Deadlock

Written by Iris Johansen

Narrated by Jennifer Van Dyck

It begins with an innocent mission…

Emily Hudson is an archeologist who travels the world in search of priceless artifacts from war-torn countries and other hot spots. Her best friend and partner, Joel Levy, is always at her side—until one day, her entire crew is massacred and Joel and Emily are held captive. Victims of one of the most ruthless and evil human beings on earth. For two weeks they try to survive, until Emily is the unwitting instrument in Joel’s demise.

…That turns into a quest for revenge

John Garrett has worked for the CIA, MI6, and whoever else needed his services. Now, the CIA comes calling with a desperate mission for him: save Emily Hudson. But there may be more to this job than they let him know. And soon, his connection to Emily has him questioning everything he thought to be true. Emily has vengeance on her mind. Will Garrett aid her in getting revenge? Can Emily help him get to the truth behind a bigger conspiracy? Or will they both die trying?

With lightning-fast pacing, plot twists, and shocking betrayals, Iris Johansen is at the top of her game in a thriller about vengeance and trust; friendship and loyalty; good and evil….

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 21, 2009
• ISBN: 9781423329282

Iris Johansen

Iris Johansen is the author of over twenty novels - including Final Target, Body of Lies, No One to Trust, Dead Aim and Fatal Tide - and consistently hits the top end of the bestseller lists in America. She lives in Georgia, USA, where she is at work on a new novel.

Reviews for Deadlock

[steph1203-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome book! I definitely want to read more of her books!

[carol420 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Emily Hudson, an archrologist sent into various war zones in order to protect ancient artifacts by the UN. Emily and her assistant Joel are captured by an evil group of men in the mountains of Afghanistan who are looking for an ancient Russian treasure known as Zelov's Hammer. Emily's only chance of survival lays in the hands of former CIA agent John Garrett, an expert at the spy game.

It's going to seem like I'm ranting here but...I would venture to say a full 80% of "Deadlock" consists of one character trying to dissuade another character from "going along". Meaning that Garrett is supposed to go somewhere, and spends half a chapter telling Emily why it's not a good idea she "go along". Or Emily decides to go somewhere and spends half a chapter telling Irana why "she shouldn't come". Seriously, the protagonists bicker for most of the book about who should go where accompanied by whom. It's like those old "I Love Lucy" shows where Lucy wants to be in Ricky's show, and he refuses...but you just know Lucy is going to appear in the show. So eventually everyone goes everywhere with everybody...and you realize you've just spent 15 chapters reading the same thing over and over again. You just want to scream...JUST LET THEM GO ALONG...and spare us the debate. So in the spirit of the book let me advise you "You really shouldn't go along" with reading this novel. 2.5 stars because the idea of the story was great it just never materialized.

[Jennifer Evans · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not ny favorite. Had to stop and go back to it twice. May have been the narrator. Not sure

[dbree007 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Emily Hudson, artifacts expert for UN, captured in Afghanistan? with partner Joel Levy, tortured for weeks, enemy looking for a specific artifact

[wkelly42 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tour de force is a term that is overused in describing thrillers, but I think it's an apt description of Deadlock.Emily Hudson is an archaeologist hired by the UN to protect various artifacts that are in danger of destruction. She finds herself in Afghanistan with her best friend and colleague, Joel Levy, when they are ambushed by people who are looking for one artifact in particular, and will stop at nothing to get it. Emily and Joel are held hostage, tortured to reveal the location of Zelov's hammer -- something neither of them knows about.The CIA turns to John Garrett to rescue Emily and Joel. Garrett has worked for the CIA before, and has bad memories of the experience. But he's Emily and Joel's only hope of survival.That's the way the back of my copy of the book presents the plot. Unfortunately, it really doesn't do it justice (and I've noticed that the summary is done better in the final, hardback editions). Joel is tortured endlessly to make Emily talk. By the time Garrett arrives for the rescue (only about 30 pages in), Joel is dead, and Emily blames herself. Much of the book involves Emily healing from her captivity, and plotting her revenge on the man who held them both, and was responsible for Joel's death - a man named Staunton.The characters are fairly stock -- Garrett is the soldier of fortune/smuggler that does good things to offset the bad that he's done. Emily is the tortured victim seeking revenge. Garrett's friend Irana is the guardian angel who never fights, but is always there to support those who fight for a good cause. There's also the socially inept hacker who longs for adventure, the devoted friend and confidante, the evil-incarnate villain, and several well-meaning dupes. Of course, Emily and Garrett fall for each other, and come to rely on each other. The characters are interesting in their own way, but don't expect anything groundbreaking here.Deadlock is plot driven, plain and simple. The pacing is outstanding; there are long stretches that are so action packed that you won't be able to stop reading. And there are enough twists, especially toward the end, that even if you think you know what's going on, you won't really know for sure until the end -- and even then, there are still some questions left unanswered. Johansen has created an outstanding thrill-ride with Deadlock -- get this one soon.

