Shadow Play: An Eve Duncan Novel

I adore Eve Duncan. I adore all of the characters for all of Iris Johansen's books. I find the plots tediously repetitive, though. The use of the possessive pronoun YOUR (character name here) is annoying Ms. Johansen. Occasionally I might say: Your brother or your mother, but "your Joe," "your Bonnie," etc seems trite. Another thing that bothers me about all of your novels is the so-called strong, self-reliant female character. It is one thing to be strong physically and emotionally, but quite another to be fool-hardy and ridiculously hard-headed. Why do your women always have to leap into danger when a man says no, please don't? I am a strong woman... but no way in hell you would catch me putting my life and everyone else's in danger to prove I am stubborn and hard-headed. It is also tedious. Same plots really. Different title, different day. Same story.

This book should be made into a movie . It would be a great hit and I know people would go to see it. There was secretes, murder ,love and sadness all roll into one book. Each person part took on a life of their own. I tell you it was as if you was ( more you read the book ) looking at a movie and afraid to move out of your set because you afraid you might miss something. Yes I have the first of the Trilogy and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to getting my hands on that book. GREAT JOB IRIS JOHANSEN !!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOUYour number one fan Emma Anderson I am 66 years old and I have been reading you for a while now . You keep me going and I thank you . God Bless You.

Wow...I used to love the Eve Duncan books. The last several, including the trilogy she did, have just really been terrible. The stories are the same old stories recycled. It's as if Ms. Johansen has each character and their dialogue already written and in each book she just plugs it into the scene. The characters don't develop anymore. I've been reading the same conversation in this one book that has been the same conversation over and over again. "What's going on? I can't tell you, your aren't ready yet. But tell me what's going on. You wouldn't understand. What's going on? You won't accept it yet". Really? And to make it worse, this character has the same conversation with every person she interacts with in every book since she was introduced. And, every character uses the same terms and has the same vocabulary. How many people do you know who use the term "reconnoiter"? And EVERY character in the books use this term. Really? Can we not find a thesaurus to find a new word for some of them? And, why does Eve and everyone else constantly refer to Joe as "Joe Quinn"? Even to people who know Joe, they don't just say "oh, we can call Joe", they have to say "Oh, we can call Joe Quinn". It's kind of annoying. Ms. Johansen, if you have no new material, please just end the series until you do. You are doing a huge disservice to your readers. Lets not even talk about the supernatural issues cropping up.....that's getting a bit ridiculous too. Joe doesn't actually do "cop work" anymore, everyone just runs around taking info from supernatural sources.

I purchased Shadow Play, the 19th book about Eve Duncan. I have read every one of these books and found them all to be exciting and different. I really don't know how Iris Johansen keeps her characters so alive and fresh, but I am glad she does. Eve is reconstructing a skull found buried in a wooded area. The Sheriff wants Eve to get it and put it to the front of the other ones she is doing. He needs this one done quickly. Eve starts working on the skull and things that have never happened to her before starts in. She does the reconstruction in record time, and is haunted by the girl's face....and by the girl's ghost. Who would want to kill a 9 year old girl? And she tells Eve her name is Jenny and that there is more killings that will be done if she doesn't help. Does Eve and Quinn find the killer? How many girls will die before they do? Read the story to find out.

Iris Johansen has done it again. Her Eve Duncan novels continue to be first class. She manages to avoid being formulaic by adding new characters that are interesting and gets you to care about them in a very short amount of time. Her writing style keeps you on the edge of your seat and ensures that you keep reading as you need to know what happens at the end of every chapter. I have read every Eve Duncan novel and have enjoyed each one. Some more than others but every one has been interesting and keeps me coming back for more. I highly recommend her books.

I forgot how much I dislike this series. The story lines are okay, though I am not much of a ghost believer. What bothers me about Johansen's writing is her continuous dialogue from both Eve and Joe about their independence, their protection of the other,blah, blah, blah. It gets very monotonous after awhile. We get it, already! You love each other, and want them safe. Joe is particularly bad.If I can remember, I probably won't read another one in this series......except, they did have such an intriguing ending! It might make me pick up the next one.

I thought that I was finished reading the Eve Duncan series . I loved her last trilogy, however I was wrong! Shadow Play was so fantastic, I couldn't stop reading the book and now I'm going to purchase the next book in the series and can't wait to read it . I can see where this series is going and it's very exciting and filled with mystery . I highly recommend this book to everyone , Iris Johansen never ceases to amaze me!

I have not stopped to write a review until now! The characters are complex and wonderful. I actually started this series on the book 2 ahead of this one then went back and read most of them. Eve Duncan's world is a place I love visiting. I hope she keeps up the amazing work!

Very happy it came on time can't wait to read it.

Eve Duncan is a specialist in reconstructing skulls from the remains of children murdered by an unknown assailant. She and FBI detective Joe Quinn, live in Atlanta, Georgia. The story opens with Eve receiving a skull of an 11-year old girl shipped from a sheriff in northern California. It becomes apparent early on that someone does not want the identity of the murdered girl revealed. The mystery is then who was the little girl, why is there an attempt to keep her identity hidden, and who was her killer.The search for the truth thrusts both Eve and Joe into many dangerous situations.With the help of spiritual forces and her friend, Magaret, who possesses an uncanny ability to communicate with wild life, Eve starts homing in on the truth, but not without the skills of Joe in providing the often needed protection and his diligent research.

Still enjoying the author but do admit that I need a break from the characters every now and than as they start to be formula not growing... but a few months away will have me returning

Iris Johansen's books.... always an excellent read. Never miss one.

Omg . Another fantastic book with Eve And Joe and Margaret. I love the characters. They are like family ! Terrific once again. Never disappointed .