Reviews for Dead aim [sound recording]
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Tough-minded photojournalist Alex Graham inadvertently saves the free world. Calamity? Catastrophe? Alex is there, and she's all heart. On assignment to photograph rescue efforts after the Arapahoe Dam collapses, she puts down her camera and picks up a shovel to dig out a baby. Then she hops a helicopter to get to the unstable gorge above for some dazzling aerial shots—and happens to overhear the villains who apparently engineered the dam's collapse, waiting for their helicopter. Did they see her? Yup. Cut to the chase, without a second to spare. Alex eludes them but she's going to need some help. Enter Judd Morgan, sexy former undercover man for the Company, now in hiding to save his own skin, painting serene landscapes to soothe his troubled soul. He dresses as a fireman to snatch up Alex during a staged conflagration (mostly smoke) from under the noses of the bad guys. Could they be soldiers of Matanza, the Central American terrorist group? And is Matanza somehow linked to SeÑor Lotana, a disgruntled Brazilian scientist hoping to tap the geothermal power of vents that originate within the earth's very core? And what does that have to do with the bunker system now in place to protect the US president in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack on our leader and way of life? Well, if the Commander-in-Chief gets blown sky-high, there won't be anyone around to make reassuring speeches to a worried nation. Except maybe the Vice President . . . a sneaky Al Gore type given to high-minded environmental activism. Cut to the chase again as Alex and Morgan race against time to uncover the real culprit behind this complicated plot, and fight for their lives—not to mention truth, justice, and the American Way. Smoothly written, tightly plotted, turbocharged thriller, about a millimeter deep—but megaselling Johansen doesn't miss (Body of Lies, 2002, etc.). Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Post^-9/11 security is put to the test in Johansen's latest thriller. Photographer Alex Graham has worked hand-in-hand at disaster sites with search-and-rescue teams, and the tragedy in Arapahoe Junction, Colorado, is no exception. A dam collapsed on the town, and during the rescue, Alex inadvertently finds out that the tragedy was not a natural disaster but part of an evil plot. The police and the FBI find it hard to believe an earthquake did not cause the accident but take Alex seriously enough to offer her sanctuary in a safe house, which she refuses. Soon the tables turn, and she's the chief suspect in the tragedy. Her only hope for staying alive and uncovering the truth is Judd Morgan, an ex-operative wanted by the CIA. Crisscrossing the country in an effort to prevent further tragedies, they try to stay one step ahead of the law and the assassins hunting them both. Johansen's latest heroes get help from characters introduced in No One to Trust [BKL S 1 02], and readers will stay up all night reading this cat-and-mouse chase, a reminder that terrorists are not necessarily foreigners. --Patty Engelmann
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Heavy on verbs, light on adjectives, Johansen's latest fast-moving thriller offers lots of cinematic action, if not much to contemplate or savor. On assignment at a dam collapse in Colorado, photojournalist Alex Graham overhears a conversation between the conspirators who caused the collapse, which they disguised as an act of nature. When they realize that Alex has heard them, they go after her, and soon Alex's friend, Sarah Logan, is wounded in an attempt on Alex's life. Sarah's husband, John, a billionaire with political connections, believes he must hire someone to keep Alex safe. His contact is a man called Galen, a shadowy government operative, who in turn contacts Judd Morgan, a former military assassin who's been deep undercover. Knowing that Alex won't leave the dam mystery alone, and wanting to keep his own wife out of harm's way, John authorizes Judd to kidnap Alex and take her to a safe location. Alex persuades Judd that the dam collapse was a deliberate act, and that more sites are slated to be destroyed. The two team up to learn the identities of the conspirators, who appear to have ties to the FBI and the CIA, as well as to an assassin called Runne, who has his own agenda, and a Central American terrorist ring. There are chases and narrow escapes aplenty as Alex and Judd save the country-including the president himself-from violent mayhem. Some of the characters in Johansen's crowded cast remain murky, but the nonstop action and slick plotting won't disappoint. Major ad/promo. (Apr. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Daring photojournalist Alex Graham concludes that a natural disaster she's been shooting is really a mass murder. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
