Countdown
Iris Johansen
Bantam, May 2005, $25.00 405 pages, ISBN: 0553803425
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Jane MacGuire, the adopted daughter of forensic sculptor Eve Duncan, is almost kidnapped and her friend is murdered before her eyes. The roommate who betrayed them is killed in a suspicious hit and run. Trevor, who she hasn't seen in four years since they caught a serial killer in the ruins of Herculaneum, the ancient city destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius' eruption, brings them to the castle he is renting in Aberdeen, Scotland. Dr. Reilly, a brainwashing specialist, wants Jane who is the mirror image of Cira, a slave girl who escaped with a treasure when Herculaneum was destroyed. He also wants the gold and coins that she smuggled out the day Vesuvius blew.

Grozak, a hate filled racist who detests the United States is prepared to go to any lengths to kidnap and deliver Jane and find the gold and coins and bring them all to Reilly if he will brainwash people into becoming suicide bombers for an attack on the United States that will make 9/11 seem small in comparison. Trevor who cares about Jane is determined to protect her just as he intends to stop Grozak from carrying out his plan. Jane joins the mission to stop the man knowing it might coast her everything if they fail.

COUNTDOWN is a fantastic action-packed thriller where the stakes are high and failure could result in the death of millions. Over the course of the Eve Duncan forensic thriller series Jane has evolved from a street wise delinquent into a beautiful headstrong adult who will do whatever it takes to save her country. Trevor, an ex-mercenary operating on both sides of the law, meets his match in Jane and their relationships promises to intensify in future novels. Iris Johansen has written another winner that is heading for the New York Times bestseller list.