Customer Reviews

Blood Game: An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller (Eve Duncan Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

BLOOD GAMES: An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller by Iris Johansen is a nice diversion from her regular fare, mixing suspense, the occult, and a touch of vampiric overtones.

Forensic pathologist Eve Duncan lost her daughter, Bonnie, years ago to a serial killer, never knowing where he buried her. Kevin Jelak, the serial killer, was never caught, yet is still enamored with Duncan. Tied up with a mystical 14th century cult, Jelak fancies himself some sort of god-like man, needing "kills" in order to complete his "resurrection." He sets his sites on Eve because he believes strong women like her enhance his powers.

While a bit of a departure from Johansen's other novels, it's an entertaining and interesting diversion for anyone interested in vampiric thrillers.

Eve Duncan is one of Johansen's strongest characters who has a touch of mystery/paranormal because of her connection to her deceased daughter Bonnie. One of the best features of these novels has been the realism her partner Joe Quinn brings to the novels to maintain a balance between real and surreal. While I enjoyed the evolution of their relationship from perfection to some obstacles; Joe is changed in a fundamental way that essentially changes how the reader relates to the character. While I felt the dialogue worked, I was bothered by the departure from the plot elements that make the Eve Duncan books work such as leaving the sculpting of a lost child unresolved, something the character would normally not tolerate. A minor character, Norris became more realistic to me than Quinn or Caleb. I wish Johanson had written a quasi-vampire paranormal novel with new characters rather than evolve the Eve Duncan series this way. All that being said, the writing held me at the end and the beginning and I like how their adopted daughter Jane has progressed as a character. I'm hoping for a more realistic approach to the next entry in this series but you need to read this one to follow along.

I've been a fan of the Eve Duncan series, but the last few books began to lose me. This one finished me off. If you weren't interested in the slant the books have taken since Stalemate, there is nothing here to change your mind. However, if Pandora's Daughter and Quicksand appealed to you, you'll be happy indeed. Blood Game fully embraces paranormal, bringing psychics to the forefront. There isn't much romance in Blood Game, nor much of Eve unless she's being used as a conduit to bring in a cameo appearance. Just about everyone who has touched the series either shows up, is alluded to, or makes a phone call in to mention another character.

It's frustrating, since the series was once grounded in realism and the effect of grief on Eve and her relationships. The focus of Blood Game is more on the serial killer du jour and having Joe Quinn experience paranormal events. A surprising number of characters make walk on appearances, so many that by the time Eve tells one she senses "we've not seen the last of you yet" and another tells her "you know he never had Bonnie" it's not a surprise, but a threat. This series will not resolve. It has strayed too far from a grieving mother and her lost daughter to be reclaimed. Bonnie being found would be pointless by now, Eve understanding how Bonnie's murder changed her and embracing her mission to help other families with a clear eye isn't going to happen.

Blood Game begins with conflict between Eve and Joe that has no weight. As soon as the conflict arises, we're assured over and over that Joe won't ever leave Eve. The serial killer who is obsessed with Eve (and at this point one wonders if there is a TMZ for serial killers that tracks her every move and broadcasts it for their obsession) runs around longing for her and killing other people in a cry for attention and without a great deal of logic. (His lack of logic is somewhat tied to the paranormal elements of Blood Game, which wants to have it's vampires and stake them too.) He's crazy, he wants to kill Eve, he didn't kill Bonnie, (surely that's not a spoiler at this point in the series) and the skull Eve is reconstructing shows up for only a few scant pages, without any resolution or connection to the plot at hand. I don't know the word for the emerging genre where the romance is primarily between the female lead and a crazed killer, but Blood Games fits firmly in it. There is no real suspense, nor romance, but a great deal of stalking and plenty of dead young women.

At the end of the last Eve Duncan novel, Joe Quinn, Eve's lover, finally "sees" Eve's murdered daughter, Bonnie. I thought, "wow", Eve and Joe can finally get together on this issue and both realize that they can see and talk with Bonnie. Maybe this would relieve Joe's antagonism toward Bonnie, who is Eve's obsession. But what happens, Ms Johansen skirts the issue and is going to make us wait until next year to, hopefully, resolve this issue. Ths is such a cop-out. And this story just didn't do it for me. It was dull and truly gory. Iris Johansen needs to upgrade her dialogue because I swear you can go from book to book and find pretty much the same conversations. Joe is always curt, in fact he was so constantly curt in this book that he was almost unlikeable and I like him more than Eve.

