad to have snagged her new book. However, the reading was a disappointment. I found that too much emphasis was placed on the main detectives, Pescoli and Alvarez, personal feelings about everything but the case to which they were assigned, a serial killer. I found myself skimming over way too many pages, which I found boring and redundant. The crime itself as well as the identity of the killer were intriguing but not well developed or presented.