He'll Choose Them. . .

Detective Regan Pescoli has worked the Star Crossed Killer case for months, never imagining she'd be captured by the madman she's been hunting. Regan knows exactly what he's capable of—and avoiding the same fate will take every drop of her courage and cunning.

Abduct Them. . .

Regan Pescoli is unlike any woman Nate Santana has met before. But now she's missing, and Nate knows something is dangerously wrong. The only person who can help him find her is Detective Selena Alvarez, Regan's partner. As Nate and Selena dig deeper into the Star-Crossed Killer case and the body count rises, the truth about Regan's disappearance becomes chillingly clear.

And Kill Them. . .

In the desolate Montana woods, evil is lurking. And with time running out, the only way to save Regan will be to get inside a killer's twisted mind and unravel a shocking message that is being revealed, one body at a time. . .

In this thin and clumsy thriller, a serial killer captures Det. Regan Pescoli, the smart, strong-willed star of 2008's Left to Die. The Star-Crossed Killer, plague of Montana's Bitterroot Mountains, kidnaps injured women, tends them until they are healthy again, then photographs them and leaves them to die of exposure. With time, it becomes clear that he is spelling out an obscure message with the women's initials. After a slow first third, the book settles down somewhat and focuses on Pescoli's efforts to escape her captor's maze-like lair and survive the deadly cold outside, with glimpses of her partner, Det. Selena Alvarez, attempting to track her down. Jackson spends too much time outlining the complicated plot and too little exploring the mind of the generic B-movie antagonist or the smarts and strengths of her heroines. (Aug.)