Rating: 
Summary: Starts off with promise, anyway.
Review: Iris Johansen, Body of Lies (Bantam, 2002)I picked this up after having the first two chapters sent to me on the chapteraday mailing list and reluctantly allowing myself to get intrigued. The first chapter really does pack a wallop. I just with the rest of the book could have carried out the promise. It doesn't, unfortunately. After the first chapter comes long, drawn-out setup that is in no way justified by the payoff. Robert Parker does the same thing, but he does it in about a third of the number of pages per novel used by Johansen. The woman could use a few lessons in tight prose and how it heightens tension in a novel. But this one's a lost cause; by the time her protagonist finally gets around to reconstructing the face on the skull, will the reader still care? Not this one. (zero)
Rating: 
Summary: Eve Duncan is Back. Hooray!
Review: Johansen has reprised some of my favorite characters. Eve Duncan is back, doing what she does best, sculpting the dead. Joe is back, doing what he does best, walking on egg shells around Eve. Jane is back, precocious as ever. Sean Galen is back guarding Eve as she takes on a dangerous reconstruction in the bayous of Louisiana. There is murder, there are bad guys. There are plot twists and turns that are both confusing and intriguing. Our characters are flawed and sometimes not very pretty, in short, human. I loved this five star thriller and would recommend it to anyone, though perhaps it might be better if you read the first three in the series first. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting plot with a heroine going downhill
Review: Just to get this said...Eve, get over yourself or rather Ms Johansen get your character out of this poor me, I'm the only person in the world who has suffered syndrome. I found it rather shallow that Eve can forget all the support she has received by one ill conceived action by Joe. I can't figure out what she has ever, in previous books, done for him. Or when she has ever thought about any one else's situation first. I still rated this book 3 stars because I liked the plot. Scary enough in this world to be believable. It reminded me of some other mysteries where there are secret organizations and the forensic sculpting just adds another dimension. In fact, this is a first for me to like the plot but not the main character. I can't figure out what makes Eve so desirable to the men around her. She is selfish to a fault and certainly expects more than she is willing to give. She has become an unsympathetic character. I enjoy her conversations with her daughter Bonnie but even a ghost has to get a bit tired of always bolstering up the adult. Why Joe has stuck around is a mystery to me. Unless he likes being walked on and over. Galen's character brings the spark necessary and Jane, I disagree with reviewers who think she is too precocious. But unless Eve can become less whiny please don't make her the lead character in any more books. Not unless it's one where Joe finally leaves Eve and she has to become a less selfish individual.
Rating:
Summary: eve is tough?
Review: ms. johansen weaves a great tale, but eve has got to get it together. thisis not healthy my friend! the books real good though!
Rating:
Summary: eve, eve, stop your wallowing
Review: ms. johansen weaves a great tale, but eve has got to get it together. thisis not healthy my friend! the books real good though!
Rating:
Summary: Proficient but routine thriller
Review: The book centres on a forensic sculptor ,named Eve Duncan who is living in Atlanta with her lover, Joe, a cop, and her adopted daughter.She is slowly putting her life into some semblemce of order following the death of her young child ,Bonnie ,whom she sees in dreams (or are they visions from the other side ? the question is kept open )
She is a driven woman ,obsesssive where her work is concerned and determined ,as a mission statement almost ,to ensure the unidentified dead are given face and form by her work.
She is pressured by a Presidental aspirant Senator Melton to take on a job in Baton Rouge -identify a skull recently uncovered that may have implications for his career.When she refuses someone goes to great lengths to ensure her relationship is placed in jeopardy and ,under duress she takes on the job .Soon two people are murdered and she herself almost dies from poison.
She together with Joe .and a Liverpudlian hit man ,named Galen ,not to mention an environmentalist/journalist set out to strike back at those responsible -a secret society ,named with stunning lack of imagination ,the Cabal ,and it all build to an implausible climax in Florida It is solid second string work and its major drawbacks for me where a lacklustre plot and the stylistic unremarkability of the prose .Eve is given more than her share of neuroses and traumas but is a likeable heroine although for me as a Brit the most interesting figure was Galen.A working class guy from Liverpool,he is not the conventional cold and cynical hit man nut a gregarious gastronome with a sly and at times inappropriate sense of pich dark humour I want more of these two and hope that a stronger plot can be found as a basis for additional Eve Duncan books
Rating:
Summary: Enough Eve and Bonnie!
Review: The characters of Eve and Bonnie need to be retired. This book is mundane, the conversations stilted and boring. I have gone from liking Eve in the first book to really disliking her in this book. The tough, smart women has disappeared and left a whiny, self-centered "girl" behind. I won't read another Eve/Bonnie book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read From Beginning To End
Review: The on-going story of Eve Duncan and her infatuation with her daught who past away several years ago continues in this once again thriller of political intrigue and murderous mystery. Though the plot in comparison to Eve's previous novels, it is all made up for through the smart character interactions which are able to keep you enthralled in the story. Subplots within will also keep your attention, especially the roller coaster relationship between Joe and Eve that has been a question mark from the first book in the series "The Face of Deception." I highly recommend that you don't read this book before you read the two previous books in the Series (especially the second title "The Killing Game")because although the third novel is a story all in its self it will undeniably make more sense if you read the earlier parts of the series, and once you do the characters of Eve Duncan and the surviving supporting characters will truly steel your heart, in Iris Johansens apparent pattern in her novels of controlling men and the women that overpower them.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced thriller to compliment series
Review: This book is a very quick read with enough action to keep you interested. I do not believe this should be your first book in the series. The returning characters are not developed enough for the first time reader (knowing them prior helps), but the book still stands alone. Eve seems strong and passionate, while sometimes unaffected and Joe becomes more interesting with his warrior side. Some of the story seems a little far fetched and very convenient for the timing, but it isn't impossible and will make you think of the goings on in the world. In addition, Galen (my favorite reoccurring character) is back in this novel to add danger, intrigue, and even some comic relief.
Rating:
Summary: I love this body
Review: This book really became my best friend for the last couple days. I had to lie to my wife and say that I had a headache, i was really feeling Iris Johansen's groove here! What a lassie, she pulls every punch and hits the clown right square in the nose this time! I really enjoyed the telling suspense and the trifled mutilated story line that brought about the best in my own tears. I hadn't wept so long since I accidently closed the garage door on my cat. And how this story progresses to the ultimate end of our beloved main character, the liar...and this body sent me out of this world!
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