Quicksand

Title: Quicksand

Author: Iris Johansen

Genre: Mystery, thriller

Rating: A-

Blurb: "Do you still miss your little Bonnie?"

This one sentence, spoken by a madman in an anonymous phone call, is all it takes to drag Eve Duncan right back to that horrifying day when her only daughter vanished without a trace. Since that day, her life has become an obsession to find Bonnie's remains and put the pain of her death at rest. However, one man wants nothing more than to prevent that from happening. He is every woman's waking nightmare: a brilliant, ruthless killer whose hunting ground stretches from coast to coast. But taunting Eve Duncan might be his first and last mistake...

For Eve is armed with more than just her talent as a forensic sculptor and her fierce protective nature. She brings with her former Navy SEAL Joe Quinn, an Atlanta detective who will do whatever it takes to bring Eve some kind of peace, even if he has to lie to her to do it.

Eve's only salvation may be through the mysterious skills of another woman whose chilling talent leaves her as tormented as Eve - and as driven to bring this monster to justice. But when lives are in danger, every step could be a trap, and every inch of solid ground seems to be shifting under their feet. And this killer wants nothing more than to lure Eve further and further into his swamp of madness...

Opinion: Quicksand is the latest in the Eve Duncan series, and sequel to Stalemate which was featured earlier. :) I really enjoy Iris Johansen novels because she writes very simply, but one thing which I find rather disappointing is that the plots are recurring. I can easily predict the ending of the novels and the way the plot will progress, and that's saying something for someone as dense as I am.

That said, she's not all dull and boredom. There is a slight twist of anticipation throughout the novel that keeps you reading and reading. The characters are well-developed, although Eve's anguish is beginning to grate away at me because, well, I keep expecting a fantastic discovery about her daughter and when I get to the end of the book, I feel all flat and disappointed because no, the leads were all false and therefore they are back to square one.

~rage-chan

Title: Stalemate

Author: Iris Johansen

Genre: Thriller

Summary: Eve Duncan receives a request from Luis Montalvo to work on a reconstruction job, but she turns it down - twice.

And Montalvo is not a man who can take 'no' for an answer.

Eve Duncan finds herself surrounded by dangerous men and traps that plot to ensnare and kill her. Taking Montalvo's offer would mean leaving her lover, Joe Quinn, and walking straight into a potential crossfire between Montalvo and his rival, Diaz. However, it could also mean that she could gain valuable information on what she had been searching for all these years - to find out where her daughter Bonnie was buried when she was kidnapped and murdered so many years ago.

Opinion: For avid fans of Iris Johansen novels, this is definitely a novel you should pick up and read. If you've read some of her Eve Duncan forensics thriller novels before, you might notice a rather repetitive plot or storyline. Still, the simplicity of the whole novel draws me to it. I am a very simple reader, therefore, I head for books that are easy to read. (I have been drawn and quartered for my taste in books before.) Novels that have too intricate plots or too confusing betrayals tend to confuse me. So if you see a recommendation by rage-chan, you can be pretty sure the book can be easily understood. ^^

That said, I like how Iris Johansen chooses not to describe in full-blown detail the chemistry romance between Eve and Joe, her lover. Whenever it gets to the naughtier bits, she skips it and leaves it to the reader's imagination, which is fine by me. Hard-core people who want to read through sex in every detail, though, should look for a romance novel, not a thriller, and unfortunately I don't cover romance. As a thriller, this novel fits it comfortably, with a very slight twist in the end.

Enjoy! ~rage-chan

Rating: 4 out of 5.