New Releases by Iris Johansen

In this “fast-paced, nonstop, clever” (USA Today) novel, #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen introduces her most popular character ever: forensic sculptor Eve Duncan. “Johansen keeps her story moving at breakneck speed.”—Chicago Daily Sun An unidentified skull. A trail of shocking secrets. And a woman whose hands could reveal the terrifying truth. After her beloved daughter vanishes, Eve Duncan survives by immersing herself in her work. The best in her elite field at rebuilding faces from fragments of skull bones, she helps to put a name to a face, to identify missing children. It is Eve’s way of coming to terms with her personal nightmare. But more terror lies ahead when she accepts a job from billionaire John Logan. Beneath Eve’s gifted hands, a face begins to emerge from the skull he has given her to reconstruct—a face that no one was ever meant to see. Now Eve is trapped in a web of murder and deceit as powerful enemies rush to cover up the truth, determined that their secrets go to the grave—even if Eve gets buried with them.

She expected sunshine and balmy breezes. What she saw was everyone''s worst nightmare. Bess Grady has heard the unmistakable sound before. She knows what it means. But not even the eerie lament of the howling dogs can prepare her for what has taken place in the small village. The seasoned photojournalist had been sent there on an easy assignment, and now she has stumbled upon something she was never meant to see. Amid chaos and fear, she joins forces with an intimidating stranger, a man whose alliances are unclear but whose methods have a way of leaving bodies in his wake. For what she has witnessed is only the first stage in a plan of terror that may kill us all. And she has no choice but to stop it—or die trying....

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Final Target, Iris Johansen raises the stakes and the heart rate with this relentless new thriller that follows the harrowing trail of a ruthless killer on the hunt—and the woman who is determined to hunt him down. He is the most terrifying of killers: ruthless, cunning, charismatic. And he has the means to get whatever he wants. And what Rico Chavez wants most is Elena Kyler—and he wants her dead. Trained as an assassin, Elena didn’t need anyone to survive. But now she finds herself on the run from one dangerous man and turning for help to another. Sean Galen was a man without illusions. He knew it was only desperation that caused Elena to accept his help—a mother’s desperation to save her young son from a psychopath father who would raise their son in his own chilling image. And yet he was determined to get this woman who had never been able to trust anyone or anything in her whole life to accept him as her ally. But both Galen and Elena know that Chavez’s power and wealth mean there is no place they can be safe and no one they can trust—not even each other. Already Chavez’s assassins and connections to those in the highest positions of power have turned this into a war with no rules. With two shocking acts of brutal violence, Chavez shows he will stop at nothing and that nothing will stop him. Soon a trail of horrifying murders will follow Galen and Elena across country to a last stand and a shattering showdown. For Chavez is a master of control and he wants more than just to take Elena’s life. He wants her alive long enough to see him destroy every reason she has for living. He wants her to turn against everything and everyone she ever believed in. He wants her to commit the ultimate act of betrayal. And by the time he is through, he wants her to beg him to take the only thing she’ll have left to give: her life.

In this thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen, a sadistic murderer sets a trap for his next victim: Eve Duncan herself. “An enthralling cat-and-mouse game . . . The suspense holds until the very end.”—Publishers Weekly A merciless killer on the hunt. An innocent child in his sights. A woman driven to the edge to stop him . . . The killer knows Eve Duncan all too well. He knows the pain she feels for her murdered daughter, Bonnie, whose body has never been found. He knows that as one of the nation’s top forensic sculptors she’ll insist on identifying the nine skeletons unearthed on a bluff near Georgia’s Talladega Falls. He knows she won’t be able to resist the temptation of believing that one of those skeletons might be her daughter’s. But that is only the beginning of the killer’s sadistic game. He wants Eve one-on-one, and he’ll use his ace in the hole to make sure she complies. And he won’t stop playing until he claims the prize he wants most: Eve’s life.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen delivers a knockout novel, as an unlikely pair of allies must expose a team of killers hiding behind an unspeakable act of terror—and risk ending up their next target. She witnesses death through the eye of her camera. Now a relentless killer is focused on her. A celebrated photojournalist, Alex Graham has seen it all--but her latest assignment has forced her across a dangerous line. What happens when a reporter does more than just report? She has recorded some of the most tragic and heartbreaking of catastrophes, everything from natural disasters to infamous acts of terror. Her experiences have left her forever marked with the human side of tragedy. So when a dam breaks in Arapahoe Junction, Colorado, Alex is once more at the site doing more than just snapping pictures—she is in the mud with a shovel digging for survivors. What happens when the reporter becomes the story? Alex finds more than she bargained for. In one terrible instant, she is witness to a conspiracy that will stun a nation. The official story is just a cover-up for a truth so frightening, so unthinkable, anyone who threatens to reveal it must be silenced. Forever. And now that someone is Alex Graham. The first attempt on her life is swift and brutal. Only barely escaping, she finds an ally in an improbable source. Billionaire financier John Logan has his own reasons for protecting Alex, and these reasons alone are likely to get her killed. Using his vast connections and influences, Logan assigns a bodyguard to protect her. Judd Morgan is the best covert commando in the business, and if anyone can keep Alex safe, it’s this quietly dangerous man. The problem is, Alex doesn’t want to be kept safe by Judd, whose checkered past has made him the target of an unseen assassin who dogs his every step. “Smoothly written, tightly plotted, turbocharged thriller . . . Johansen doesn’t miss.”—Kirkus Reviews

