Customer Reviews

Eight Days to Live: An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller (Eve Duncan Forensics Thrillers)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My daughter's the Eve Duncan addict, but here is my take on this one:

This one's more about Eve's adopted daughter, Jane - but that's just fine. It has shades of Dan Brown's works, because there are distinct "quasi-religious" elements (and a cult, Sang Noir - Black Blood!) and paranormal aspects tangled up in the plot and the mystery (not a lot of forensics, either...)

You'll travel to interesting ports of call during the course of this novel - and its pace is good throughout. There's just enough tension between Jock and Seth to keep the pages turning, and Jane herself faces some decisions that add to the thrill.

All in all, a good ride, if not quite in the more familiar Eve Duncan/forensics mode.

This book is a good, fast read with a rapidly moving plot, interesting characters, and a pair of truly evil villains. If it were by just about anyone else, it would get 4 stars from me.

However, there is little Eve and even less forensics. We see nothing of her work with the skulls of missing children. We see almost no Joe. I would have been happier if we had seen more of Eve in her workshop and another child identified. I do like Jane, Lina, Jock, and Seth very much. I wish I had all of them on my side if I ever needed them.

However, I really believe that Iris Johansen's villains are getting darker, more evil, and more twisted. I'd like to see her heroine(s) up against a chess player of an opponent, one who kills only when he/she feels it is necessary and kills quickly and as painlessly as possible. I'd like to see fewer psychic solutions and more cerebral ones. I feel as if we are slowly sinking into deep mire. Please, Iris, give us something that doesn't leave me feeling I need a shower when I'm done reading.

I really enjoyed Iris Johansen's Eve Duncan thrillers for a long time. But then it just got to the point where I think to myself, how many serial killers can one woman go through. And it's bad enough that Eve gets her share but come on, Jane too. It's gotten beyond ridiculous. I really wanted to enjoy this book. I really would like to see that day that Eve finds her daughter's body. But I realized with this book, I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't even make it 1/2 way through. I think it's time Johansen wound this series up and came up with something new. But then again, as long as she's making money off of it, I'm sure the series will continue. Can't exactly blame her. But I won't be recommending this book either.

I have always enjoyed Iris Johansen's books and the Eve Duncan books are very good. My only problem is with the main character, Eve, and her adopted daughter, Jane. For some reason this author seems to feel that in order to be shown as a strong woman, you have to be rude as hell and a total bitch. So we are to believe that these two woman who are always surrounded by very strong, professional, capable men have to be so bossy and rude that these same men couldn't function without them. I like a strong character and assertive women but it can be done in a way that the woman is appealing and feminine as well. In this novel, Jane just comes across as a woman you would really like to see become the sacrifice she is trying to avoid being. There is nothing appealing about her, no saving grace. In the real world she would be considered repulsive in the extreme. Iris has written some very good characters and I just don't get where she thinks she is going with Eve and Jane. She has tamed Eve down a bit but now we have to suffer through Jane. The interesting, involved stories keep me coming back and the fantastic men in the novels. They are the true stars of the stories, you just kind of have to suffer through the insufferable Eve and Jane.

What is it with the rude women? About half way into the book, I wanted my new fave hero Seth to pack it up and leave as Jane who called HIM to help; spent the entire time disapproving of the way he handled everything. Come on, why on earth would any guy stick around when the gal acts like she's doing him a FAVOR by allowing him to help HER???

As with Eve, I have yet to figure out why the men seem to fall all over Jane.

Come to think of it, the other female character, Lena, the ex-Moslem is also a witch. I would think after all she had gone thru, she would have been a little nicer to other women and men who treat her well.

The storyline is interesting and the men are sexy and darkly exciting, but PLEASE Iris, can we get some women that are likeable?

Iris Johansen always write a good thriller but I was very disappointed that EIGHT DAYS TO LIVE is not an Eve Duncan book - instead it is a Jane McGuire book. I've actually only read the first 100 pages. So far it is a good read, but without Eve Duncan as the central character, I must admit, I am already losing interest. If the next 50 pages don't grab my attention, I won't hesitate to set it aside.

One thing for certain, next time I'll check the inside cover to be sure my Eve Duncan book is about Eve Duncan.

I love Iris Johansen books since her Loveswept days and this book was no exception. I was glad the story was about Jane, she needed her own book. I liked that she hooked her up with Caleb even though I liked Mark and MacDuff. The story line was very good and kept me hooked for the whole story. Excellent book. I hope she does Lina and Jock's stories.

Overall, I enjoy the Eve Duncan series. Yes, the villians are always over-the-top sadistic monsters, the leading men are always a tad controlling and overbearing, and Eve and Jane are almost always stubborn to the extreme. I can live with all of that, but it really irritates me how RUDE Eve and Jane can be throughout the novels. And now in this novel, we get Lina as well. At least Lina has the excuse of being mistreated and abused. I can sort of understand why she is short and rude to the other characters, but Eve and Jane seem to be given rude dialogue just to prove how tough and strong they are. Some of the things they say to the other characters and even to each other are rude for no reason at all.

This is another thriller by Iris Johansen that focuses on the adventures of highly unusual but very interesting characters: Jane MacGuire, Eve Duncan, Joe Quinn, Jock Gavin, John MacDuff, and Seth Caleb, with a small but significant part by Venable. Jane is a beautiful and intelligent waif raised by Eve and Joe, who is now a successful artist. She has strange dreams from time to time where information is revealed to her. Eve is a well-known forensic sculptor who is able to flesh out skulls and show through the reconstruction what the dead person looked like. Joe is an ex-Seal who is now a cop. Jock was a brainwashed young man who was trained to kill and did so for some years until he was rescued by Jane and MacDuff. MacDuff is the Laired of a large Scottish estate, an ex-commando, who is loved by his employees. Seth Caleb is a murderer with an unusual ability to hypnotize people to do what he wants them to do and an ability to kill people by just using his mind. Venable is CIA.
Jane MacGuire paints a picture called "Guilt." The portrait is the result of one of her dreams. When her picture is publicized, a religious group that offers human sacrifices called Sang Noir - a perversion of sang-froid, which means coolness of mind, so Sang Noir is a black mind - decides that it must kill her in a religious ceremony on April 1. Venable of CIA hears about the intended murder from an informant who disappears. Jane is determined to find the informant to learn why she is marked for murder. She enlists Seth Caleb. Caleb, Eve, Joe, Jock and MacDuff do all they can to protect her.
The story is filled with suspense. True to her style, Iris Johansen portrays all the women in the tale as self-willed, determined people, unafraid of formidable men like MacDuff, Jock, Joe, and Seth Caleb.

Really didn't like this book. I have read other Eve Duncan books and was looking forward to this book...very disappointed!! I couldn't even finish it. It was not at all a book about the Eve character, but her 'adopted' daughter and this daughter's relationship with out-liers. I switched half way thru to a Michael Palmer book "A Heartbeat Away", MUCH BETTER!!!!