Rating: 
Summary: Well done work of romantic suspense
Review: Bess Grady, a photojournalist, goes on assignment to all of thethe world's hot spots. She sees in a year more horrors unleashed by man than most people see in a lifetime. After a ghastly experience, Bess and her sibling Emily travel to Tenajo, Mexico for a needed working vacation in which she will take pictures for a travelogue. However, upon arrival in the small town, Bess is stunned that every person except an infant is dead. Terrorists led by Estoban and his second in command (Kaldak) infected the townsfolk with a lab mutated biological germ as a test before they unleash their deadly weapon on the United States. When the terrorists capture Bess, they take her to the nearby hospital for testing. She knows that Estoban is lying when he insists that she has cholera. Surprisingly, it is Kaldak who helps her return to America even as she knows that he is using her as a pawn in his personal war with his employer. With every book she writes, Iris Johansen seems to get better and better. Although AND THEN YOU DIE is more mainstream than the author's classy romantic suspense novels, there remains enough romance to keep her myriad of fans happy. However, there is even more suspense which should appeal to lovers of doomsday thriller books. The story line is compelling and with recent terrorist acts in America, seems very plausible. Readers will enjoy the direction Ms. Johansen has taken, reminiscent of recent works by Tami Hoag and Larry Bond. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Not a great romance, not a great thriller...
Review: And Then You Die is marketed as a novel of suspense, involving romance and action. On both these counts I feel the book fails to deliver. The characters, whilst interesting, are never fleshed out enough to make them truly likeable. The plot has several twists but it seemed almost mechanical to me. The lead characters Bess and Kaldak are in many places scarcely likeable. Bess is grieving after the death of her sister but she is frequently illogical and abrasive. She basically decided that she didn't like how the CIA were protecting her and that she 'knew best'. Doubtlessly we were supposed to think that she was feisty and determined, but she came across as difficult and tiresome. The result of her interferance was that she constantly put Kaldak and other agents in danger for her own motives. Bess became insufferably bossy, telling everyone else how to do their jobs although she had no military / law enforcement background. Her constant protestations of 'I'm not hungry' and 'I don't want to eat/sleep etc' had me wanting to toss the book aside to grab the biscuit tin. Kaldak was violent towards Bess at their first couple of meetings, hitting her in the face and knocking her unconscious on several occasions, which I found disturbing. Throughout the whole novel there was barely a proper physical description of Kaldak beyond the word 'intimidating'. Kaldak, in fact, describes himself as ugly - I would have preferred it if he was described in more detail so I could have seen him clearly in my mind. A plus point was the dialogue which was fast and furious and very realistic, but the lack of description around the dialogue meant that we never find out much depth or background to the story and characters - it all seemed very one-dimensional, like a Hollywood blockbuster that has a time limit of an hour and a half. Overall I don't think that And Then You Die is a great action novel, and the romance certainly falls short of what I was looking for. At one point Kaldak tells Bess that "If I'd needed to do it, I would have killed you, your sister, and your guide." To me, these were not the words of the protective, alpha male type that I like to read about, they had crossed the borderline into something less noble and vaguely alarming. Kaldak had certainly been damaged by his tragic past, more damaged than I felt comfortable with. Unfortunately the best part in the whole book was probably the last couple of pages, which seemed heartfelt and were a nice conclusion to it all. JoAnne
Rating: 
Summary: Worthless except maybe as a joke
Review: Is this book a hoax, written to show how little the public will demand in an action / thriller? I thought Chris Ryan's "Greed" did that, but even his book had a few moments of competence. Johansen's work is so juvenile, fake, derivative, silly, and just insultingly bad that it sets a new low in my memory.
It would be devastating criticism of a published author to say that I could write as well. But I would burn the manuscript before confessing to this turkey, which could be the screenplay for the worst B-movie you ever saw. The "plot" is a brain-dead fabrication from current events; there is no technical knowledge or experience whatever; the characters are ludicrous stereotypes from a zillion trash bodice-rippers and Harlequin romances; their interaction is laughably imagined; the heroine is insanely irritating - but attracted to her ultra-macho abductor, who typically kills with one blow... oh come on! It's so awful!
