**Side Note:This book would be my second exposure or debut into mystery and suspense being the primary genre. My first being Killer Instinct by Zoe Sharp from the Charlie Fox Thriller series. The prologue blew me away! I could feel the agony that Eve Duncan was going through, especially when it was revealed the 'why' of her actions. Those four pages were what really made me curious about what the rest of the book would offer. Oh! Did I mention this is my first Iris Johansen novel? Great way to start off!Eve Duncan is so tough, she takes no crap from anyone and she knows her own mind! On top of that she is single-handedly dominating her occupation as a forensic sculptor. Girl Power!!!I understand that Joe Quinn and Eve Duncan have been through a lot together, but she relies on him too much, almost as if he wasn't married and he was her husband, but he is married to someone else which makes their relationship even more puzzling. " "And this couldn't wait until morning?" "Probably. But I wanted you to know. I feel...disconnected." " John Logan, on the other hand is unattached and therefore could be someone she can rely on, at least for the duration of the time that she's working on this mystery, but I highly doubt that will happen (he's very untrustworthy). His right-hand man, Gil Price, is more likable, he grabbed my attention as soon as Eve Duncan described him, I am a sucker for red-haired, blue-eyed men.Margaret became my second favorite character out of this book! " "Good, then I'll get on the phone and order some stuff. It should be - Oh, my God, you're a giant." " " "What?" " " Margaret was glowering at her. "How the hell tall are you?" " " "Five nine." " " "A giant. You'll make me feel like a midget. I hate tall, skinny women. They do something to my psyche and I become overaggressive." " " "You're not that small." " " "You're patronizing me." She grimaced. "And I'm being defensive. Oh, well, I'll have to fight it. I'll just keep telling myself that I'm much smarter than you." " This book has to be the greatest mind juggler I've ever read. When you think Eve and the team is trying to solve one mystery three more pop up and take its place, or add to its complexity. Then when you feel as if you're on the same road with the characters to solve the mystery you find out it was all a lie and then you're presented the real mystery.My first, or maybe second, frustration from this book is the about-face of Eve Duncan's character, why does the heroine, the main focus of the story, start off strong and well put together, but ends up the dumbest, most arrogant character in the book? This is a huge disappointment to me. I spoke too soon!!!! Here I was thinking the story was going downhill, but Eve fooled me! I'm ranting and raving about her horrible character change and it was all a ploy to get the bad guys. I feel like I've been had :(.Overall, a great book from beginning to end. This book took me on a ride that left the land marks and destination unknown and I loved every minute of it. Great first impression. Can't wait to read The Killing Game next. Oh, and did I mention that Mr. Joe Quinn is absolutely yummy, I really can't wait to read more about him :) "Logan let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. He had confronted many dangerous men in his time, but Quinn was definitely in a class by himself. It astonished him that Eve hadn't picked up on it." That ending though?! Not a cliff-hanger per se, but dang close.
Title: The Face Of DeceptionAuthor: Iris JohansenLength: 480 pagesPublisher: BantamPublished: June 1, 1999Genres: Fiction; Mystery Fiction Visit my review/blog HERE!My Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮Synopsis:An unidentified skull...A trail of terrifying secrets...And a woman whose talented hands could reveal the shocking truth...As a forensic sculptor, Eve Duncan helps identify the dead from their skulls. Her own daughter murdered and her body never found, the job is Eve's way of coming to terms with her personal nightmare. But more terror lies ahead when she accepts work from billionaire John Logan. Beneath her gifted hands a face emerges from the skull he has given her to reconstruct—a face no one was ever meant to see. Now Eve is trapped in a frightening web of murder and deceit. Powerful enemies are determined to cover up the truth, and they will make certain that truth goes to the grave...even if Eve gets buried with it.My Review:The only regret that I have about this book is that I didn't read it sooner! This was the first book that I've read from Iris Johansen and I can assure you that it will not be my last. As soon as I finished this book, I made sure I put Book #2 in the Eve Duncan series, The Killing Game, on hold! This book was right up my alley, as I love forensics and am fascinated with this sculpting process!The story was in depth, flowing smoothly, with twists and turns in every directions that you wouldn't expect. Just when you thought you knew what was going on, Johansen threw you for another twist. It was an interesting story to read about and kept me captivated throughout! I felt that the facts of the story were thoroughly researched and accurately depicted.As for the characters, I loved Eve Duncan! I think that the characters were put together nicely to make a great balance in the story. I think that each characters puts their own advantage to the story, making it fill out nicely.Overall, I very much enjoyed this read and can't wait to read more! I don't think that I will stop with the Eve Duncan series either. I can see Iris Johansen ranking right up there with Lisa Gardner on my favorite author list!
