Book Review: Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen

In the latest Eve Duncan novel by Iris Johansen, Shattered Mirror, the focus shifts back to Eve once again, much to the delight of the series’ fans. In Mind Game, we were transported to Scotland and had a deeper meeting with Jane and her ancient queen, Cira.

Now, it seems that Eve’s forensic sculpting abilities are again highly sought after when someone leaves a badly burned skull in front of Eve’s home for her to reconstruct.

But who is the one who left the skull behind nicely wrapped in a box, and whom does the skull belong anyway?

In Shattered Mirror, Eve’s entire family gets drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with a ruthless killer who wants her punished for some old real or imagined sin. And the things get really weird when Eve actually meets the skull’s doppelganger in the flesh.

The story takes place a few years after Mind Games. This time around, Michael, Eve and Joe’s son is already 6 and Cara is already 18. There is a reason for this lapse in time. There is an unspoken story there between Cara and Jock, and Cara must be of adult age for that story to really progress. If I remember correctly, in Mind Games, Cara was 12, so this latest story takes place some 6 years after the previous one.

This is why when someone is just starting the series, I always suggest that they read the Iris Johansen books in order for her Eve Duncan series. There are lots of characters that appear more or less in each book, and the focus alternates between one character or another between the stories.

While Eve is, for the most part, the main character, we’ve also seen the development of Cara, Jane, Jock, Seth, Margaret, and so on. You don’t want to miss out of some of the backstory, even though Iris Johansen is very good at filling us in on what happened before, so we can follow the current plot.

In this latest book, for example, Eve’s nuclear family was at center stage, but Cara was a main character here as well. We got to learn about her struggles, her awakened feelings for Jock and her feelings for her Russian mob grandfather. In fact, Cara’s grandfather got to play quite a major role in this book as well.

Of course, we also got to learn who the main antagonist was and what his motives were for going after Eve. And even though Bonnie, Eve’s daughter is long gone, Eve mentioned her in this book as well, which I find endearing.

I can’t believe the Eve Duncan series is already at book #23 and still goes as strong as ever. I can’t get enough of Eve, her family and her friends.

The suspense is all there, the plot twists are plenty, and the character dynamics are truly engaging. If you’ve never started the series yet, you’ve got a long and fun way ahead, and if you’re just looking to reading this latest Eve Duncan novel, go ahead, you won’t regret it one bit.

Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen
Series: Eve Duncan #23
Published by St. Martins Press
Published 2018
Genres: Romantic Suspense, Thriller
Source: Purchased
Also by this author: Mind Game