Final Target [Hardcover]

Iris Johansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2001

The president's daughter...

The women determined to save her...

The man with the power to betray a nation...

Iris Johansen, the New York Times bestselling author of The Killing Game and The Search, returns with an explosive new novel that sweeps us from the frightening nightmares of a young girl, to the deadly world of international intrigue, and to the shadowy bond between two sisters willing to put their lives on the line....

No sooner does Melissa Riley arrive at her sister's isolated Virginia country home than she finds herself drawn into a drama she never expected. Years earlier, her sister, the renowned Dr. Jessica Riley, had pulled Melissa out of the darkness of severe catatonic trauma. Now she's attempting to do the same for the daughter of the president of the United States.

The last thing young Cassie Andreas saw was an organized team ruthlessly murder her nanny and the Secret Service agents on duty to protect her. And to free Cassie from the terrors in her own mind, Melissa and Jessica must risk their own safety and sanity and place their trust in a mysterious, charismatic man.

Michael Travis made his fortune in the international underworld. He risked everything to save Cassie during that terrible night of bloodshed. And he has entered into a secret bargain with the president to get revenge. But does he really want to help? Why? Or is his show of concern all a treacherous charade?

Melissa and Jessica have no choice but to accept Michael Travis as their ally -- even when he proposes a dangerous plan that will put all their lives on the line. Because far away from the safety of Virginia, an international game of deadly intrigue is under way. It is a game of powerful and dangerous underworld figures whose specialty is getting what they want -- and whose means to do it is murder. And of one killer in particular who is obsessed with the very thing at the heart of Cassie's nightmares.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jessica Riley is a psychiatrist whose experience with catatonic trauma is personal as well as professional: she brought her beloved sister Melissa back from total mental withdrawal with her patience and skill. When the daughter of the president retreats into blankness after seeing her nanny and her Secret Service protector murdered, Jessica is summoned to treat the little girl. Although Jessica can't reach into her young patient's frightened mind, Melissa can--and only Melissa understands why Cassie's so afraid. When Michael Travis, the mysterious and not totally benign stranger who rescued Cassie from the kidnap-assassination that traumatized her, arrives at Jessica's Virginia estate, he's able to stop the child's nightmares long enough for Melissa to join Cassie in her self-imposed darkness and pull her back into the light. But the price he asks for his continued presence is one that Jessica, Melissa, and the president may not be able to meet. Is he an ally or an enemy? Even Melissa isn't sure--and her complicated feelings for Travis and Cassie are especially tortured because her unusual gifts allow her to see a bloody future for both of them, one she may not be able to prevent.

Iris Johansen (The Killing Game, The Search) ratchets up the suspense in this fast-moving thriller, which ranges across international borders from Washington to Amsterdam to Paris with the help of Air Force One and Two. While the president isn't very satisfactorily developed except as a frightened father who'll do almost anything to save his daughter, Travis and Melissa are fascinating characters who linger in the mind after the last explosive page; hopefully, Johansen will revisit them in a future adventure. Meanwhile, this is her best and most engaging read in years. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

At the center of Johansen's latest suspense thriller (after The Search) is the Wind Dancer, a priceless gold statue of the winged horse Pegasus. The statue has been in the Andreas family since the fall of Troy and now, centuries later, U.S. President Jonathan Andreas is in Paris to lend the family heirloom to a museum. On the night of the ceremony, his daughter, seven-year-old Cassie, is awakened at the family's farmhouse in the south of France by masked men who murder her nanny and her nurse, intent on kidnapping Cassie and ransoming her in exchange for the Wind Dancer. Cassie is saved in the nick of time by the arrival of Michael Travis, international underworld information dealer, but eight months later, the child is being treated in the Virginia home of psychiatrist Dr. Jessica Riley and Jessica's psychically extrasensitive sister, Melissa, for severe catatonic trauma. She hasn't spoken a word since the raid and has retreated into an imaginary tunnel where the Wind Dancer rescues her from pursuing monsters. Michael Travis then reappears and lures Cassie and the Riley sisters into a web of intrigue, taking them to Amsterdam, Paris and eventually back to the scene of the crime. There's a lot going on here, what with the telepathic dream sequences, a demented art fanatic determined to steal the statue, a subplot involving the Russian diamond cartel and the romantic tension between Melissa and Travis. Johansen's fans will enjoy the swirling plot lines, staccato dialogue and abrupt scene shifts that mark her style. National advertising. (May 29)Forecast: Fans may recognize the Wind Dancer, the subject (and title) of one of Johansen's mass market romances. The author's dependable mix of suspense and romance will make for good beach reading, but some may prefer to wait for the paperback.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1ST edition (May 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553800949
• ISBN-13: 978-0553800944
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dangerous Passage, July 29, 2001

By 

Suzanne Vitale "jackeroophillip" (Bowling Green, Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Target (Hardcover)

Cassie Andreas, the six year old daughter of President Andreas of the United States, escaped into a tunnel of her own psychological making after seeing the people she trusted murdedred around her. President Andreas hired Jessica Riley to help bring Cassie out of her catatonic state when no one else can reach her. Jssica is particularly qualified to help Cassie because her own sister had a similar experience when their parents were killed in a fire. Jessica's sister, Melissa, emerged from her coma with a terrifying talent...she had the ability to see danger in the future.

