Pre-numbered label used for registration.

paperback
369pp
published, 2002

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"As a forensic sculptor, Eve Duncan deals in death every day of her life. It's her job. And while it might seem macabre to some, Eve knows from personal experience that her work, giving a face and a name to the victims of violent death, helps bring closure to their families. Now that job is about to put not only her own life on the line ... but the lives of everyone close to her." "It begins with a call from a United States Senator. He wants Eve to drop everything and come to Baton Rouge to identify the remains of an unknown murder victim. At first, Eve wants nothing to do with the project. She has finally found peace from her own tragic past, living a quiet life in a small lakeside cottage with Atlanta detective Joe Quinn and her adopted daughter, Jane. But a stunning series of seemingly unrelated events is about to upset all that." "Suddenly, Eve's hard-won new world is turned upside down, and she flees to Baton Rouge to take on the project of identifying the skeleton. Forced to work in secrecy, given only the sketchiest of information, Eve can't help but wonder if the high-level security that surrounds her is meant to protect her - or imprison her." "She hasn't even begun work on the reconstruction when the first death occurs. Someone totally ruthless, someone who can strike anywhere at any time, and with seeming immunity, is determined to put a halt to her work. Soon the questions - and the threats to her own life - begin to mount as Eve realizes she has stumbled into the heart of a chilling conspiracy." There is only one person who can give her the answers she needs. And that is the dead man himself. To survive, Eve must put her life on the line to uncover the deadly secret of his identity and learn the devastating truth buried beneath a body of lies.

SYNOPSIS
A past she thought buried...a murder she was driven to solve...

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.

FROM THE CRITICS
School Library Journal
Eve Duncan, considered one of the leading forensic sculptor artists in the United States, refuses to accept a job reconstructing a skull even though the pressing offer is made by Senator Melton. When her adopted daughter is threatened by Melton's henchman, Eve reluctantly agrees to the job. Almost as soon as she begins her work, she barely escapes an attempt on her life, and two people she has recently been associated with are killed. From this point on, Eve, her family, and her friends begin fighting for their lives against a group of powerful, evil world leaders known as the Cabal. Events take the characters from Georgia to Louisiana and into Florida. Johansen describes each location in detail, adding atmosphere and mood to the story, especially when depicting an eerie old church, and, later, a bayou. Several murders, bombings, and quick escapes flavor the story with chills and thrills and keep the action spinning along. Johansen adds a bit of romance, too, as Eve and Detective Joe Quinn try to survive while they attempt to piece their own relationship back together. Eve's daughter is outspoken, practical, and full of life's exuberance, adding another dimension and contrast. Lots of action, strong characters, and some spooky settings make this an entertaining and fast read.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews
A forensic sculptor still searches for her murdered daughter's face in every skull she reconstructs. Like any grieving mother, Eve Duncan hopes for closure-and she's overcome when it turns out that a child's skeleton found in the woods wasn't Bonnie's after all. Her true love Joe, an Atlanta police detective, meant well when he led her to believe otherwise; and Eve had found solace in tending the little grave and headstone until after its desecration by an unknown vandal-and after a laboratory DNA report, sent anonymously. Eve is compelled to leave Joe and her 12-year-old adopted daughter Jane to mull things over-and take an unusual assignment in Louisiana: Senator Kendal Melton wants some human remains reconstructed. Could they belong to his former rival for the Senate, Harold Bently, long missing and presumed dead? Eve is escorted to an old plantation house and left alone with cook Marie Letaux. Marie seems friendly enough-but could the Cajun food she prepares be . . . poisoned? Eve begins to feel sick as she enters the spooky old church in Baton Rouge where the senator wants her to work. Say, what's in that huge coffin? Could it be the corpse of Etienne, unwary brother of the villainous Jules Herbert, who's mixed up in all this somehow? Eve blacks out, and here's where the plot sickens: various members of a mysterious group known as the Cabal may be planning to blow up a gigantic dam in China, drowning millions of innocents, all because-it seems-a renegade environmentalist may be intent on promoting his own fuel-cell development program. But why such slaughter? And is Harold Bently really dead or just pretending? Fortunately for Eve, her lost child's ghost perches on the windowsillnow and then to help answer these and other burning questions. Elementary prose studded with innumerable cliches. But the convoluted storyline of this, Johansen's sixtieth novel (Final Target, 2001, etc.), is sure to please faithful fans.

RELEASE NOTES:

parking lot, on light stand, inside ziploc bag