Enjoy Stalemate (Eve Duncan, #7) Rendered By Iris Johansen Listed As Softcover

review for this title was written as a series review on my blog sitelink robinlovesreading. com/ Luis Montalvo, known to be extremely dangerous and unwilling to take no for an answer, has approached Eve Duncan to complete a reconstruction for him, This is not the type of reconstruction that Eve normally engages in she works with law enforcement to bring lost children home, Montalvo is far from the law, the closest description of the man to use the word law is lawless,

When Montalvo offers Eve her Bonnie, she cannot say no, She will abandon everything and everyone to finally be able to learn what happened to her daughter and finally lay her to rest,

Eve has forgotten everything she has learned from Joe Quinn, and she is now living in a compound in the Colombian jungle, Between two warring, deadly factions and every choice she makes could lead her to her own death,
This was an appalling book and quite inept, especially in its characterization and character motivation, Every few pages in the first half of the book we read something on the lines of:

How can I trust you You are a criminal.

I know I am a criminal, But you must

believe me, this time I am sincere,
But how can i be sure
You can't be but you must trust me nevertheless,

Okay this is a parody, But that's the way it comes over, And the whole theme of: "I need you to prove it so that soandso will trust me and help me," is so implausible and ridiculous, I just didn't buy it couldn't buy it, It was rubbish. The author also held out the unfulfilled promise of solving a mystery concerning one of the characters as a sort of rather pathetic "comeon" to keep the reader interested in what I think she knew would otherwise be an intensely boring and implausible book.
The more I've thought about it, . . the more I've realized I really didn't like this book, While it was classic Iris Johansen with a high paced suspensful style the story left me flat, I've read a couple of the other Eve Duncan books, . . but it had been a while so I didn't remember back story much, So, coming into this book I was missing a lot, While those things could be the reasons a person wouldn't like a book, . . they weren't the reasons I didn't like this one, Eve contantly shuts out Joe, . . the man she says she loves more than anything and wants in her life forever, She says she loves him but leaves him out of the most basic aspects of her life, I found this very off putting, Then she starts to develop feeling for a Columbian Drug Lord, . . who basically blackmailed her into help him, WHAT THE Even though she doesn't act on her feelings and goes back to the states with Joe, . . she still leaves her heart closed to Joe, It didn't sit well with me, I don't know that I will read the next installment of the Eve Duncan series because she left it open that she will leave Joe and go to the Drug Lord.
Oh for heavens sake! Inept, Overblown. apallingly written. I don't know why I keep reading these, I'd also read Quicksand, theth book in the series, last summer, so I had already met Miguel and Montalvo although I'd forgotten Montalvo, I definitely Miguel's spunky excitement!.
This Stalemate's plot, if you can find one, is for Eve to put herself in danger by flying to a drug lord's house and helping him recover the skull of his wife to prove to his fatherinlaw that she's dead so they can work to overthrow Montalvo's rival.
Naturally, Eve flies out because Montalvo tells her he can help her find Bonnie and so she sneaks out without telling Joe Quinn, who then decides to fly out with Galen to protect her because she's obviously putting herself in harm's way.
And they fight about how she doesn't need protecting, It's like Johansen writes the same book each time, but clearly people keep reading them er, me,

Toward the end, I skimmed the book it's easy to do when the dialogue largely remains the same in each iteration "Joe, I can protect myself.
" "Dammit, you can't. I love you. " "I'm not happy until I find Bonnie, you don't understand, " its been a lazy couple of weeks, and sometimes you want to read something completely non thought provoking, . . mission accomplished : Luis Montalvo is a Columbian who deals in the illegal selling of arms, Eve Duncan is the best forensic sculptor in the world, Moltalvo has contacted Eve to work on a reconstruction for him at his compound in Columbia, Eve says absolutely not until, . . he promises to bring home her Bonnie, Against the words of her partner and lover,Joe Quinn, she goes to work on Montalvo's skull, She is lured in to more danger than she can ever imagine, She will have to face the nastiest man alive, and it's not Montalvo, On the outside, Montalvo is everything Eve imagined, . . except he's sexier and his entire being is nothing Eve expected, The attraction is unbearable and you kinda start rooting that the two of them get together, Will she be able to get out of Columbia without ruining her relationship with Joe and also make it out alive This book has been one of the best in this series so far.
It will also leave you hanging and making you can't wait to start reading "Quicksand", which is the next one in the series, I've been a longtime fan of Iris Johansen, especially the Eve Duncan series, Although STALEMATE is decidedly different from the other stories starring Eve Duncan from the past, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed itso much so that I stayed up untilam to finish the book.


