Review: Bonnie by Iris Johansen

First line: “What star is that, Mama?”

From the inside cover: When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life – until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie’s father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie’s disappearance was not as random as everyone always believed…

My thoughts: I have been reading Iris Johansen for so long I don’t remember when I started, but I do remember picking up that first book of hers, The Killing Game, and becoming totally enthralled. I loved it and then went back to read the first one in the Eve Duncan series and have gone on to read every other book in the series as well as some of her stand alones. I find Iris Johansen to be one of those writers that I can’t seem to get enough of.

The unsolved disappearance of Eve’s daughter Bonnie years ago has literally haunted her and has always been the unresolved issue in her life. In this special trilogy about Eve, Quinn, and Bonnie, we are able to learn about the backgrounds of the characters and the events that led up to Bonnie’s disappearance.

Bonnie begins with a touching flashback describing the last night shared between Eve and Bonnie. Then the book moves quickly to the chase. Joe, Eve, Catherine Ling and John Gallo resume their hunt with a quick and exciting pace. Eve is eventually taken away from the others and is forcibly led through a Georgia state park. During this journey there are moments of hope and anticipation. There are also moments of despair and disbelief. Through it all Eve learns exactly what happened to Bonnie that last day in the park and let me tell you, it was heart-wrenching. I was never particularly happy with the paranormal aspect that came later in the series but it makes sense here and adds to the satisfying conclusion.

For Eve’s sake, I am glad that she (and as a result, us as the readers) finally have the closure about what happened to Bonnie. I hope, though, that this doesn’t mean the end of the Eve Duncan series…that would be very unfortunate. Iris Johansen creates some interesting chemistry between her newest characters, Catherine Ling and John Gallo, and I would love to see what comes of that in the future. I would also like to see how Eve and Joe deal with their relationship now that Bonnie’s disappearance no longer hangs over them.

As I mentioned in my review of Eve, I purposely waited until all three books were released before reading them and I am so glad I did…the first two left the reader with quite the cliff-hanger and the third tied up a lot of the loose ends.

(I borrowed this book from the library.)

Books in this series:

1. Eve
2. Quinn
3. Bonnie