Iris Johansen SMOKESCREEN An Eve Duncan Thriller

Secret Motives...

Smokescreen by Iris Johansen (Eve Duncan #25) is another powerful thriller which held my interest from the beginning until the ending of the story.  Forensic sculpturer Eve Duncan is requested by journalist Jill Cassidy to travel to the small African village of Robaku.  Jill is to the point of manipulative begging and plays on Eve's compassion for the parents of murdered children. Jill wants Eve to reconstruct the faces of children who were slain and then burned by a terroristic group lead by Nils Varak. Jill had been brutally beaten by Varak and raped by three of his men because she tried to uncover crimes committed by this group. Varak was reported to have been killed in a helicopter crash before he could be brought to justice, but Jill has suspicions that he is still alive. Jill needs Eve's expert skills to prove if the skull being kept in a guarded box is the skull of Varak or an imposter.
Even though Jill had the best of intentions for getting Eve to the small village, I did not like her forceful and manipulative character. She put more people's lives in danger for her own journalistic purposes. It seemed to me the main focus of the book is Jill rather than Eve. It will be interesting to wait and see if the author uses the character of Jill in another series or book. As the character of Zahra is brought into the story, a secondary plot begins to unfold. Parts of the story are heartbreaking and other scenes will have you feeling anger toward some of the characters. The story is fast-paced, interesting, and very emotional.
Publication Date is July 30, 2019
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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Photographs by Diane Lochala

"Through The Glass"