Thrilling but not overly graphic

books:


	• Blind Alley (An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller) Iris Johansen Bantam, 2004 - 352 pages view larger image
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Thrilling but not overly graphic

There's a psycho killer on the loose who is targeting women who look like a cop's 17-year old adopted daughter. Adding to the emotional complexity is that the cop's wife lost a young daughter, presumed murdered, several years ago. The wife is a talented sculptor who altered her career to provide forensic reconstructions of murder victims. She has a talent that goes beyond technical skill. She's able to commune with the victim's spirit in some way and provide eerily accurate portrayals.

The couple knows their daughter is in grave danger. The young woman is intelligent and independent. This combination of traits helps save her life, but also endangers it.

A string of victims along the way leads to the inevitable showdown involving the cop, the killer, and the daughter.

I enjoyed that this book was exciting, took unexpected twists, and yet the author didn't have to gross me out with excruciating detail of every brutal and sadistic murder. Blind Alley is one of a series featuring the forensic sculptor, but I didn't feel held back by not having read any of the others. The character of the teenage daughter was engaging and apparently there are future books about her.

This is a great crime novel for the idle hours - take it on a trip with you.

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did not like as well as the rest

I did not like this one as well as the rest in the series. It just did not seem to flow as well.

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I didn't mind it.

My mom let me use her hybrid for awhile and she had the audio book for "Blind Alley" The radio was boring so I decided to listen to it.

I see from the other reviews this is the 5th book in a series involving the forensic sculptor Eve Duncan, Atlanta Police Detective Joe Quinn, and their adopted daughter Jane MacGuire.

Enter the crazed serial killer named Aldo who is bent on killing any woman that remotely looks like somebody named Cira who later turns out to have been a 2000 year old actor/concubine noted for her beauty. His obsession makes him carve off their faces in order to destroy the face from the world. In his travels he notices Jayne who appears to be the living image of Cira. His quest is almost over! He found her at last.

Overall, the plot was ok. I could follow along and I could imagine the settings. Others complain about it but I am coming from not having read the previous books. One thing I will mention is the characters don't fall back on the other books so you don't feel you missed anything.

I liked the character Mark Trevor as he came across as a good Anti-Hero. Yet, I was interested in knowing more about him and his sidekick Bartlet.

I will admit I expected a trite situation where a borrowed skeleton from ancient times used to lure Aldo would turn out to be Cira. All through the book the question is asked did she survive? Eve as part of the trap does a reconstruction with the promise of doing the real reconstruction. after dealing with Also. When she finishes the final work, you are simply left with her exclaiming "my god" and that was it. I suspect that was the intention but the author changed her mind and dropped it.

The ending was ok. But it left me unsatiated. I expected more and it stopped.

Bernadette Dunne does the reading and in the beginning she annoyed me with her attempts to give accents to the characters. Not to mention that Jayne and Eve seemed to whine a great deal. However, I was able to tune it out as the story picked up.

I will probably check out her early works and will look for more if Trevor comes back.

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Blind Alley

I was very satisfied with the purchase of this book. The book was in good condition, the price very reasonable, and I received it in just a matter of days.

Thank you.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The New York Times bestselling author of Firestorm, Iris Johansen, returns with a psychological thriller so terrifying, so relentlessly paced, it won?t leave you time to catch your breath before the next shock comes. A forensic sculptor is locked in a deadly duel with a serial killer determined to destroy her?one life at a time.

Eve Duncan?s job is to put a face on the faceless victims of violent crimes. Her work not only comforts their survivors?but helps catch their killers. But there is another, more personal reason that Eve Duncan is driven to do the kind of work she does?a dark nightmare from a past she can never bury. And as she works on the skull of a newly discovered victim, that past is about to return all over again.

The victim is a Jane Doe found murdered, her face erased beyond recognition. But whoever killed her wasn?t just trying to hide her identity. The plan was far more horrifying. For as the face forms under Eve?s skilled hands, she is about to get the shock of her life. The victim is someone she knows all too well. Someone who isn?t dead. Yet.

Instantly Eve?s peaceful life is shattered. The sanctuary of the lakeside cottage she shares with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and their adopted daughter Jane has been invaded by a killer who?s sent the grimmest of threats: the face of his next victim. To stop him, Eve must put her own life in the balance and question everything and everyone she trusts. Not even Quinn can go where Eve must go this time.

As the trail of faceless bodies leads to a chilling revelation, Eve finds herself trying to catch a master murderer whose grisly work is a testament to a mind warped by perversion and revenge. Now she must pit her skills against his in a showdown where the stakes are life itself?and where the unbearable cost of failure will make Eve?s own murder seem like a mercy killing.

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