Quicksand [Paperback]

The Eve Duncan series started out with a bang, but now it's just limping along. In various books, Eve has attracted the undying devotion of a series of wealthy and/or highly skilled and/or loving men, but I've never figured out why. Her main characteristic is that she is totally fixated on finding the body of her murdered daughter, Bonnie. Nothing gets in her way, nothing sidetracks her for a minute, and she makes absolutely no compromises for the sake of those who love her, or those she purports to love.

All the bad guys are bad without any possibility of redemption. It's as if Johansen sets up a cardboard target with BAD GUY printed across the heart. The one in this book, Kistle, has not one single human quality, no cause for his twisted soul is hinted at, and he seems to be there simply so that Eve can direct her laser sights on him.

The good guys are floundering; everyone wants Eve (why???) but no one can win her. Joe, who has been around since the first novel, actually comes to the point of saying he can't take this any more, but is sucker-punched at the end of the book in a way that guarantees he'll be back in the next installment.

The biggest problem is that all the female characters have exactly the same personalities and speak in exactly the same way. Megan, Eve and Jane are interchangeable. If someone read any of their dialog aloud to you, without telling you who was speaking, you'd have no idea. They're all driven, outspoken, blunt. One such heroine is fine, but there needs to be at least some variation in the characters.

Johansen switched from series and historical romances to romantic suspense thrillers some years ago, and, having found a method that works for her, she's driving it into the ground. I have all her books, but I'm starting to get very tired of the repetitious style.

"Quicksand" is the kind of book that, if you started reading it, put it down, and came back to it a year later, you wouldn't have missed it at all, and might not even bother to finish it. Time for Johansen to bring this series to a close before it sinks beneath the sands.

I have enjoyed earlier works but I still wonder at times what Joe or Montalvo see in Eve. I would like to see a little compassion for Joe other than just words. Eve always seems to be thinking of herself. I have sympathy regarding her loss of Bonnie but how can she continue to hurt Joe and Jane. I guess I need to see a more human side of Eve in order to continue to read this series. At this point I'm starting to care less what happens to her and hope the others in her life just move on.

Iris Johansen knows her characters. She weaves characters from one book to the next with ease. You sometimes have to keep a scorecard of who's who, but it is certainly worth it.
In Stalemate, we met Montalvo, the mysterious Latin who hired Eve Duncan to do a facial reconstruction in exchange for information regarding Bonnie, Eve's daughter who was kidnapped and killed. Her body was never found. Of course an event like this is life changing, but Eve put a positive spin to it - she pulled her life together, went to school, and became a forensic sculptor, helping 'find' lost people's identities and letting them 'go home' to their families for proper burial.
Montalvo, and his right hand man, Miguel, are somewhat shady characters, but we see them as men of integrity, and their feelings for Eve are true.
Enter a character from Pandora's Daughter,Megan Blair. She is a 'Listener'. She hears the voices of the lost souls and helps find them for the family to find closure. She also learns all the gory details of the final moments of the victims and it is horrible to relive that as she finds these lost souls...
Enter Henry Thistle - a serial killer who claims he killed Bonnie, and wants Eve to be part of the hunt - to prevent other killings, while Thistle chases her in a sadistic dance of cat and mouse.
Quicksand is probably one of the best of the series - I have always been fascinated by the communication between Eve and her daughter, Bonnie. At first, it was intimated that Eve dreamed of Bonnie and their conversations. I never thought that. I always envisioned Bonnie as Spirit and she comes to comfort her mother. That has proven true. Bonnie is spirit. She is an important part of this series - love never dies - she feels no animosity towards her murderer - she is beyond that - she is, however, tremendously concerned about her mother and wants to let her know she is ok.
Megan, Eve, Joe, Eve's lover, Montalvo work to stop a madman from striking next. It is taut; it is heartbreaking; it is excellent. The ending is an amazing one that we didn't think would ever happen, and shows that Bonnie is a strong spirit working through the love of her family to be understood.
Knowing a lot of the back story of Eve Duncan's past would be good, but I think someone new to to the series would be able to jump in with this book and become part of this excellent series.
One thing - a really trivial thing - Perhaps Ms. Johansen could change her photograph for subsequent books. She is a lovely lady, and the photo used does not do her justice.
The Eve Duncan series is a brilliant character study - of so many characters and so many situations you will be amazed by Ms. Johansen's writing skills to incorporate all facets of this story to a believable, workable story.
Excellent.

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