Stalemate by Iris Johansen
Romantic suspense audiobook CD released 26 Dec 06 by Random House Audio

This is the latest Eve Duncan forensics thriller novels.  It is based primarily in Colombia and some in the Atlanta area.  It involves a complex story of love, hate, betrayal, and some woo-woo elements (“normal” paranormal things are common in an Iris Johansen, and one of the things I love about her novels).  Because it’s in Colombia, you had to know there’d be a drug cartel.  There are also arms dealers and rebels, not to mention the CIA.  Lots of moving parts to this story.

Here’s the blurb:

Eve Duncan has turned down the job twice already. Her skill and devotion in identifying murder victims and helping bring their killers to justice may be world-renowned. But Eve works exclusively for law enforcement and the families of the innocent, and the man on the other end of the phone is many things—none of them law-abiding or innocent.

One of the world’s most wanted men, little is really known about Luis Montalvo except that he is extraordinarily dangerous and that he never takes no for an answer. Now he wants Eve’s help in the worst way. For he believes they have something in common—and he’s about to prove it with a grisly warning.

Eve will leave everything and everyone behind, even the man she trusts and loves the most, Atlanta detective Joe Quinn, to travel to Montalvo’s luxurious armed compound in the Colombian jungle to identify the skull he has recovered. She has agreed to this devil’s bargain to save an innocent family, but also for a reason she can’t admit to Joe, to the CIA, to anyone. For the man in the jungle has promised to be able to give Eve what she wants most of all—the key to unlocking the darkest and most painful mystery of her past.

But Eve is in more danger than she can imagine. As she gets closer to identifying the skull, she finds herself caught between two ruthless killers with no way out. Now, with everything on the line, Eve Duncan must make the most chilling choice of all. And if she’s wrong…she’s dead.

Read an excerpt.

Yes, yes.  I know.  I’m almost six months late listening to this – the book was released 26 Dec 06.  But, in my defense, it was a BUSY six months!

I love Iris’s Eve Duncan novels.  Stalemate was another fun romp.  I love that Iris doesn’t cop out with her characters – their voices stay true throughout her books.  When her characters get stuck, Johansen doesn’t take the easy way out – she has them work thru the dilemma in a very believable way.  In this book, for example, Eve meets a very dangerous, very handsome, other man, Luis Montalvo.  One I sincerely hope we get to see lots of in future novels!  He’s just the complication needed to keep a series from getting stale (get it?  “stale”?  “stalemate”?  never mind).

This story sees Eve get manipulated like a Stradivarius by the tall, dark, and compelling Montalvo.  She is lured by him to an armed compound in Colombia to sculpt the forensic likeness of Montalvo’s dead wife.  The complications brought about by this sculpture are legion.  Witnessing Eve navigate her way through these trecherous waters was a fun listen.

This audio book was abridged (sorry folks – that’s all I can normally find in the local stores) and was performed by Jennifer Van Dyck.  The abridgement was very nicely done – I couldn’t tell if there was anything missing to the plotline and that’s unusual.  Van Dyck is from Scotland, which explains a LOT – her Scots accent was, of course, spot on and her Southern accent was very good, though she struggled a tad with her S.American voices.  Regardless, I think Van Dyck did a nice job overall with the vocal performances.  Her male characters were not silly, though Montalvo sounded a little like Bela Lugosi at the beginning of the book – that smoothed out, or I just got used to it.

Grade: Audio performance B, Book B+

P.S. Iris’s website is pretty awful (uses frames – I hate frames) and hasn’t been updated since February. I recommend trying her publisher’s site for her.  Hey authors!  You can HIRE people to maintain your sites.  Heck, a good fan with a computer can do it for you and would probably do it for free!  (not volunteering, by the way)

P.P.S.  Just discovered some of the Harry Potter novels are out on audio book.  I’m looking forward to listening to those.  Anyone else notice how the image of Harry on the covers is beginning to look more and more like Daniel Radcliffe?