Review: Dark Tribute by Iris Johansen

Title: Dark Tribute

Author: Iris Johansen

Series: Eve Duncan, #24

Published: March 2019, St. Martin’s Press

Format: Hardcover, 373 pages

Source: Library

Summary: 

New York Times bestseller Iris Johansen is back with another high octane thriller that will leave your mind racing and your heart pounding.

Despite
her tragic childhood, violin prodigy Cara Delaney has finally found
peace in her career as a professional musician and stability in her
relationship with her guardians, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and
ex-Navy SEAL Joe Quinn. If only Jock Gavin, Cara’s lifelong friend and a
man with his own twisted history, would even talk to her, everything
would be perfect.

But the carefully constructed life Cara has
built for herself is suddenly threatened when she is kidnapped by a
mysterious man from her grandfather’s past, setting off a violent chain
of events that puts everyone Cara loves in danger. Will Cara become a
tribute to her family’s dark past, or will she be able to keep herself
and her loved ones alive?

My thoughts: As I work my way to catching up in this series, I find that each book has such a different feel to it and I’m loving that. With all the different characters that Iris Johansen has created for this series, each book tends to focus on one, but all seem to be involved. 

In this latest installment, Cara Delaney, the girl Eve and Joe have taken guardianship of, has become the target of some a deranged man bent on revenge. After she is kidnapped, Eve, Joe, their son Michael, and Jock do everything they can to get her home safely. 

While this book is primarily about the dangers that Cara is in and then Joe as he ends up being taken hostage as well, it also explores some other interesting dynamics that I am quite excited about. It finally delves into the relationship between Jock and Cara. These two have been dancing around each other for a while, and I’m glad to see progress is finally being made here. I love them together and will be curious to see how things progress between them in future books.

The other interesting development regards Eve and Joe’s son, Michael. This is where readers are either going to love it or hate it, and I loved it. Yes, it does beg you to suspend belief a little bit, but no more than you had to with some of the earlier books when Eve was seeing her daughter Bonnie. I am very curious to see how this development plays out in future books. We all knew Michael was a special kid from the start and this development only confirmed that!

This was a very strong installment and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next for these beloved characters. This is one of my favorite series and I’m very glad to see that at book 24, I’m still enjoying it as much as I did at book 1!

Books in this series:


     1.   The Face of Deception               16.   Taking Eve
     2.   The Killing Game                       17.   Hunting Eve
     3.   The Search                                   18.   Silencing Eve
     4.   Body of Lies                                 19.   Shadow Play                           

     4.5   Dead Aim                                   20.   Hide Away
     5.   Blind Alley                                   21.   Night & Day
     6.   Countdown                                  22.   Mind Game
     7.   Stalemate                                      23.   Shattered Mirror

     8.   Quicksand                                     24.  Dark Tribute

     9.   Blood Game                              25.   Smokescreen

   10.   Eight Days to Live                  26.  The Persuasion – due out June 2020

    11.   Chasing the Night        

   12.   Eve

   13.   Quinn

   14.   Bonnie   15.   Sleep No More

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1 Comment

  1. Suko
    December 17, 2019 / 10:03 pm

    Kristin, it sounds like you really enjoyed this book. It sounds very good! Excellent review!