[foreigncircus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've been reading Iris Johansen since she was writing pure romance, and have enjoyed her moves to suspenseful romance, romantic suspense, and now pure thriller. That said, I felt like this book was just average. The mystery plot seemed needlessly complicated (as are most things that involve Rasputin and the Romanovs) which left little time to develop the many characters featured in the novel. Only Emily really seemed fully fleshed- the others were all caricatures rather than characters. This would make a good beach read, but is likely to disappoint readers looking for Johansen's signature heat; the focus here is definitely on the mystery rather than on the relationships. The book was well-written to be sure, but never really delved into the motivations of the characters or provided much of an explanation for the ever-growing body count. All in all, not Johansen's best work by a long shot.

[dianaleez · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Iris Johansen's 'Deadlock' is touted as fast paced and filled with plot twists. It's a revenge/action/suspense plot: UN artifacts expert Emily Hudson is kidnapped and forced to watch the torture of her best friend by the psychopathic villain Staunton who is seeking 'Zelov's hammer.' Emily teams up (in more ways than one) with her rescuer, John Garrett, to discover what Zelov's hammer is and to wreck revenge on the villainous Staunton. Will Emily bring down Staunton? Will the good guys move faster than the bad guys? Will Staunton torture the fair Emily? Will Emily and John form a lasting union? Read fast and stay tuned. 'Deadlock' seems to be aimed at an audience looking for a fast, action packed escapist read. If you're ever trapped in an airport or on a circling plane, this may well be a good bet. However, if you're not in the mood to suspend disbelief, this isn't the book for you. All the characters sound the same. All the lines - dialogue and exposition - are written in the same staccato style. I asked myself if someone read some of the dialogue aloud if I could tell which character was speaking and the answer was no. 'Deadlock' seems to be written for a niche audience and if you fit that, you may well enjoy it. Otherwise, stay away

[kysmom02 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First of all, I'm a huge Iris Johansen fan, so it's no surprise that I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of this new book. I read it quickly (3 days) but was not as impressed with this one as much as I have been with others by her.While Emily is running for her life, she makes it her mission to kill the men who are responsible for killing her friend. She ends up having a helper with her mission and the two fall for each other. This part of the story was totally up my alley and I enjoyed it......until the end. I did not like how this book ended. The twist at the end in relation to the mystery and the plot didn't jive. It took on a whole new angle right at the end that wasn't really even hinted upon during the book, so I kind of felt like it was thrown in at the last minute. It just didn't work for me! I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thought of this ending.This won't stop me from reading any of Johansen's other books, but it just wasn't what I had expected.

[allenkl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The first time I returned to where I thought I'd left off reading I thought perhaps I'd put my bookmark in the wrong place. I had to reread 20 or so pages to figure out what was going on. The second time the same thing occurred I thought I must have fallen asleep reading. By the 4th time I had to reread 20 pages to know what was going on it was pretty evident that this is a silly, poorly written book! The dialogue is horrible, repetitious, pointless, interchangeable among characters. And speaking of characters, who are they? There is no character development. It seems of late that many of my favorite authors, Johansen included, simply phone something in, publish it and wait to cash their checks. If you're a Johansen fan give this one a pass. If you are not, you won't be after reading this!