Veena’s review of Look Behind You (Kendra Michaels, Book 5) by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen
Suspense Thriller published by St. Martins Press 18 Jul 17
This story starts with an unknown young woman who takes an Uber rider with a killer. Being that Uber is a popular way to go place to place these days, the story starts out resonating on a personal note, because I’m a frequent Uber rider. This, of course, is just the beginning of a spine-chilling thrills-and-chills ride that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. I couldn’t put it down. For me this is the best book yet in this series by the dynamic mother and son duo. Kendra Michaels is called in by her friends at the local FBI office to do her magic on the gruesome crime scene. She is not too happy about getting involved in a case, since she has just had a breakthrough with a difficult patient. Regardless, she goes to the scene and in her usual fashion gives the police and FBI clues they had not seen. Ready to leave and carry on with her life, she suddenly spots something under the chair where the killer is positioned. It’s like she’s opened Pandora’s Box. Soon the body count is rising and each kill, while it has the same signature, leaves behind trophies from other killing sprees around the country. It’s soon clear the killer is seeking the ultimate challenge by daring the legendry Kendra Michaels.
The FBI assembles a dream team of detectives, who had worked each of the sprees, together to catch this killer who is stalking and preying on innocents. Soon it’s clear the killer isn’t content to just taunt Kendra from afar. He’s ready to get close and personal and stalk her friends, family, and clients. Adam Lynch, who’s been on assignment out of the country, flies back to guard Kendra’s back. I like how the killings are interspersed with the hopeful tone of the newest patient Kendra is treating and the breakthroughs she makes with him.
As the story progresses it’s like Kendra, the FBI, and the reader are all one step behind. The details of the killings and the killer’s mind and psychosis is shared without revealing any clues about the who it might be. I’m afraid to say too much, because the book really needs to be experienced. I will say that its a page turner and you’ll be hard pressed to put it down once you start. A fair warning, I do believe I slept with the lights on for many nights after reading this one.
Grade: A
Summary:
A serial killer is on the loose in San Diego with a most unusual M.O. With each kill, the perpetrator leaves behind mystifying random objects. In this confusing array of unrelated evidence, the one thing that is clear is that the murders all have one characteristic in common: they all require the specific skills of Kendra Michaels, hired gun for both the CIA and FBI. Kendra, who was blind for the first twenty years of her life, gained her sight through a revolutionary surgical procedure and now uses her acute powers of observation to assist in cases all over the United States.
FBI investigators soon make a startling discovery: the left-behind objects are actually souvenirs of other unsolved serial murder cases from around the country. And the new crimes feature “holdback” characteristics never disclosed to the general public—meaning that one single killer was behind the nation’s most notorious serial murder cases and has now come to challenge and taunt Kendra.
The investigators—a “dream team” of profilers—join Kendra in the pursuit, but as the body count rises and the detectives themselves become the newest targets, Kendra must risk everything to defeat a psychopath whose terrifying plan is years in the making…
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