Sleep No More

August 13, 2012
Bestseller Johansen’s gripping 14th Eve Duncan novel (after 2011’s Bonnie) spotlights a dream-enhanced bond between siblings. Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan’s recent nightmares have focused on a chilling run through a forest to avoid a pursuer. Her nightmares become more concrete after Eve’s mother tells her that she, Eve, has a half-sister, Beth Avery, who recently escaped from a mental hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif., after years of institutionalization. Eve and her long-time lover, Atlanta PD detective Joe Quinn, travel to California, where, with the assistance of an unconventional police profiler, they uncover Beth’s connections to a politically powerful family. Scenes of an assassin on Beth’s trail heighten the suspense. Eve and Joe must use all their wiles to prevent a killer from striking again. Series fans will be pleased to discover that Beth, like Eve, is a strong woman who has endured many trials in her past. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

September 15, 2012
Two protagonists from Johansen's earlier thrillers go rogue (Close Your Eyes, 2012, etc.). Sigmund Freud would have had a field day studying Eve Duncan, a perennial leading lady in Johansen's literary world. The long-suffering forensic sculptor not only comes from a dysfunctional family, she talks to the ghost of her dead daughter and has nightmares about people she doesn't know. But you can be sure that she'll be meeting the subjects of her dreams soon in the prolific author's latest offering, which centers around a murder attempt and the disappearance of Beth Avery from a California mental facility. Beth, it seems, is Sandra Duncan's oldest daughter, which makes her Eve's half sister, a complication that's par for the course in Johansen's complicated world. Beth's dad is the son of the politically prominent Avery family, and Sandra was forced to give up her parental rights at Beth's birth. Beth was hidden in boarding schools until she suffered a mysterious head injury and was institutionalized, and Sandra's tried to keep tabs on her through a private investigator. After she learns of Beth's disappearance, Sandra turns to Eve and Atlanta PD detective Joe Quinn for help. They drop everything and head to Santa Barbara, where Eve convinces Dr. Kendra Michaels, a music therapist who possesses heightened senses, to assist them. The two women gain entry into the hospital and enlist the help of Kendra's friend, a computer hacker so brilliant that the Pentagon used him in some unknown capacity to foil the Chinese. Gaining access to private files, Eve, Joe and a helpful intern who's been planted in the hospital by his uncle, the PI, discover all sorts of sinister details about Beth's treatment, the employees at the hospital, the Avery family's dark past and Drogan, the man who's been hired to kill Beth. And as Eve gets to know her naive sister and does her best to protect her, she becomes Drogan's primary target. Johansen throws in enough crooked characters to house an entire prison in a plot that starts out with promise but ends up being a snoozer.

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May 1, 2012

Why is forensic sculptor Eve Duncan getting badgered by her mother to help find a woman named Beth Avery, who has fled a mental hospital? Because, as Eve soon learns, Beth is her half-sister. With a one-day laydown on October 16 and a powerful publicity campaign; get more than one.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2012
After wrapping up her long series of novels related to the disappearance of forensic-sculptor Eve Duncan's daughter in Bonnie (2011), Johansen devises a new family drama based on the shocking revelation that Eve has a half sister, Beth. The secret is spilled by Eve's mother when Beth disappears from the mental institution where she's been held for years, drugged into oblivion. The complicated story of Beth's parentage pales in comparison with the twists that follow as Eve, her lover, Joe Quinn, and FBI profiler Kendra Michaels race to find Beth, with a sinister hit man, Drogan, hot on their heels. When the sisters finally meet, Beth proves to be as plucky as Eve, and the two form an intense, if wary, bond. Johansen amps up the tension as powerful forces conspire to silence Beth, but the ghost of Bonnie ultimately saves the day. Whether Kendra or Beth will feature in future installments remains to be seen, but Johansen is clearly not through with Eve, having injected fresh life into the loyally read franchise. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling Johansen orchestrates a new challenge for her ever-popular protagonist Eve Duncan in a novel that will be avidly promoted in a national television, print, and Internet campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)