Review: Your Next Breath by Iris Johansen (audio)

Title: Your Next Breath   

Author: Iris Johansen   

Series: Catherine Ling, #4   

Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers  

Published: April 2015, Brilliance Audio   

Length: 10 hours 53 minutes  

Source: Publisher 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an explosive new thriller

Catherine
Ling is one of the CIA’s most prized operatives. Raised on the streets
of Hong Kong, she was pulled into the agency at the age of fourteen. If
life has taught her anything, it is not to get attached, but there are
two exceptions to that rule: her son Luke and her mentor Hu Chang. Luke
was kidnapped at age two, and now, nine years later, he has
astonishingly been returned to her. Catherine vows never to fail him
again.

Now, just as she is building a relationship with
Luke, it seems that someone from Catherine’s past is playing a deadly
game with her, and using those she cares about as pawns. Three are dead
already: the former prostitute who helped Catherine when she was out on
the street, a CIA agent with whom she worked closely, and the informant
who helped her free Luke. Someone is picking off the people Catherine
cares about one by one, with the circle narrowing closer and closer to
those she loves the most.

Catherine has made many enemies
throughout her life, and she has no choice but to weed through her past
to find out who is targeting her now, and then go after the vicious
killer herself.

My thoughts: I have really come to enjoy Iris Johansen’s books. I first started reading her when I came across her Eve Duncan series way back when and love how she has created new series featuring some of the strong female characters that she introduced in that series.  I also love how there is often cross-over from the Eve Duncan series, too, with these other series! It’s almost as if you need to be up-to-date on all the series because they overlap and propel each storyline forward – something I find to be rather unique amongst the different series by a single author.

This book brought in a lot of familiar faces – Eve, Joe, Jane, Caleb, Kelly, Luke, Hu Chang, Erin, Sam, and even Bonnie-  because someone was targeting Catherine in a personal way. He’s going after the ones she cares about most to hurt her before finally taking her out. And Catherine is desperately trying to warn everyone she loves to be vigilant, but while she’s successful in some cases, she’s too late in others. 

I love Catherine – I find her to be a strong female character – not afraid to stand up and fight for those she loves. She’s also selfish, though. She wants to put an end to this herself, though, she is willing to accept help when backed into a corner. But we did see a different side to Catherine in this book – a more vulnerable side when she realized that it was because of her that so many people were targets. She always thought she was a bit of a loner and didn’t have many close relationships, but as Santos proved to her, there were many people she had to warn to be careful – many more than she would have thought possible, and when someone close to her winds up severely hurt, Catherine was devastated. This isn’t a side we see too often. 

While there isn’t really much of a mystery as to who is after Catherine – we know from the first few pages that it’s Santos – it’s still quite a page turner. There’s a crazy cat and mouse game going on as Catherine and her team thwart Santos and his team in their attacks, or at least attempt to. But we are still left holding our breath, wondering if Catherine is going to finally be able to out-wit Santos. 

I  really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read more from this author – I love her Eve Duncan series, her Kendra Michael series and the Catherine Ling series. They all have recurring characters, yet tell their own stories and feature strong female characters. There’s a bit of a set-up for a future book – I’m not sure if it’s for the next book out, the Kendra Michaels one, or the next Eve Duncan book, but either way, I’m quite anxious to read it and find out!!!

Audio Thoughts: I really like Elisabeth Rodgers – she has narrated quite a few of the Iris Johansen books I’ve listened to and I enjoy the voices she uses. She does great with the suspense and tension of the book, and seems to be a good fit for this series. I hope she continues to narrate these books! 

I’ve found that for the most part, I almost always listen to Iris Johansen’s books now – unless I can’t get them on audio, which is rarely the case. I just enjoy listening to them and find they are always well-done and keep my attention from start to finish.

Books in this Series:

1. Chasing the Night (Eve Duncan, #11)
2. What Doesn’t Kill You
3. Live to See Tomorrow 
4. Your Last Breath