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rza1002's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ljbearce's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
mo32607's review against another edition
3.5
Was really hoping this was similar to In Death but no. Characters were 2 dimensional and too focused on the scandal/mystery. Eve is a face sculptor of skulls hired by Logan to confirm the president was murdered.
chrispyschaller's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
booklover160's review against another edition
2.0
Read in high school for Bestsellers class. It was okay; a fun journey into adult fiction but not my style. Overall a decent read for late high schoolers to get into adult fiction.
juliemac14's review against another edition
3.0
Eve Duncan somehow survived after losing her only child. She immersed herself into her work for years in trying to find a face in fragments of skull bones by rebuilding those bones. She meets a man, John Logan, a rich and mysterious character and accepts a job that just brings more danger to her life again. She finds a face she isn't supposed to see and is against the worst and most powerful of people who are trying to cover it up. As she fights to reveal the truth, everything she does, in the end is to protect everyone and everything she holds dear.
It's classic Iris Johansen giving us thrills, politics and many twists as we try to discover the truth. I really enjoyed reading one of Johansen's first characters. She knows how to create a smart, strong and yet vulnerable female character. I just love how Iris Johansen creates her female charactersThe other characters that come into play are always a mystery, you're never sure if you will like them. It allows you to draw your own conclusions before you see how they really are. Always strong and independent yet human.The only reason I brought it down to 3 stars is honestly because it was a little too political for me. I also found the ending to be not as climactic as I was hoping. Maybe, being me, I had already figured it out? I don't really know, but as a book and a story it was good with a great and interesting plot.
A woman who puts faces to skulls? It's a really cool and interesting concept and a great intro to Eve Duncan. I can't wait to read more of the Eve Duncan books.
It's classic Iris Johansen giving us thrills, politics and many twists as we try to discover the truth. I really enjoyed reading one of Johansen's first characters. She knows how to create a smart, strong and yet vulnerable female character. I just love how Iris Johansen creates her female charactersThe other characters that come into play are always a mystery, you're never sure if you will like them. It allows you to draw your own conclusions before you see how they really are. Always strong and independent yet human.The only reason I brought it down to 3 stars is honestly because it was a little too political for me. I also found the ending to be not as climactic as I was hoping. Maybe, being me, I had already figured it out? I don't really know, but as a book and a story it was good with a great and interesting plot.
A woman who puts faces to skulls? It's a really cool and interesting concept and a great intro to Eve Duncan. I can't wait to read more of the Eve Duncan books.
betty816's review against another edition
4.0
3 1/2 stars, will round up since I will DEF read next book in series.
runningoutofink's review against another edition
3.0
Eve Duncan is not my favorite main character. She is so oblivious to the relationships around her, which I think is intentional, but it's not my favorite strategy for inserting twists into a story. She's set up as this character with a tragic background, who has focused on her work intentionally to forget her grief. Joe tiptoes around her and kind of puppeteers her recovery behind the scenes (). Logan sees her soft side behind her walls and falls in love with her because of it (called it in Chapter 1 that John Logan was going to fall in love with Eve).
I think I had a hard time feeling anything for Eve (or really, any of the characters) because even though she's the main character, we as the readers are removed from her thoughts and decision-making. The story is written in 3rd person, and it doesn't really feel like we are any closer to Eve's thought processes than we are with the other characters in the story whose POVs we are given (Logan, Joe, Lisa, Fiske, etc). Everything is external: all decisions and plans are made in dialogue. Even Eve's personality is expressed entirely through dialogue. She basically just argues with everybody the whole time :shrug:
Fiske is a pretty scary character, but I didn't feel it viscerally. I didn't feel personally threatened by him. I've read much scarier, unnerving villains in the past, ones that made me personally afraid for my safety just by reading the book. I feel like Fiske should have added a layer of dread to the reading of this book, and he just didn't.
The twist at the end () didn't feel as impactful as it should have. I had a hard time believing Lisa-as-a-cold-murderer was actually .
The initial story where Eve believes Logan is looking for Kennedy's skull was SO cliché, I'm glad it changed into something else. But I feel like the author was going for this epic story, and it sort of just got lost in the logistics. It's just a lot of driving around between places and waiting for things to happen.
Also was really disappointed to find that there were no on-stage romance scenes with Eve and Logan at any point in the book. We just get some vague impressions of things happening behind-the-scenes in the epilogue.
Speaking of the epilogue: the interludes where Eve dreams about Bonnie were sort of odd. I'm not sure how I feel about them. Bonnie insists that she's not a dream, and Eve insists that Bonnie is just her imagination. They sort of serve as foreshadowing within the story, where Bonnie warns Eve about something, in case the reader didn't already pick up on the previous clues dropped in the story.
I truly enjoyed the sections of the story where Eve is actually doing her work. I most enjoyed the sections where she explains how certain processes work. She explains the process of reconstructing the skull, doing the superimposition of the reconstructed skull and pictures of the victim, and the use of chemiluminescence for DNA printing. Those details were fascinating and I'm really glad the author chose to include them.
Spoiler
and he is also in love with Eve, which I called in Chapter 15 but was disappointed to find that Eve couldn't just have one male friendI think I had a hard time feeling anything for Eve (or really, any of the characters) because even though she's the main character, we as the readers are removed from her thoughts and decision-making. The story is written in 3rd person, and it doesn't really feel like we are any closer to Eve's thought processes than we are with the other characters in the story whose POVs we are given (Logan, Joe, Lisa, Fiske, etc). Everything is external: all decisions and plans are made in dialogue. Even Eve's personality is expressed entirely through dialogue. She basically just argues with everybody the whole time :shrug:
Fiske is a pretty scary character, but I didn't feel it viscerally. I didn't feel personally threatened by him. I've read much scarier, unnerving villains in the past, ones that made me personally afraid for my safety just by reading the book. I feel like Fiske should have added a layer of dread to the reading of this book, and he just didn't.
The twist at the end (
Spoiler
where Lisa reveals that Ben knew he was going to die and planned the whole thingSpoiler
Lisa-the-mournful-widow who is just executing a plan that her husband engineeredThe initial story where Eve believes Logan is looking for Kennedy's skull was SO cliché, I'm glad it changed into something else. But I feel like the author was going for this epic story, and it sort of just got lost in the logistics. It's just a lot of driving around between places and waiting for things to happen.
Also was really disappointed to find that there were no on-stage romance scenes with Eve and Logan at any point in the book. We just get some vague impressions of things happening behind-the-scenes in the epilogue.
Speaking of the epilogue: the interludes where Eve dreams about Bonnie were sort of odd. I'm not sure how I feel about them. Bonnie insists that she's not a dream, and Eve insists that Bonnie is just her imagination. They sort of serve as foreshadowing within the story, where Bonnie warns Eve about something, in case the reader didn't already pick up on the previous clues dropped in the story.
I truly enjoyed the sections of the story where Eve is actually doing her work. I most enjoyed the sections where she explains how certain processes work. She explains the process of reconstructing the skull, doing the superimposition of the reconstructed skull and pictures of the victim, and the use of chemiluminescence for DNA printing. Those details were fascinating and I'm really glad the author chose to include them.
ewg109's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really determined to find a thriller series that I can sink my teeth into. I love how easy they are to read and that they keep me reading (if only out of a stubborn need to know the end). They are like the Doritos of reading. But man, I just can't face another one of these. These are some of the least believable, most predictable characters ever written. The plot was entertaining enough to keep me going.