Final Target begins with Melissa finding her way home to Jessica's house in the country where Jessica is working with Cassie. Melissa is having dreams about something terrible happening to Jessica and suddenly finds that she can communicate with Cassie. Michael Travis is an unlikely hero with a questionable past who arrives at their country home as a guest of the president. Neither Melissa nor Jessica know whether to trust Michael or not, however Cassie seems to relate to him and he quickly becomes the only one who can help calm her when she is having one of her nightmares. Melissa, Jessica and Michael eventually form a tense alliance kidnapping Cassie to take her back to the scene of the original crimes. Read the book to find out how it all is resolved to help Cassie recover. The suspense is good, and the book is a quick read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Le President from the south of France, January 21, 2004

By 

Susan Reynolds (Loudoun County VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Target (Mass Market Paperback)

Having not read other books in Iris Johansen's series about a mythical statue The Wind Dancer, I may be handicapped by not having some background that would be necessary to appreciate this book. But truthfully, with or without the statue as a part of this thin plot, I could not accept any of the characters or their actions as Johansen superficially described them.

The failure in the area of character development is not the only reason that Final Target was a true disappointment however. Where can I even begin?

What suffices for a story line has a president's seven year old daughter involved in a kidnap plot, plunged into a catatonic state, caught up in the search for a priceless art object, and reached in her fugue state through some sort of paranormal mind-melding by the sister of her psychiatrist.

When I found that the book was partially set at the president's country home in the south of France (huh?) alarm bells should have gone off so loudly I would have been prevented from continuing. Alas, I persevered, to find even further disappointment.

The child's father meanwhile is portrayed like a patsy serving as commander in chief, President Andreas. (The name is where my first leap of faith is required) His main function is to growl menacingly on the phone to kidnappers as he shows himself to be utterly unpresidential. The man, who sounds more like the French Ambassador to the UN, goes along with unrealistic demands without much apparent involvement by the Secret Service, CIA, FBI, Interpol, or even the child's mother, who remains conveniently bedridden in the last month of her pregnancy and does not even merit mention in more than a sentence or two.

A plot that was superficial at best, characters that seemed flat and not well fleshed out, very little in the way of description and next to no scene setting made this book one I kept wondering why I continued to read. But I persevered, keeping alive hope for future chapters. I reminded myself that Iris Johansen is a well recognized writer and that the book made the New York Times bestseller list. In short I tried to believe that the best was yet to come.

Now that the final page has come and gone and the book closed, the disappointment remains. There was no redemption in those closing chapters and no feeling of vindication. The characters continue to seem hollow, the detail sketchy and my disappointment deeper. I'm left shaking my head and wishing that I`d let my first impressions guide me. This book is one I wish I'd put back on the shelf after chapter one.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Im glad I read this book, March 16, 2002

By 

"24heineck" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Target (Mass Market Paperback)

When I bought this book I didn't bother reading the excerpt on the back of the book because Iris Johansen has never let me down and this book was no exception.
Although reading some of the reviews I must say I am surprised at how many low ratings there are!

Cassie (a seven year old girl) has witnessed a horrid robbery gone wrong! monsters, death, hide! Is all she will allow her mind to register?

Dr. Jessica Reily has helped her sister and other traumatized cationic children return to reality, so when the President of The United States asks her to help Cassie back how could she say no!

Jessica's sister, Melissa, returns home from college for what Jessica thinks is a well needed break, but what we learn very quickly is everyone has there own agenda!

Travis, the man who rescued Cassie, is brought in to find the man responsible for Cassie's trauma, yet he's not to be trusted because his past is beyond shady.

There's some physic and telepathic parts, which may seem unreal, but I don't find these parts to lessen the story but make them more interesting. Its not any different then believing in knights in Shinning armor coming and sweeping us off our feet -Real?
to some... intriguing for others and plain stupid for the non-believer.

I couldn't put this book down! If you like Iris Johansen give this book a try... although most reviews are against this particular book, don't let that stop you. Judge for your self!