book_reader's Full Review: Jordan Dane - Evil Without a Face
EVIL WITHOUT A FACE by Jordan Dane is the first in the Sweet Justice series, a series that will feature three unusual women --- a bounty hunter, a vice cop and an international operative. All three are introduced in this first book but EVIL WITHOUT A FACE focuses primarily on Jessica Beckett, a bounty hunter who lives on the seedier side of town and is not reined in by standard police procedures. EVIL WITHOUT A FACE stands at the edge of suspense and the romantic suspense genre lines. Reading like more like classic pulse-racing suspense in the beginning, EVIL WITHOUT A FACE integrates the romance elements in a subtle way with the romance emerging organically from the deeper elements of the characterization in a subtle movement that builds to one of the most moving intimate (though not necessarily sexual) scenes within the novel.
Seventeen year old Alaskan Nikki Archer plans to escape from her family to live a life of freedom to fulfill her dreams. Her internet friends understand her better, especially her Chicago friend Ivana Noskova, who tells her stories of Russian myths. When Nikki's mother Susannah discovers that her daughter is missing, she knows something about this disappearance is different. In Chicago, bounty hunter Jessica Beckett and her mysterious sidekick Seth Harper are on a hunt to capture Lucas Baker. The fugitive recovery doesn't go off exactly as planned. Suddenly Jess finds herself under suspicion, not exactly the best scenario for Samantha Cooper, not only Jess's best friend but a member of the metro police department, trying to work her way up in the department. As the criminal paths from Alaska to Chicago and beyond merge in a finely constructed network of global criminal activity, Jess faces her worst nightmare, a secret chilling past that haunts her and motivates her. Obsessed with finding one girl, she joins forces with Payton Archer, Nikki's uncle and a former NFL quarterback. With few clues and inner demons to exorcise, Jess's race to protect one girl becomes a dangerous heart-stopping journey against time. Will her past interfere with her judgment? Not everything is as it seems with the unusual cast of mysterious characters who surround Jess.
First in the new Sweet Justice series, EVIL WITHOUT A FACE is intense, on the edge of your seat suspense with heart-stopping romantic elements. Jordan Dane introduces bounty hunter Jessica Beckett, a tough woman living in a tough world, a woman who carries a Colt Python and a bounty hunter who will do just about anything to capture fugitives. In her portrayal of a terrifying crime that spans across international borders, Jordan Dane heightens the suspense through her panoramic narration by showing all the interconnected pieces as they unfold. The reader begins to see a larger, global network in the shape of the puzzle and a faceless, amorphous evil cleverly hidden and protected but one whose reach becomes very personal to the victims and those pursuing justice. Jordan Dane withholds some of the surprises, weaving several shocking twists alongside more subtle mysterious insights into her more eclectic characters into the story in just the right measure to maintain the high level of suspense. I have come to expect unexpected turns in Jordan Dane's work, but even so, several chilling twists surprised me to this suspense lover's delight.
Jordan Dane has a gift for creating unusual gritty characters and bringing them together in a manner which crystallizes the emotional impact of crime. Tortured by memories of her past, Jess has a special impetus behind her search for Nikki's abductor. She has the ability to connect with the victims in a way that is deeply personal but also from her darkness, her past creates a transformative power, an ability to empower others which spreads outwards. The enigmatic technical genius Seth Harper intrigues with his unknown background. Payton Archer had a reputation as a professional athlete but as his niece goes missing and he promises his sister he will find her, a promise he might not be able to keep, Jordan Dane reveals a side to this man never before seen, not only in his determination to find Nikki but also something much deeper. Jess's friendship with Samantha Cooper is a wonderful addition, giving depth and another perspective to the personal life of Jess, a side beneath the effective at all costs, edgy bounty hunter. Jordan Dane introduces several mysterious characters in EVIL WITHOUT A FACE of whom this reader hopes to see much more.
EVIL WITHOUT A FACE reads more like a thriller in the initial pages than a standard work of romantic suspense. The nexus of crime unfolds through spotlights on various locations. Each scene builds a carefully laid structure of the intricate interrelations between the personalities so that when romantic elements emerge, far from being gratuitous genre markers, the depth of characters and the finely precise imagery combine to create a romance that left this reader gasping quietly at the beautiful emotional effect. In darker romantic suspense, Jordan Dane has a unique vision. She peers into the darker side of crime and indeed the soul, not just of the villains, but of the victims of crime with an insight that transforms the victims themselves, not glossing over the damaging effects of crime in their lives but empowering them in the midst of their brokenness. In EVIL WITHOUT A FACE, Jordan Dane both steps into exciting new ground in the area of suspense and at the same time, in this her fourth book, she defines herself even more clearly as a force within the suspense genre who will shape the genre itself with her particular insights.
Personal notes:
Jordan Dane's suspense/romantic suspense has an edge I rarely see today. Suspense is one of my favorite genres but often it seems to me that much of the twists and turns are more about gratuitous violence for the shock value and often many seem almost like a cookie-cutter...a woman gets brutalizes usually prompted from some fanatical reaction by the villain to her gender or related to sexual activity. After a while a reader feels brutalized just by reading them! I enjoy suspense most for the actual suspense and the way the plot twists and turns. Jordan Dane's suspense has that quality and then some but her suspense adds more.
Unlike many of the suspense novels out there, Jordan Dane distinguishes herself in how she writes about the victims of crime. Her novels certainly delve into the darker sides of society but her victims are never just cardboard characters to be discarded to get to the crime. In her writing, Jordan Dane treats the victims of crime with the same depth of character as she does those hunting down the criminals. In addition, her books do not stop there but often have a transformative or redemptive element. From the brokenness and destructiveness of crime, the author leaves the reader with a sense of goodness or power that goes beyond just solving the crime or capturing the bad guys. In this aspect. EVIL WITHOUT A FACE is most like her debut novel, NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM, but she takes the idea a step beyond. All her novels to date have this element but her latest, EVIL WITHOUT A FACE, crystallizes and expands on this characteristic vision.
The author of No One Heard Her Scream delivers an intense tale of romantic suspense. After Internet impostors lure a deluded girl from her Alaskan hom...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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