Dead Aim

I have followed and loved Ms. Johansen's Eve Duncan series. Dead Aim is not in that series. It features Alex Graham, a photojournalist—a strong, opinionated female—the kind Iris Johansen is famous for, and Morgan Judd—a misunderstood killer with a heart whose survival skills are off the chart. This is supposed to be a stand-alone book. Still, many familiar characters from previous books appear, such as Sarah with her rescue dog Monty, her lover, rich and powerful John Logan, and Galen and Elena—now living together and expecting a baby. The post-9/11 plot involves terrorists, government traitors, and mad scientists. That may sound cliché, but somehow this author knows how to keep the action moving and the dialogue interesting. I show more found this to be a fast, entertaining read. show less

Alex, a photojournalist, unintentionally witnesses a crime following a fatal disaster at a dam. After a subsequent attempt on her life, she's put under unofficial protection, but she's not content to play the passive female and assists in uncovering a conspiracy. From there it's a race to see if she can uncover all of the players before they get to her.

That sounds pretty typical of your modern day conspiracy thriller, doesn't it? Yes, well, that was my overall impression as well. For the most part I thought this was a pretty predictable and cliche'd story. Lots of overly dramatic dialogue and repetitive use of certain phrases such as "My God!" and "For God's sake!". I don't mind a few of those if appropriate, but way too many in this show more book to sound natural. Add a wannabe kick-ass female lead character who tries too hard to sound tough, and it's all a bit too much. Had this not been an abridged version on audio, it might've been a little bit better. But then again, maybe not, and perhaps abridged was the way to go to finish it more quickly. I thought I'd read Iris Johansen before, but apparently this was my first one, based on my review history. Based on this one, I'm not overly impressed. show less

Alex is a young photo journalist whose father, a firefighter, died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Even since his death, Alex has sworn never to be that helpless again and devotes her free time to aiding search and rescue. At the latest disaster, a collapsed dam, Alex finds herself witness to a second terrorist attack. A group of men destroy her helicopter, start a landslide and try to kill her. She narrowly escapes but she's on the run now as the target of a huge government conspiracy. She is eventually plucked from her dangerous spot by a cold blooded government killer who is being paid to keep her safe.

Alex hates how helpless he makes her feel but soon comes to realize she needs his protection if she is get to the bottom of this show more mystery. They join forces to take on a massive plot to overthrow the American presidency.

Every time I read an Iris Johansen book, I get partway in and ask myself if I've read it before. The reason for this is that I basically have. All her books are the same, with a tedious female lead and an insanely aggressive, kinda rapey male lead. Even though they instantly hate each other, they will shortly be banging, don't worry.

The plot in this book was just awful. The government conspiracy was never fully fleshed out, and as far as I can tell, mostly involved a seemingly endless series of men's surnames. Seriously, there needed to be a reference guide for all these shadowy conspirators who keep walking into the plot. There were, I'm not kidding, dozens of them.

I'm really getting tired of Johansen's tired dialogue. By the end of the book, I was flinching every time a character ended a sentence with ", dammit!" Or responded to a normal question with, "Hell no!" Who talks like this? Who has the energy to be perpetually outraged? And who has such a tiny vocabulary? Tedious! show less

Alex Graham is a photographer who has experienced loss in her personal life. She is edgy and distrustful. Smart and confrontational, yet deeply caring. And not too old. In other words, Alex is every woman who ever had a starring role in one of these romantic suspense novels.

While photographing the results of a devastating dam break in Colorado, Alex sees something she is not meant to see. And becomes the prey for the bad guys. Through the powerful husband of her best friend, she is paired, unwillingly at first, with tough guy Judd Morgan. Morgan has his own deep dark past and is willing to break rules to do the job. The two are off and running.

In other words, this is a standard romantic suspense novel. It is good for trips out of town, show more airplane rides, or simply escape reading. show less

Once again, we cross paths with John and Sarah Logan, but this isn't their story. They are just supporting characters, and Eve Duncan, well she isn't even mentioned in this book, despite being listed as 4.5 in the Eve Duncan series. So, a little misleading there...

Alex Graham a photojournalist accidentally sees something she isn't supposed to. When she wakes up in the hospital, she is eager to share the story with the police.

Refusing to be hidden away, Alex is determined to find out who is behind the "accident" at the dam. But, when she and Sarah Logan are shot at and clearly wanted dead...John Logan intervenes. Sean Galen is sent to protect Alex, and he hires Judd Morgan to do the job. Judd Morgan arrives in time to kidnap Alex and show more secret her away, and it is revealed that she is a fugitive, and that she has something to do with various attacks.

To save her life and clear her name, Alex is forced to rely on Morgan...can they survive? show less

While not technically part of a series, this book contains some characters that are parts of Johansen’s other series/books: John Logan, Sarah and Monty, and President Andreas. I think a few of the others are also recurring characters, but since this is only the 3rd Johansen book I’ve read, I don’t know for sure.

Anyway, this was just okay for me. I found Alex to be laughably naive for a world-traveling news photographer, and her naiveté is heavily acknowledged in the book, but it’s just not believable. And the conspiracy was wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. I would have liked the book to be a little more about Morgan than about Alex, and for there to be a little less character name-dropping (how many times does show more Elena’s pregnancy have to be brought up? She’s never even a direct character in the book!) show less

I did like this book, much as thrillers and romance novels just... aren't my cup of tea. I've read plenty of both, as my mother had a habit of getting them for me. This was one of the better ones. I may come back and expand on this when I get the chance. It wasn't a disappointment though.