"Great storytelling"

NSA Agent Daniel Chaplain completes a case only to see the name Isabella Q appear on a sex chat line that is on the open web page of a computer of the enemy along with an electronic message from Lokus, Cyber Soldier, the premier hacker in the world. He wonders if this could be his Bella who he betrayed four years ago when he proved her father falsified scientific data. He heads to the Northern Peninsular of Michigan, but wonders if it is to see Bella, see her safe, or confront her if she is Lokus.

Bella is driving home on terribly icy conditions when she is run off the road. Daniel arrives to rescue her from hypothermia, but she hides Fran an artificial intelligence computer that she created using her defrocked father's design. She plans to unveil Fran at the Turing Competition in three weeks. However, Lokus knows Bella has a major find and plans to take it from her at any cost including murder; only Daniel can keep the two females safe, but Bella does not trust him although Fran seems to have faith in their man.

JIGSAW is a tense science fiction romantic suspense thriller that never slows down from the moment Bella is run off the road until the final confrontation with Lokus. The story line is action-packed, but it is the relationships between Daniel and Bella, and Bella and Fran (think of Johnny Five is alive) that make the tale spin as she needs him to survive, but distrusts him with her beloved Fran, a daughter to Bella. Fans will appreciate this fine tale that puts plenty of heart in the middle of a strong artificial intelligence story.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 14, 2005

Summary

SHE'D PUT HERSELF IN HIS HANDS BEFORE...
Headlights in a blizzard, a car following too close, too fast, left Bella Quintera wrecked by the side of the road. Such reckless driving, especially in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, seemed ominous. The identity of her rescuer confirmed Bella's fears. Years before, Daniel Champlain had been her lover, but the relationship was one she strove to forget. The NSA agent's rugged good looks still haunted her- as did his betrayal.

BUT NOT HER LIFE
She'd watched him destroy her father; now Daniel demanded Bella listen. She was in danger. He wanted to know about her new creation, about its implications for national security. What she'd designed was worth killing for; but was a master criminal truly after her-or was it Daniel, again pursuing his ambition, thoughtlessly flipping her life upside down? The peril was real, no game like the jigsaw puzzles she made in her spare time. And this puzzle had missing pieces: the ones that showed whom she could trust.