Tuesday 30 July 2019

#BookReview Smokescreen by Iris Johansen @GrandCentralPub

Smokescreen by Iris Johansen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In this pulse-pounding thriller from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Iris Johansen, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan journeys to Africa to help families torn apart by a violent attack deep in the jungle--but she may be putting herself in more danger than she knows.

A journalist shows up on Eve Duncan's doorstep with a plea for help. Jill Cassidy has just come from a small African village with a heart wrenching story: half the villagers--many of them children--have been killed in a horrific attack by guerilla soldiers, the bodies burned beyond recognition. Now, the families desperately need Eve's help to get closure and begin to heal.

But when Eve arrives in the remote jungle, she begins to suspect that Jill's plea may have been a cover story for a deeper, more sinister plot. Isolated and unsure who she can trust, Eve finds herself stranded in an unstable country where violence threatens to break out again at any moment and with only her own instincts to rely on if she hopes to get home to her family alive . . .

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen is back with one of her most exhilarating and dangerous adventures yet in this "riveting" high-stakes thriller (Publishers Weekly).


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Eve Duncan is pretty much bullied into taking on a new case when journalist Jill Cassidy implores her to come to Africa with her to help parents of children killed in a massacre. They need closure and Eve is just the right one to do so with her knowledge of forensic sculptor. But, Jill has another motive and soon Eve will find herself is quite a lot of danger...

Smokescreen is one of those books that I really wanted to like, but ultimately the story failed for me because of some factors that I will discuss later on in the review. But, first, let's start with what I found good and that is the story itself. The massacre of the children in a school and Eve's help to find closure for the parents together with the real reason for her being there. Because yes, Eve is lured there to help with another thing that they need her special knowledge to do. This is the part of the story that worked for me. That and the interesting "royal" history of the leader of the country that played a big role in the story. And, if Eve and Jill and been alone working on this with the help of Jill's friend Gideon had I most likely enjoyed the book more.

Unfortunately, I have two big problems with the book (and some of the other books I've read by Iris Johansen) and that the's the men. From Joe Quinn, Eve's husband to Jill FBI agent friend Novak. Sorry, but these macho men are boring me so much. I like Iris Johansen's books, but she has a tendency to use a special type of man in every book that feels like an overbearing macho man and I just get the feeling that she has found her niche when it comes to it and now everyone man is written the same way. Even when I read other series by Iris Johansen. And, of course, that brings me to the second problem. The romance part, because of course, Jill and Novak have a lot of sexual tension all through the book. Well, it's written that way, I was utterly bored by that. I was more interested in Jill's role as a journalist and her work to expose the truth about the massacre, etc.

Smokescreen ended up being a so-so book for me. Not among the best like the early ones I've read or like Shadow Play that introduced me to the author. And, that's just too bad because I like Eve Duncan, I just wish the story had focused more on exposing the truth and definitely less on the romance.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Smokescreen by Iris Johansen

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