LOOK BEHIND YOU by Iris Johansen

If you are looking for a nail-biting adventure with twists that come out of nowhere then get your hands on LOOK BEHIND YOU. Author Iris Johansen and co-author (and son) Roy Johansen offers thrill after thrill with this book.

Kendra Michaels was blind for most of her life before her sight was restored. In those years the other senses that sighted people don't necessarily enhance now come in handy. She can size a person up and give a rundown of things that most people don't really see. This "parlor" trick has gotten her involved with a number of investigations and she is once again needed.

A serial killer is in San Diego and the F.B.I. needs her senses. This leads to some confusing and seemingly unrelated evidence, but it does relate. To four different cities and different methods of killing, that tie to one killer. That killer now has Kendra in his sights. When the killer, enters her blind friend's condo and leaves a note for Kendra, she is afraid for everyone she cares about. Which brings into the picture Adam Lynch, a former agent, freelancer known as the "Puppetmaster," to her side to make sure she is protected. Whether she wants him there or not.

You will want to make sure you have time set aside before beginning LOOK BEHIND YOU because it will not let you put it down, it is that engrossing. The characters in Johansen books are diversified, sometimes to the extreme where you wonder how in the world they will manage to work together. They have quirks that add totally to the vibe of the storyline. The pace is fast, moving from one thrill to the next, but a few moments of levity or romance is tossed in for good measure when needed most. I am usually pretty good at guessing the bad guy but I have to admit that I did not see it this time. Totally out of nowhere, but then that is how this author tends to be. Lead you one way and then wham ... back another. Amazing writing skill, not overly busy with technical procedures but with enough to give a sense of what is being done then add in a good hit of human frailty and that is LOOK BEHIND YOU.

If you haven't read any of the other Kendra Michael's books by the Johansen's don't worry this is very much a stand-alone, but if you are like me, you will be going back and reading the other four.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen and Edgar Award-winning author Roy Johansen are back with Look Behind You, a novel featuring Kendra Michaels—hired gun for both the CIA and FBI. A serial killer is on the loose in San Diego with a most unusual M.O. With each kill, the perpetrator leaves behind mystifying random objects. In this confusing array of unrelated evidence, the one thing that is clear is that the murders all have one characteristic in common: they all require the specific skills of Kendra Michaels, hired gun for both the CIA and FBI. Kendra, who was blind for the first twenty years of her life, gained her sight through a revolutionary surgical procedure and now uses her acute powers of observation to assist in cases all over the United States. FBI investigators soon make a startling discovery: the left-behind objects are actually souvenirs of other unsolved serial murder cases from around the country. And the new crimes feature “holdback” characteristics never disclosed to the general public—meaning that one single killer was behind the nation’s most notorious serial murder cases and has now come to challenge and taunt Kendra. The investigators—a “dream team” of profilers—join Kendra in the pursuit, but as the body count rises and the detectives themselves become the newest targets, Kendra must risk everything to defeat a psychopath whose terrifying plan is years in the making…