Will Eve Duncan Survive Iris Johansen’s ‘Night and Day’? [REVIEW] 

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan will do anything to protect a young girl. But what will she do when she becomes a killer’s next target? (Photo designed by Rob Grom)

Night and Day is the third installment in Iris Johansen’s latest Eve Duncan trilogy that began with Shadow Play and continued with Hide Away. This time out, Eve is joined by Joe Quinn, Jane MacGuire and friends, each with their own unique talent, as they race against the clock to save a young girl named Cara Delaney from the evil clutches of her sociopathic mother and deceptively innocent grandfather, Sergai Kaskov.

St. Martin’s Press

In a manhunt that takes Eve from California to a remote mountain in the Scottish highlands, Johansen ups the ante by making Eve the new target of vengeful Natalie Castino. She also places numerous roadblocks in her characters’ way, including a deadly poison, IEDs, and atmospheric changes designed to build suspense, but which never truly gain momentum.

Night and Day is better than its predecessor, Hide Away, yet it remains overshadowed by the trilogy’s first novel, Shadow Play. I only finished reading the book to see how Johansen wraps up the tale, but I wasn’t vested in either the characters or the story by the novel’s end. I think this Eve Duncan adventure would have been better as a single, stand-alone novel rather than a drawn-out trilogy. It would have definitely made for a tighter, concise, well paced novel that draws readers along for the whole ride.

So what’s next for Eve Duncan and crew? Although I’m not positive, it seems likely the author may have left an opening for a new series or spinoff featuring Cara Delaney. But that remains to be seen. Still, I’m sad to say that after my previous disappointment with Hide Away and now with Night and Day, it may be a while before I read another of Johansen’s novels.

Iris Johansen
(Photo by Louis Tonsmeire)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Iris Johansen is the New York Times bestselling author of Hide Away, Shadow Play, The Perfect Witness, and more. She began writing after her children went off to college and found her initial success in the early 1980s writing category romances.

In 1991, she started writing historical romance novels, withe the publication of The Wind Dancer. Then in 1996, she switched genres and turned to crime fiction. By November 2016, she had 17 consecutive New York Times bestselling novels under her belt. She has also collaborated with her son, Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Roy Johansen, on numerous novels. Her daughter, Tamara, works as her research assistant.

Johansen lives with her husband just outside Atlanta, Georgia. Visit her home on the Web at IrisJohansen.com and like her on Facebook.

NIGHT AND DAY
By Iris Johansen
352 pgs. St. Martin’s Press. $27.99