Jigsaw [Mass Market Paperback]

A cyber terrorist tries to wrest control of a laptop computer with artificial intelligence from its creator, Bella Quintera. Her former lover, Daniel Champlain, who is an agent with the National Security Agency, reunites with her and together they combine their resources to save her and her laptop computer from the terrorist.

Jigsaw is filled with suspense and intrigue and kept me entertained from the first page to the very last page. The bigger than life characters are interesting and I cared for them a lot. The hero and the heroine are both strong willed and cling to their convictions and commitments even when those convictions and commitments are perilous to the other. The sexual tension between Bella and Daniel keeps building until they can no longer control their urges and desires.

One of the best characters in the story is Fran, Bella's interactive laptop computer possessing artificial intelligence. Even with her vastly superior intellect, Fran's sometimes childish behavior parallels that of a developing child that you can't help but love to death.

The story takes place in Michigan during its winter months and Nance vividly and evocatively used the frigid conditions to enhance the story. Many of the outside scenes had me shivering in my chair as I read.

Computer technology rises to its highest in Jigsaw. I've always feared identity theft, but Jigsaw presented something even scarier: identity creation, where a savvy computer guru hacks police computers and creates false files and charges against Bella to discredit her. In an interesting and exciting scene, Bella and Daniel enter a virtual reality game with other computer gurus devoted to the sport and I felt like I was seeing it all as a movie, because it was so vividly written. The virtual reality action was exciting and later turned out to produce a crucial clue that wasn't detected until near the end of the story.

Jigsaw is entertaining and filled with suspense and intrigue. I recommend it highly.

Kathleen Nance's Jigsaw rocks. A complex, believable thriller set in the frigid Upper Peninsula in the near future, the book sucked me in immediately and kept me riveting, with its compelling characters, sizzling romance, and nonstop action. Bella and Daniel make a terrific couple, but many of my favorite scenes involved the newly-awakened artificial intelligence, Fran, a combination of computer genius and childlike naivete that fairly leapt off the page.

If you enjoy J.D. Robb, Catherine Asaro, or an action-packed, intelligent adventure, Jigsaw may just be the book for you.

Very highly recommended.

You must meet Fran. Who is she you ask? Fran is the world's first alternate intelligence, a laptop computer with not only a brain but a heart, not to mention tons of attitude. Not many people are supposed to know about her before the Turing Competition, but too many do, and some of them are willing to kill or worse to steal her away from Bella Quintera, her maker. Daniel Champlain, once upon a time, was involved with Bella, but scandal drove them apart. Now, a clue ties Bella to a case the special agent is working on, and they are thrown together once more, reunited professionally and personally on a quest to save Fran from Lokus, a diabolical hacker who wants to use her to throw the world into computerized chaos. In a chase that goes from the real world to the virtual one, Daniel, Bella, and Fran are in a fight for their lives.

***** On many levels, this is a wonderful book. The action and suspense keep you on the edge of your seat; the complexity of the plot keeps you mentally engaged, and then there is the sheer fun. Fran frankly steals the show with her candid wit and innocence. If Artoo Detoo could talk, he might sound just like her. She's definitely one of the best AI's ever created. *****