And Am I the only one who thinks Jane has grown up too fast? If she is, say 24 in this book, then Eve and Joe have been together around 12 years! The time element doesn't make sense to me. And why haven't Eve and Joe gotten married by now? The way Joe loves Eve, I can't believe he wouldn't want them to be married.

The key characters in this book, Jelak and Caleb, I found to be uninteresting, too cookie cutter to be realistic. And Joe, of all people, becoming psychic?? Doesn't add up. There was little to no romance in this novel, only tension between everyone. The plot was too formulaic to be very interesting with little action and a lot of talking. And why did Montalvo have to be included in this book? He had no role other than to illustrate how easily Eve forms bonds with people: she now has a "bond" with Caleb. I guess he will keep showing up in future books.

I think Ms. Johansen phoned this one in just to keep us on the hook until her next Eve Duncan novel comes out. This book was just boring, gory, boring, dull, gory with no real hook for me. Come on Iris, either make Eve Duncan novels more interesting or just wrap up the story-line and move on.

I usually like her stories but I read 50 pages and couldn't read anymore. The characters were the same as other Eve Duncan books but what they did to Joe was unbelievable and made me laugh which wasn't the idea. I suggest you take this out from the library if you want to give it a chance. I was greatly disappointed in the book.

The relentless search for Bonnie is getting old. Same over-used plot and same characters. Very lazy way to write. Don't have to come up with anything new.

Although I have enjoyed Iris Johansen's books in the past, I am not very enthusiastic about this one. There is too much far fetched psychic/ghosts/paranormal stuff thrown in, and it even has a "vampire" serial killer. I am not thrilled with the way the ghostly stuff develops, and find it so utterly unbelievable that it is laughable. I also find the characters very similar to each other in their speech and mannerisms, and none of them act like real people, while the development of their characters is sorely lacking. This novel misses reality all the way around for me. Some of the characters, such as Montalvo (whoever he is, I missed the previous book, and I can't figure his role out at all)and Seth Caleb are just plain weird, and the whole thing is a bit of a nonsensical mess for me, although it is readable, because her style is easy and simple, but I would not recommend this particular book.

I have enjoyed Iris Johansen's books over the years and started this one eagerly only to be brought up short by the the dialogue. Either my taste has improved or Johansen is slipping in her talent. The character say things that seem completely out of character, nonsensical to the plot etc. I found it also to be very stilted and unnatural. Characters use terminology that is "old school," such as Quinn telling the senator to stop "giving him guff." Jane is supposed to be a young woman, but she uses terminology and language more suited to...well, however, old Johansen is these days.

That and the constant use by all the character of the perjorative "your" in discussing other characters. For example, Joe will say to Eve, "Let's talk about your Bonnie." Another character (not in the Quinn/Eve/Jane inner circle) will refer to Quinn as, "Your Quinn" when talking to Eve. It's creepy that all these characters seem to use the same lingo.

With the addition of a psuedo-Vampire a la Eclipse...it's just tired.

I've been seeing the Eve Duncan series for years and when I received a review copy, I decided to try it after my disappointing jaunt with another Johansen book. First of all, this is definitely not a place to start the Eve Duncan series. After reading several reader reviews, many of whom are fans and disappointed, I can see that I probably would have enjoyed the earlier books as entertainment, but now the series has taken a turn and is not nearly as interesting, relying more on plot than character. I was never interested in the characters and am not interested in even going back and reading earlier books now that I see where the series has gone. But at least my curiosity has been satisfied since I'm always interested to learn more about bestselling authors...

I'm a huge fan of thrillers & mysteries & I'm a new Iris Johansen fan because I love her style of writing. I hate to say it but I wasn't thrilled with this book. My main reason is because I'm not fond of science fiction or vampire type books or ghosts & this book had them all without giving any indication from the description that it was going to be like that. I like what I read to be something that I can see really see happening in real life. To me, this book was too unrealistic. If those things don't bother you then you will probably really enjoy this book but if you're like me & what things to actually be able to happen then you might want to try another book.