Countdown by Iris Johansen: A Review
Disclaimer: I’m assuming you know the basic plot to Blind Alley, the fifth book in this series, or you read my other review of Blind Alley. (Even though this is the sixth book, it only relates to the fifth book in this series.) I might spoil Blind Alley for you in this review.
Someone once again, is hunting down Jane MacGuire. Who are they and what do they want?
Welcome to the sixth book in the Eve Duncan series. Countdown by Iris Johansen is the direct sequel to Blind Alley. Continuing the story of Jane MacGuire four years into the future, Countdown brings readers back into the crazy world of Cira. After her deadly manhunt in the fifth book, Jane is now an archaeology major at Harvard and is still with Herculaneum and anything Cira related. Recently, her cousin, Mike, was accepted into Harvard. Mike, being his worried self, thinks he is not good enough for Harvard standards and gets drunk at a bar. His roommate calls for Jane to come “rescue” Mike. But as she is escorting Mike to his car, which happens to be parked in a suspicious alley, things get deadly. Unforgiving, Jane flees and is determined to find the people in the alley.
It turns out, the people in the alley wanted to talk to Jane, alive. Not Mike nor with Jane dead. What happened in the alley was simply an accident, as they claim. But who are they? This is where the story gets confusing. Remember Mark Trevor in Blind Alley? He appears mysteriously again, this time with a newly made deal with an enemy named Grozak. This enemy happens to also be going after Cira’s gold, but he intends to use the gold for evil. Trevor believes Grozak is targeting Jane, because he thinks Jane, since she looks like Cira, will have clues as to where the gold is hidden. The alleyway incident may have been one of Grozak’s attempts. Having been unable to reach Jane through that attack in the alleyway successfully, Grozak retreats and gives Trevor until December 22nd to find Cira’s gold. Grozak and his partner in crime, Venable, have decided that they will unleash several bombs and creates the next big terrorist attack in the US on that day. While Grozak seems slightly dangerous, Venable is worse. This is a deadly man who trains young men to hunt and kill other humans in his hidden base. Of these people he trained, one of them was a young lad named Jock.
Jock was Venable’s best trainee. Having killed over 22 people without getting caught, Jock decided that he could not do it anymore. After being traumatized by Venable, Jock wanders in the wilderness for a while until MacDuff, the laird of Scotland where Jock is from, comes and saves him. It turns out, MacDuff also happens to be going after Cira’s gold. Taking this opportunity, Trevor allies with MacDuff.
In present time, Trevor whisks Jane to MacDuff’s Run in Scotland. This is where they hide until they come up with a plan to defeat Grozak. Then, we are introduced to Mario, the translator Trevor hired. Mario is very eager to crack the codes in the Cira scrolls Trevor collected while he was in Herculaneum. According to Trevor, these scrolls contain information about where the gold is. But before Mario finishes his translations, Grozak and Venable cause more ruckus that throws everything off balance. From this point forward, Trevor’s team decide that they no longer have time to lose. They must defeat Grozak as soon as possible.
So what did Grozak and Venable do to Mario? Are there actually clues about the gold in the scrolls? Will Trevor and Jane defeat Grozak? Or will America blow up in this countdown?
Countdown by Iris Johansen was a drastically different book compared to Blind Alley. While Blind Alley was decently good and had a big chunk of mystery in it, the sequel lacked excitement and mystery. It was a terrible book that progressed at an extremely slow pace. The conflict was introduced early in the book, however, no progress seemed to be made as the pages went on and on. Then suddenly, the final chapters sped up and all the solutions appeared out of the blue. Countdown seemed as if Johansen needed a book and decided to add a bunch of characters together and hope it turns out okay. I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to follow Jane’s story but the book was far worse than the fifth book. Overall, this sequel is not worth reading even if you want to follow Jane’s next chapter in life. I would give this book 5/13 bologna slices.
