Deadlock [Kindle Edition]

Iris Johansen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An especially far-fetched plot and unconvincing dialogue mar this romantic thriller, set primarily in Afghanistan and Russia, from bestseller Johansen (Dark Summer). Emily Hudson, a U.N. artifacts expert, is trying to track down a vicious criminal who may have stolen Zelov's hammer. Hidden inside the old mallet is a treasure map to the long-lost riches of Russia's assassinated Romanov family. Helping Hudson is a rough-and-ready CIA tracker, whose physical charms prove irresistible to the usually proud and independent Hudson. As is Johansen's wont, the romance competes head-to-head with the chase, with annoying effect. Love scenes and hokey romantic dialogue closely follow or precede those of perilous action. On one page, Hudson will be steely and adept, then, on the next, fragile and feeble. By the time the plot hits the homestretch, many readers will have a hard time taking it seriously. 650,000 first printing. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

The incomparable treasures of the Romanovs continue to provide an irresistible lure to writers of action-adventure thrillers, and the prolific Johansen joins in, seeking fictional riches yet to be mined from the imperial family’s massive and, in this instance, missing wealth. Charged with the mission of rescuing cultural artifacts from war zones, Emily Hudson and her crew of UN archaeologists are sent to Afghanistan to rescue Russian antiquities on loan to a local museum. Believing that a critical part of the czar’s legacy is included in the trove, a vicious gang of thugs ambushes the team. Led by the fiendishly malevolent Staunton, they hold Emily hostage while her best friend and colleague, Joel Levy, is tortured to death after failing to provide the information Staunton desires. About to be turned over to a sexually sadistic Afghani warlord, Emily is “nick-o’-time” rescued by John Garrett, a dashing, James Bondian soldier of fortune who joins Emily’s struggle to avenge Levy’s death, locate the Romanov cache, and end the cycle of murder its disappearance has wrought. Despite the lack of dimension demonstrated by Johansen’s otherwise taut cast of heroes and rogues, this suitably intricate tale of international and historic intrigue maintains a riveting electric tension right from its robust beginning. --Carol Haggas

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 593 KB
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2010)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002GYI93I
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Iris Johansen is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Pandora's Daughter, Stalemate, Killer Dreams, On the Run, and many more. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I Really Don't Think You Should Come Along...(that's 80% of the book)., April 7, 2009

By 

Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Deadlock (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

If you are looking for an action packed novel, filled with interesting characters....keep looking. "Deadlock" by Iris Johansen starts off strong with protagonist Emily Hudson, an archeologist sent into various war zones in order to protect ancient artifacts by the UN. Emily and her assistant Joel are captured by an evil group of men in the mountains of Afghanistan who are looking for an ancient Russian treasure known as Zelov's Hammer. Emily's only chance of survival lays in the hands of former CIA agent John Garrett, an expert at the spy game.

Johansen's novel involves Rasputin, the Russian Revolution, lost treasures, Greek Islands, and plenty of globe trotting adventure...which all just kind of lays there. The basic storyline revolving Zelov's Hammer and the key it holds to lost treasure is kind of blah, but could be an exciting tale if the characters were a little more colorful or better developed. Emily Hudson is about as engaging as drying paint, John Garrett is almost comical in his "James Bond meets John Rambo" mode. I guess we are supposed to take him seriously? The only character with any depth is the villain, Staunton. But his Euro-Evil schtick gets stale pretty quick and you never fully believe his obsession with the bland Emily to begin with.

I would venture to say a full 80% of "Deadlock" consists of one character trying to dissuade another character from "going along". Meaning that Garrett is supposed to go somewhere, and spends half a chapter telling Emily why it's not a good idea she "go along". Or Emily decides to go somewhere and spends half a chapter telling Irana why "she shouldn't come". Seriously, the protagonists bicker for most of the book about who should go where accompanied by whom. It's like those old "I Love Lucy" shows where Lucy wants to be in Ricky's show, and he refuses...but you just know Lucy is going to appear in the show. So eventually everyone goes everywhere with everybody...and you realize you've just spent 15 chapters reading the same thing over and over again. For God's sake....JUST LET THEM GO ALONG...and spare us the debate.

So in the spirit of the book let me advise you "You really shouldn't go along" with reading this novel.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save a tree, go to the library, May 10, 2009

By 

Dianne E. Socci-Tetro "Books & Chat" (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadlock (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Deadlock by Iris Johansen

I am not going to re-cap this book in my own words like a good reviewer should. It has been done and done so very well by so many others. What I will say, is that I know this author could do so much better than what I've read here. I feel as if this were a "phone in" instead of an honest attempt at writing in the mystery/thriller category.

What we have here with Deadlock, is a book that, in my opinion, lacks suspense or thrills, romance or even believable dialogue. The pacing is slow; the relationships are flat and one dimensional, the beginning where we are expected to relive Emily's horror and nightmare abduction is bland and emotionless. The mystery and the history lessons that Ms Johansen treats us with, are tedious and endless. The relationship between Emily and John Garrett never resonates and one wonders why the attempt was made at all. Perhaps just to fill the requirement of in being romantic suspense.

Take my advice if you must buy this book wait and buy it in paperback or get it from the library...save a tree.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Blunt Object, March 30, 2009

By 

feysidhe "feysidhe" (Mount Kisco, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Deadlock (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

The plot of this book is interesting, but one gets the impression the book itself was written at top speed. Not because of the action, but because the characters and relationships are underdeveloped. If you're like me, you "hear" the characters in your head when they are speaking, and all these characters "sound" the same. Same vocabularies and ways of speaking. There's a lot of angst, but it's all told--explained to and for the reader--rather than left to the imagination or slowly teased apart.

Would I recommend this book? Maybe if you just want a quick read on vacation and can't find anything else, and it's definitely a big improvement over Dark Summer, her last book, but it's still a mediocre one compared to her Eve Duncan forensics books.