Stalemate

Jennifer Van Dyck's breathy, soothing voice embodies Eve Duncan, a forensic sculptor who reconstructs the faces of crime victims from unidentified skulls. Van Dyck creates a complex Eve, a woman with weaknesses as well as strengths, a woman who is not immune to the raw sex appeal of a devious criminal kingpin who needs her help. If Eve reconstructs a skull belonging to his late wife, Luis Montalvo promises to help her find the body and the killer of her murdered daughter. Unable to resist the bait, Eve finds herself deep in the Colombian jungle, surrounded by illegal weapons deals, drugs, feuding criminals, murder, and torture. Johansen creates another crisp thriller, and Van Dyck's performance will satisfy fans. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

October 9, 2006
In the latest Eve Duncan forensics thriller from bestseller Johansen (Killer Dreams
), the Atlanta-based forensic sculptor with an international reputation finds herself attracted, not always convincingly, to a sleazy manipulator. Duncan, who specializes in reconstructing facial features from skulls, has buried herself in her work since the disappearance and presumed death of her seven-year-old daughter, Bonnie, years earlier. That still-open wound is probed with sadistic skill by Luis Montalvo, a shady Colombian arms dealer, who offers to solve the mystery of what happened to Bonnie if Duncan agrees to attempt a reconstruction from a skull Montalvo believes was his late wife's. Despite the misgivings of her former husband, an FBI agent, Duncan accepts, and soon finds herself dodging bullets in a war between Montalvo and a drug lord rival in the Colombian jungle. Despite a shortage of the sort of meaty science that, say, a Kathy Reichs thriller typically provides, Johansen's faithful audience should be satisfied.