Yes, the Eve in this story isn't the saintly, neverdoanythingwrong Eve that many readers have come to know and love, She becomes attracted to a bad guy who, at least in the beginning of the story, is the mother of all bad guys, Montalvo, however, isn't what he appears to bejust, as it would turn out, the same way that solid, eversteady Eve isn't just the pushover we've always thought her to be.


The action in this story is nonstop, with a great appearance by Galen one of my favorite characters of alltime and with a great new character,yearold Miguel.
Montalvo, I'll admit, is a very, very appealing character whether he's being a bad guy who seems to kill without compunction or a sensitive man who lost his wife to a drug lord, you can't help but find yourself drawn to him.


I, for one, am hoping that Ms, Johansen brings Montalvo back for more stories, Whether or not Eve and Joe who, by the way, acted like a giant, egobruised baby throughout most of this story can get their relationship back on track, or whether Eve will allow her attraction to Montalvo to grow, we'll have to wait and see.


But STALEMATE is definitely not a disappointing read, Kudos to Ms. Johansen for bringing back an Eve Duncan who actually started to act like a real, fallible human being, instead of a perfect, wounded princess, I have loved iris johansen since I was a teenager, My only problem that plagued me as I continued to read her Eve Duncan series was how does so much drama and life challenging adventures follow one person around And in the last several years, I find the phrase shut him out as in Eve hates to shut joe out, Eve must shut Joe out, Joe expects Eve to shut her out, Joe gets mad Eve shuts her out, etc and it just aggravates me because I like the characters, like the series, and hate that everyone is always "shut out".
Characters grow and relationships evolve and I feel after longer than a decade, Joe and Eve's relationship should have too, especially by the end of Bonnie, If this is the kind of book most people read, I'm not surprised most people don't read more, This is just the worst Eve Duncan novel, Eve came out looking strong but slightly out of character especially the way that her character was starting to become writtenbut Joe seemed like even more of an overprotective overbearing fool.
I couldn't suspend my disbelief of the annoying characters to even bother caring whether Eve and Montalvo got together until about halfway and then I figured it would serve Joe right.
Don't get me wrong, I like Joe but he makes a good point when he mentions in the beginning of the novel that his relationship with Eve is getting a bit strained.
They need to grow up and I hate to say it, I'm a little tired of the Bonnie motivator, She should never forget her child but even Bonnie has asked to be let go, It's time to start the healing process or at least find the killer, I can't bother to read the next one, so I guess I'll never know either,

Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me, I liked Jane in the last two novels though, Very believable and the stories were entertaining, I'd be interested in more about her and Trevor, That is the best thing that I can take from the Eve Duncan series,

Alas, it was a good run while it lasted but I believe this is my last Eve Duncan novel, 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 worldrenowned, 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 thingsnone of them lawabiding 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 commonand 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 allthe 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. An entertaining thriller. I think I'm reading these all out of order, but I had no trouble following the thread of the series, I'm actually looking forward to seeing if Montalvo makes an appearance in future books, I had read this book, but the story didnt stand out, I love all of her books , but this on and off with Joe is getting boring, She needs to make a decision, I vote yes. The problem with Bonnie went on and on though it was worth the read, Please dont do that with Joe, Lots of actionrounded tostars. I found this book to be overall a decent read, Listening to it rather than physically reading it myself made for some enjoyable housework and drive time,

The Good Stuff: It was nice to get an Eve Duncan book that actually featured Eve Duncan, I do like her adopted daughter, Jane, but this series is not the Jane series and I was getting tired of having Jane be front and center.
The suspense was really good as was the setting, For the most part the plot was solid, . . too bad the characters were not,

The Bad Stuff: At this juncture I'm over and done with Eve's obsession with her long dead Bonnie, I know one doesn't just get over the loss of a child but by this point Eve is making terrible judgement calls and putting herself in danger constantly in order to find that closure.
This is not the Eve Duncan that I remember, Also Joe, an exFBI agent, makes some TSTL decisions and almost dies, . . twice. WTH! The combo of Eve and Joe was disastrous also, After this many years together why is Eve constantly shutting Joe out Even the most independent and strong willed person, after being with someone for a decade or more, learns to lean on someone to make important life altering decisions.
Not Eve. She pretty much lies and manipulates her way then sneaks off into the night like a thief, I almost hate her. Oh and the introduction of a potential "love interest" in the form of a Colombian drug lord for Eve, . . Give me a Break! So frustrating,

On the Audio: While I think Jennifer Van Dyck did an ok job narrating the book, her accents, in my opinion, were off, The Colombians almost sounded European, In addition a reoccurring character named Galen had an Irish brogue yet at one point I could have sworn the book said that he spoke in a British accent.


In a Nutshell: I'll probably continue with the series but only because I really want to read the whole Bonnie closure but honestly, I feel this series has just about run it's course.
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