Sadly, producing such drivel can earn someone a place on the book racks and book lists. And Johansen has many books in print! Bantam should be ashamed for publishing tripe like this. We should be ashamed for buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes it's Hard to Figure Out Just Who the Good Guys Are
Review: Photojournalist Bess Grady is recovering from her previous assignment in Danzar, Croatia, where an entire village was slaughtered by guerrillas. She had been traumatized for weeks after that assignment, has just gotten out of the hospital and is now traveling to Tenajo, Mexico, with her sister Emily, who is a doctor, for a travel shoot, which is supposed to be much easier on both mind and body than her last job. However when they arrive in the village, everybody is dead, except for a lone infant.
Emily's sister thinks some kind of horrible contagious disease killed them all, but as Emily is shooting photos military trucks show up and Bess knows right away that something isn't right. How did they know? She tells her sister to head for the hills with the child, but she is captured.
It seem that an evil group of terrorists, headed up the infamous Esteban, is responsible for the deaths. The village was apparently their testing ground for a new strain of anthrax that kills humans swiftly, then dissipates without a trace. However, Bess didn't die. Neither did that child.
A CIA agent named Kaldak, frees Bess, tells her about the anthrax and tells her that she is immune. Kaldak wants to use her to get a vaccine, which involves keeping her sedated and taking sample after sample of her blood. Beth isn't very happy about this and does not cooperate, furthermore she seems to be telling Kaldak what to do every step of the way and though their confrontations are sometimes very violent, he winds up doing things her way, putting himself and others at risk. Bess is a strong woman. Her sister has been killed and she wants to get even. She also wants to save the child, who like her is immune.
There is a lot going in this book and it kept me on my toes. I liked it, though it wasn't very realistic at times, I found I couldn't close the pages. I kept reading and that's what fiction is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Not a great romance, not a great thriller...
Review: And Then You Die is marketed as a novel of suspense, involving romance and action. On both these counts I feel the book fails to deliver. The characters, whilst interesting, are never fleshed out enough to make them truly likeable. The plot has several twists but it seemed almost mechanical to me. The lead characters Bess and Kaldak are in many places scarcely likeable. Bess is grieving after the death of her sister but she is frequently illogical and abrasive. She basically decided that she didn't like how the CIA were protecting her and that she 'knew best'. Doubtlessly we were supposed to think that she was feisty and determined, but she came across as difficult and tiresome. The result of her interferance was that she constantly put Kaldak and other agents in danger for her own motives. Bess became insufferably bossy, telling everyone else how to do their jobs although she had no military / law enforcement background. Her constant protestations of `I'm not hungry' and `I don't want to eat/sleep etc' had me wanting to toss the book aside to grab the biscuit tin. Kaldak was violent towards Bess at their first couple of meetings, hitting her in the face and knocking her unconscious on several occasions, which I found disturbing. Throughout the whole novel there was barely a proper physical description of Kaldak beyond the word `intimidating'. Kaldak, in fact, describes himself as ugly - I would have preferred it if he was described in more detail so I could have seen him clearly in my mind. A plus point was the dialogue which was fast and furious and very realistic, but the lack of description around the dialogue meant that we never find out much depth or background to the story and characters - it all seemed very one-dimensional, like a Hollywood blockbuster that has a time limit of an hour and a half. Overall I don't think that And Then You Die is a great action novel, and the romance certainly falls short of what I was looking for. At one point Kaldak tells Bess that "If I'd needed to do it, I would have killed you, your sister, and your guide." To me, these were not the words of the protective, alpha male type that I like to read about, they had crossed the borderline into something less noble and vaguely alarming. Kaldak had certainly been damaged by his tragic past, more damaged than I felt comfortable with. Unfortunately the best part in the whole book was probably the last couple of pages, which seemed heartfelt and were a nice conclusion to it all. JoAnne
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad book
Review: A photographer and her sister go to a city for a photo shoot and everyone there is dead. Next you find out what caused it. To me the book seemed like nothing but one chase scene after another. And of course there has to be the inevitiable romance in there. Not a bad book, but not great and the characters were certainly very shallow and undeveloped.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining, suspensful
Review: this was a very enjoyable book. though did i miss a chapter? it seemed like there should've been a book before this one...but you can enjoy this one without strings attached!
| 
