Countdown

This was the first Irish Johansen book I ever read. I noticed this in the store where I work at, and it looked interesting enough, so I thought, why not. I was expecting way more than... this.

The story is not very well-constructed and focuses more on the character of Jane and her connection with a Roman woman named Cira. I know this is supposed to be part of a series, but the mark of a good series is that any book within could be read by itself. The story is rather sparse given the description on the back of the book. Unless you're a die-hard Johansen fan, I can't recommend this book.

I struggled through all 400 pages of this book because I'm an Iris Johansen fan. I've read everything else she's written and agree that the last book "Blind Alley" started a downward trend that was sadly carried through to this book. I just couldn't stay interested. This is a far cry from her earlier novels. "Countdown" is basically a recap of "Blind Alley" in my opinion with some new characters thrown in. The story is very scattered with some plot lines given so little explanation that the reader is left wondering why they're even in there.

Countdown – Four years after Blind Alley, Eve Duncan’s adopted daughter Jane MacGuire is all grown up and now attending university.

When Mike Fitzgerald, Eve’s adopted brother and Jane’s fellow university student is murdered during a failed kidnap attempt of Jane, it becomes obvious that the saga of Cira’s gold and the events of four years ago are far from being in Jane’s past.

With Jane’s uncanny resemblance to the ancient Herculaneum woman and her brief connection to Mark Trevor, it doesn’t take long for Jane to figure out that Trevor is somehow involved. And, she is right. For as much as Cira still haunts her dreams, Trevor still nags at the back of her mind. They have unfinished business.

This time around however, Jane show more is worth more alive than dead to Trevor’s deadly foe. And what lies in Jane’s memories of Cira is far too valuable for anyone including Trevor to pass up the opportunity to exploit.

Wedged between guilt, survival, revenge and curiosity, Jane is torn between her need to learn who killed Mike and bring them to justice and her desperate desire to discover the contents of Cira’s scrolls. The coveted prize of Blind Alley that Trevor now dangles before her.

But to achieve anything, she has to stay alive and Trevor’s solution is to hide her at MacDuff’s Run, a run-down castle in the Scottish Highlands. Are the answers in finding the ancient woman’s treasure hidden in the Herculaneum scrolls? And will that knowledge help to stop a ruthless terrorist from attacking the U.S., or a demented madman from taking control of Jane to further one of his experiments?

In this book there are some twists and turns to the re-incarnation theme and Iris Johansen does provide some conclusion to this element of the story, but she also opens the door wide for yet another instalment in Jane and Trevor’s story.

I didn’t enjoy Countdown as much as I did with Blind Alley, but it was definitely worth the read. show less

This is the first Eve Duncan novel I've read. Really too much action for me, there is shooting, kidnapping, beheading, explosions, etc … I did like Jane, a young college student involved in an archeological mission to find gold coins and translate scrolls from the days of Pompeii. Jane is said to resemble ancient beauty Chira. Maybe she channels the spirit of Chira, because her dreams about Chira seemed to coincide somehow with the drama she was going through in real life. As the story ends with Chira and Antonio in the childbirth scene, I began to wonder if the next novel might begin with Jane and Trevor experiencing parenthood themselves. I also liked the descriptive way Chira referred to her passionate life with Antonio.... "Velvet show more nights, silver mornings." show less

Jane is now finished college and running for her life. Mark Trevor is the only person who can help her stay alive. He has more proof of what happened to Cira, some documents, and he's getting them translated. Meanwhile there are more twists and turns.

There's almost too many twists and turns, it's as if Johansen needs to add more excitement to the story but it just seems to drag the story down. Interesting to see what's happening to the characters but really it didn't excite me.

Pretty good action, adventure maybe a little paint by number, not highly recommended good if you have time to kill.

Jane is a woman who bears a strong resemblance to Chira, a slave woman who may (or may not) have been killed when Mt Etna errupted and Pompeii perished. Trevor is the romantic interest who is on a quest for the legendary Chera's gold. Of course the bad guys are also after the gold and somehow or another the good guys have to find it or the USA will be the victim of a massive terrorist attack.
Sound far fetched, it was but pleasant enough for a diversion on the commute home. T