Someone once again, is hunting down Jane MacGuire. Who are they and what do they want?Welcome to the sixth book in the Eve Duncan series. Countdown by Iris Johansen is the direct sequel to Blind Alley. Continuing the story of Jane MacGuire four years into the future, Countdown brings readers back into the crazy world of Cira. After her deadly manhunt in the fifth book, Jane is now an archaeology major at Harvard and is still with Herculaneum and anything Cira related. Recently, her cousin, Mike, was accepted into Harvard. Mike, being his worried self, thinks he is not good enough for Harvard standards and gets drunk at a bar. His roommate calls for Jane to come “rescue” Mike. But as she is escorting Mike to his car, which happens to be parked in a suspicious alley, things get deadly. Unforgiving, Jane flees and is determined to find the people in the alley.
It turns out, the people in the alley wanted to talk to Jane, alive. Not Mike nor with Jane dead. What happened in the alley was simply an accident, as they claim. But who are they? This is where the story gets confusing. Remember Mark Trevor in Blind Alley? He appears mysteriously again, this time with a newly made deal with an enemy named Grozak. This enemy happens to also be going after Cira’s gold, but he intends to use the gold for evil. Trevor believes Grozak is targeting Jane, because he thinks Jane, since she looks like Cira, will have clues as to where the gold is hidden. The alleyway incident may have been one of Grozak’s attempts. Having been unable to reach Jane through that attack in the alleyway successfully, Grozak retreats and gives Trevor until December 22nd to find Cira’s gold. Grozak and his partner in crime, Venable, have decided that they will unleash several bombs and creates the next big terrorist attack in the US on that day. While Grozak seems slightly dangerous, Venable is worse. This is a deadly man who trains young men to hunt and kill other humans in his hidden base. Of these people he trained, one of them was a young lad named Jock.
Jock was Venable’s best trainee. Having killed over 22 people without getting caught, Jock decided that he could not do it anymore. After being traumatized by Venable, Jock wanders in the wilderness for a while until MacDuff, the laird of Scotland where Jock is from, comes and saves him. It turns out, MacDuff also happens to be going after Cira’s gold. Taking this opportunity, Trevor allies with MacDuff.
In present time, Trevor whisks Jane to MacDuff’s Run in Scotland. This is where they hide until they come up with a plan to defeat Grozak. Then, we are introduced to Mario, the translator Trevor hired. Mario is very eager to crack the codes in the Cira scrolls Trevor collected while he was in Herculaneum. According to Trevor, these scrolls contain information about where the gold is. But before Mario finishes his translations, Grozak and Venable cause more ruckus that throws everything off balance. From this point forward, Trevor’s team decide that they no longer have time to lose. They must defeat Grozak as soon as possible.
So what did Grozak and Venable do to Mario? Are there actually clues about the gold in the scrolls? Will Trevor and Jane defeat Grozak? Or will America blow up in this countdown?
Countdown by Iris Johansen was a drastically different book compared to Blind Alley. While Blind Alley was decently good and had a big chunk of mystery in it, the sequel lacked excitement and mystery. It was a terrible book that progressed at an extremely slow pace. The conflict was introduced early in the book, however, no progress seemed to be made as the pages went on and on. Then suddenly, the final chapters sped up and all the solutions appeared out of the blue. Countdown seemed as if Johansen needed a book and decided to add a bunch of characters together and hope it turns out okay. I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to follow Jane’s story but the book was far worse than the fifth book. Overall, this sequel is not worth reading even if you want to follow Jane’s next chapter in life. I would give this book 5/13 bologna slices.
I love the way you rate the books! Its absolutely hilarious! The way you reviewed it made it clear that it is a book not worth reading, for which I am grateful because I definitely wouldn't want to waste my time reading something to come to the same conclusion as you did. I wonder, however, what the good points of the book were(if there were any), because you did say that you liked the previous book which was by the same author. If it was by the same author, surely there must have been at least one good element in there somewhere. Otherwise, your review was very helpful! I will be waiting for your next review!
ReplyDeleteYour review was both entertaining and informational! I liked the fact that you pointed out that the previous book was much better than this one and is not really worth reading. This can give readers some valuable insight, despite the fact that this book is a sequel. I also appreciated the spoiler alert in the beginning!
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