Review: The Naked Eye by Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen (audio)

Title: The Naked Eye

Author: Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen

Series: Kendra Michaels, #3 

Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers

Published: July 2015, Brilliance Audio 

Length: 10 hours 23 minutes

Source: Publisher

The #1 New York Times
bestselling author and the Edgar Award winning author are back with a
new a new novel featuring Kendra Michaels—hired gun for both the CIA and
FBI.

It’s been four months since the events of SIGHT UNSEEN, and
Kendra Michaels is obsessed with trying to track down serial killer
Eric Colby. Despite his apparent execution at San Quentin, Kendra is
convinced that Colby is still alive. The trouble is, she can’t prove it.
Even her razor-sharp powers of observation, honed while blind during
the first twenty years of her life, have gotten her nowhere. So no one
believes her.

Then out of the blue she gets a call from the
Sheriff of Olancha, California, about a young woman being held on a
drunk and disorderly charge who lists Kendra as her emergency contact.
It’s Eve Duncan’s sister, Beth Avery, who after being wrongfully
institutionalized for five years has been living on the road and trying
to figure out her life. Kendra can identify, having gone through a
similar period of self-discovery after gaining her sight, and she takes
Beth home to San Diego with her.

But the murder of a police
detective who had once very openly crossed swords with Kendra is about
to complicate her life even further. She visits the crime scene in
search of anything that might provide a link to Colby and instead finds
evidence that links the crime to her. Finally Colby’s master plan
becomes clear: he is framing Kendra for a brutal cop-killing.

Suspicions
mount along with the body count, and Kendra is thrust into
spine-tingling pursuit to clear her name and find the killer no one
believes exists anymore. Beth joins her on her quest, and agent-for-hire
Adam Lynch soon follows. And they get help from another friend anxious
to repay her debt to Kendra… none other than Eve Duncan herself.

My thoughts: With each new book I read or listen to by Iris Johansen, I am reminded just how well she can spin a story and how well she is able to interwine her series – something I happen to love, especially since I really love all three of the series that she ‘borrows’ characters from. This is where I firmly believe reading series in order and being current on all three of these series (Eve Duncan, Catherine Ling and Kendra Michaels) will keep you as up-to-date on everyone as possible – you just never know who is going to show up in an Iris Johansen book!

Kendra Michaels seems to be fighting an uphill battle in this book – she is positive that the serial killer from the previous book, Eric Colby, is not only not dead, but wants to play a game of cat and mouse with her. He has continued with his murder spree, but is now making it appear as if she is the guilty party. Can she stop him and get the FBI to believe her before it’s too late?

Helping Kendra out, though not at her request, is none other than Beth Avery, Eve Duncan’s sister. It appears that Kendra is Beth’s emergency contact and had gotten herself into a bit of trouble. I loved the interactions between these two – both are quite stubborn and each want to protect the other. There are a few other familiar faces – if you’ve read any of the previous books – Sam the computer geek, who I love and who happens to have a thing for Beth, and Adam Lynch. The scene when Adam finds Sam in his apartment was hysterical!!! I love that Kendra and Adam continue to dance around each other – something is definitely there between them and hopefully it happens soon!

This book moves fast and kept me hooked the entire time. The way the clues come at them, the twists and turns, the pacing, it all combines together for a thrilling read and I can’t wait for the next installment. In the meantime, I’ll be reading/listening to Iris Johansen’s new Eve Duncan trilogy so as to not miss any character development that might be referred to in the next Kendra Michaels book!

Audio thoughts: I just love listening to Elisabeth Rodgers narrate these books. She narrates almost all of Iris Johasen’s books and I think she does a great job with them. She is able to give each of the characters their own voices and her pacing adds just the right amount of tension and even a sense of suspense when needed to the book. I hope she continues narrating not only this series but the others as well!

Books in this series:

      .5  With Open Eyes

     1.  Close Your Eyes

     2.  Sight Unseen  

     3.  The Naked Eye