Your Next Breath

February 23, 2015
In bestseller Johansen’s suspenseful fourth Catherine Ling novel (after 2014’s Live to See Tomorrow), the CIA operative is pleased to be reunited with her 11-year-old son, Luke, after his rescue from a Russian criminal who kidnapped him when the boy was two. Meanwhile, Catherine determines that the man responsible for the brutal murders of three people close to her is Tomas Santos, a drug dealer who was recently released from prison in Caracas—and who hates Catherine for killing his wife in a shoot-out. Hu Chang, her best friend from Hong Kong (where she grew up), and Richard Cameron, a security chief for a powerful conglomerate with whom she once worked on a case, assist Catherine in the hunt for Santos, as do Eve Duncan, the heroine of the author’s main series, and Eve’s policeman husband, Joe Quinn. Paranormal scenes in which Catherine and Cameron communicate at a distance serve to heighten the sexual tension between them. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

March 1, 2015
Gorgeous superspy Catherine Ling finds her world falling apart as a vicious killer she once sent to prison tries to wipe her past off the map.Three people from Catherine's past-Olena Petrov, Robert Jantzen, and Slantkey-are murdered in quick succession, all found with gold dog tags bearing Catherine's name. When her old friend and mentor, Hu Chang, shows up, Catherine quickly deduces that only two men could be behind this attempt to wipe out her address book, and one is already dead. That means that Santos, a homicidal maniac from Caracas who was recently released from prison, is behind the slaughter. Catherine spreads the word to her best buddies that their lives are in danger, but maddeningly, they all seem to want to come to her rather than take cover. Erin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist once saved by Catherine from a Tibetan warlord; Kelly, a teenage genius whose life Catherine saved in the jungles of Colombia; and others find their lives on the line, but Catherine is on the warpath, and that spells trouble for Santos' plan. Although Johansen (The Perfect Witness, 2014, etc.) has a legion of fans, this messy recycling of characters from previous Catherine Ling novels feels thrown together. Much of the plot is contrived, with characters constantly regurgitating back story that everyone present would already have known. Johansen also throws in a good dose of mysticism and pads the pages with multiple one-line paragraphs. But instead of feeling Catherine's anguish, most readers will feel annoyed with this half-baked literary mishmash, as the beautiful, intrepid, and deadly CIA agent spends most of her time hauling her young son on dangerous missions, lusting after a man who can read her mind, and moistening her lips while expertly delivering karate chops and killing cartoonish bad guys. Even die-hard Johansen fans will find disappointment between the covers of this white-hot mess of a book.

March 1, 2015
Wily CIA operative Catherine Ling finds herself at the center of an ever-tightening noose as, one by one, those closest to her are targeted for death. When three of her closest friends are killed, Ling and her mentor, enigmatic Chinese spy Hu Chang, narrow the list of suspects down to Tomas Santos, a villainous drug lord who holds Ling personally responsible for the death of his beloved wife, Delores, a megalomaniacal woman with an abnormal fixation on the life and afterlife of Eva Peron. As Santos homes in on Ling's small circle of friends, associates, and, ultimately, familynamely, her son, LukeLing must rely on her most incorruptible allies to bring Santos down. For someone as private and independent as Ling, this may prove harder than killing her would-be assassin herself. Johansen's latest addition to her Catherine Ling thriller series, following Live To See Tomorrow (2014), may scrimp on the adrenalin-inducing action of past installments, but it does open up a small window onto the emotions and vulnerabilities of this otherwise steely and self-reliant woman.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The latest from best-selling Johansen will be accorded an all-out marketing blitz with promotional efforts online, in print, and on television.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2014

After nine long years, top-drawer CIA operative Catherine Ling is ecstatic when her kidnapped son, Luke, is returned. But now three key people are dead--a close colleague, a former prostitute who protected young Catherine on Hong Kong's mean streets, and the informant who facilitated Luke's release. What bad guy in her past is playing with Catherine now? With a one-day laydown on April 28.

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