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Eve Duncan thought her past was long buried. Until she finds herself tracking a killer so deceptive he leaves no trace behind—except for his victims—in this captivating psychological thriller from renowned author Iris Johansen. “The story moves so fast, you’ll be reading the epilogue before you notice.”—People Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan has been summoned to Baton Rouge by a high-ranking government official to identify the remains of an unknown murder victim. Eve wants nothing to do with the project. She has finally found peace from her own tragic past, living a quiet life with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and her adopted daughter, Jane. Then a stunning series of seemingly unrelated events turns Eve’s new world upside down. Now, in a special government facility, she takes on the project of identifying the victim’s skeleton. But she hasn’t even begun when another death occurs. Someone totally ruthless, who can strike anywhere at any time and with seeming immunity, is determined to put a halt to her work, her life, and the lives of those she loves. Eve has stumbled onto a chilling conspiracy. There is only one person who can give her the devastating truth . . . and he’s already dead.

An elusive killer . . . a deadly obsession . . . and a woman who must destroy him—or become his next victim. Some would kill to know what Caitlin Vasaro knows. For the secrets she’s kept hidden all her life are the kind that the rich and the powerful will do anything to possess. But not even Caitlin knows how much danger she is in—or how far someone will go to hunt her down. But she is about to find out when she enters a business deal with the mysterious and charismatic Alex Karazov and joins the hunt for one of the world’s most coveted treasures, the Wind Dancer, an ancient statue of legendary beauty and power. But Kazarov is a dangerous man who has an even more dangerous enemy and suddenly Caitlin is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue and deception, unable to trust anyone, not even the one man who can help. Now she must outsmart the cleverest of killers, a psychopath obsessed with the Wind Dancer whose ruthless plan spans continents and whose lethal rampage won’t stop at one death . . . or two . . . or even three—not until he finally gets what he wants: the secret Caitlin will die to keep.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • He strikes without warning. He kills without mercy. He''s only just begun. As part of an elite K-9 search and rescue team, Sarah Patrick and her golden retriever, Monty, have a gift for finding what no one else can. But their latest assignment is not like the others. This time Sarah is being forced to take part in a deadly mission . . . by a man who knows enough about her past to ensure her cooperation. Billionaire John Logan''s top-secret venture has been sabotaged, its facilities destroyed, and its handpicked staff massacred. The sole survivor is being held for ransom. Logan knows that the only way to save the man—and the secrets he holds—is to find him as soon as possible. Sarah is furious when she is strong-armed into joining Logan on his search. And once she takes the perilous assignment, not even Logan''s promises that she and Monty will be safe may be enough to protect them. Because a killer is devising a sadistic vengeance . . . and he may soon find use for Sarah.

She wanted to save lives. The killer wanted to end hers. The first warning was triggered hundreds of miles away. The second warning exploded only yards from where she and her son stood. Now Kate Denby realizes the frightening truth: She is somebody''s target. Danger has arrived in Kate''s backyard with a vengeance. And the gifted scientist is awakening to a nightmare world where a ruthless killer is stalking her...where her innocent son is considered expendable...and where the medical research to which she has devoted her life is the same research that could get her killed. Her only hope of protecting her family and making that medical breakthrough is to elude her enemy until she can face him on her own ground, on her own terms—and destroy him.

If fate suddenly made you more beautiful that you ever dreamed possible, would it be the beginning of a fairy tale, or your worst nightmare? The brutal attack should have killed anybody, but Nell Calder did more than survive. She emerged a woman transformed, with an exquisite beauty found only in fairy tales. Nell Calder deserved a happy ending. Instead, her descent into terror has just begun. Her attacker is still on the hunt, determined to finish what he''s started. And Nell, protected by a new face, is just as determined to fight back and take her revenge. But to catch her prey, she will have to expose herself—even if it makes her a killer''s prime target.

From three of the brightest stars in contemporary fiction comes a festive trio of romantic classics about an unforgettable family—and the enchanted heirloom that links one generation to the next.… Christmas Past by Iris Johansen Killara, Arizona, 1893. Kevin Delaney doesn’t know what to make of the Gypsy beauty he finds rummaging in the attic of Killara, his family’s estate. She claims she’s there to recover an old mirror with extraordinary powers. While Kevin doesn’t believe her mystical talk, there’s no doubt a kind of magic is at work on his heart—just in time for Christmas.… Christmas Present by Fayrene Preston Bria Delaney is at Killara for the holidays when she discovers a mirror that reveals more than her reflection. Appearing in the glass is a startlingly handsome man who just as mysteriously disappears—until she meets him in person that night, leading to a Christmas they’ll never forget.… Christmas Future by Kay Hooper A heartbreaking vision in the legendary Delaney mirror drove Brett Delaney to the other side of the world. Now his father’s death bequeaths him the mirror, and its prophecy sends him back to Killara for Christmas, determined to save the home—and the woman—he’s always loved.