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This is the first book with forensic sculpter, Eve Duncan. Wow, what a tough lady. This woman could truly be a roll model for young women once they've finished with the Nancy Drew series.I loved the book. I'm listening to another by Iris Johansen concurrently, almost through with that one, too. I've also ordered another one of hers from the library.Eve grew up as a bastard child of a stoned mother. Her child was also a bastard, but led the way to both Eve and her mother getting their acts together. The daughter, Bonnie, was kidnapped and persumed killed. Eve's goal in life is to bring her daughter's bones home. She calls these missing children the lost ones. Bonnie appears to her mother. Now that you've heard a little about Eve, please realize that this thread is just background for an extremely exciting mystery series.
—Cheryl
It was ok for solving and surviving a complicated mystery, political intrigue, and danger - but not entertaining enough.STORY BRIEF:Eve was a single mother when her seven-year-old daughter Bonnie was killed by a serial killer. The body was never found which haunts Eve. Eve is one of the country’s top forensic sculptors. She reconstructs faces from skulls. Logan is a billionaire who wants to hire Eve to put a face on a skull he has. She resists until he makes a large contribution to her favorite charity working for lost children. Logan requires that she work on the skull in a secure location in Virginia. Along the way various people are killed and Logan and Eve are in danger.REVIEWER’S OPINION:I felt like the author worked really hard at her plotting and development because they were detailed and complicated. But I wasn’t pleased or excited about things.This was labeled romantic suspense by Kirkus Reviews, but I found no romance. I’d label it mystery suspense. The main couple works together and is trying to stay alive. There is a happy ending and a “hint” that they may have a romance in the future. There is a touch of paranormal with Eve having conversations with the ghost of her dead daughter Bonnie. These conversations are during Eve’s dreams or daydreams. The conversations were rational except when Eve asked Bonnie where her dead body was. Bonnie never answered that which bothered me. However, Bonnie would give advice to Eve about other things.The worst scene in the book:A CIA hit man is after Eve. He’s one of the best. Joe a former Navy SEAL is setting up an ambush for the hit man in the woods. As soon as Eve realizes Joe is in the woods, she stupidly runs into the woods “to help Joe.” She has no weapon and no skills even in the same universe as those two. Because of her action, Joe gets hurt. He was in control until she interfered.Other things I did not like:Someone vandalizes Eve’s lab, destroying everything. She calls the police. But before the police arrive she walks around and moves things. She could have messed up footprints and evidence. That bothered me.When Eve learns what Logan hired her to do, she argues saying “that’s not true.” She doesn’t know what the truth is so I didn’t like her comment. She reminds me of people who refuse to admit they “don’t know” something. When she agrees to do the job he asks her why. She says” because you’re wrong and I’m going to prove you’re wrong.” Such a closed mind. I had trouble liking her.Logan is a billionaire. He should have had many security people helping/working for him during this process. Instead he, Eve, and one security guy were doing dangerous things without anybody else. A hit man is following Logan as he drives around staying in different places. Why didn’t he have more security?The author is painting Eve as smart and tough. Toward the end Eve is the one who plots a way to get the bad guys. Her plan should have been “shown” better. Part of it required one of the bad guys to turn on the other. This was not “shown.” I have no idea how she convinced that bad guy to do it. It just seemed a convenient mechanism to get to the ending.DATA:Abridged audio length: 6 hours. Narrator: Jill Hennessy. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual content: none. Setting: current day mostly Virginia and Georgia. Copyright: 1999. Genre: mystery suspense.
—Jane Stewart
I was looking for a new crime series to start so I really, really wanted to like this. For me, the main character must be likable and the writing should be good to have a solid series.. the writing itself is ok, a bit boring and the pace was very slow but it's ok. Eve Duncan, however, I didn't like. I didn't root for her. I mentally found myself rolling my eyes at her constantly reminding herself and others how "strong" she was and "how she would never be a victim again." I simply didn't believe she was strong or capable. She seemed easily manipulated and not mentally stable enough to take on any case. This case turned into a political cover up but it wasn't done very well or interesting in my opinion. There was a lot of moments that I didn't understand-- like resculpting a face for identification when you have dna.. work smarter, not harder. Oh and apparently there was romantic chemistry all along that suddenly shows up in the last chapter. *Rolls eyes.*This book would of been a DNF except I stupidly hoped it would get better. It didn't.To review..The story was slow & boring.The main character wasn't likable.Not a series for me.
—Amanda
