Pandora's Daughter

Pandora's Daughterby Iris JohansenI am very glad I picked this up at the library. I have been constantly disappointed by Iris Johansen's books in the last few years. If I had spent money on this it would have been wasted.There is no point in writing a plot summary for this book since if you've read any of the author's books in the last 5 years you just have to change the names and you've got the same story.When I first discovered Iris Johansen I was thrilled by her books. I thought Ugly Duckling was fantastic and The Face of Deception was great. But the more I picked up her books, the more angry I got at the characters. They are always the same. There is always the fragile, yet ready to kill female who doesn't want anyone to look out for her - she can take care of herself! Then there's the super sexy, yet dangerous man who walks the edge between the right and wrong side of life. All he wants is to protect the female and darn it! If only he didn't. Care. So. Much! She was distracting him from his goal of getting the a) treasure b) bad drug dealer man c) wealth. Etc.And in every book there is always the following dialogue.

Woman: I don't need you to help me! I can do this myself!Man: Dammit, Woman! I want to get you in bed!Woman: Gasp! How can you be so crude!Man: I'm not going to lie to you. I want you in bed and I will have you. It will happen. Just know that I want you in my bed!Woman: How dare you! But...but... I feel SO MUCH!

And then a couple of pages later:

Woman: Don't think I'll sleep with you again! I feel nothing for you!Man: And I don't feel anything for you. I just wanted you in bed.

And then by the end:

Woman: I might have slept with you a lot. But I don't love you!Man: And I don't love you either! I don't even care about you!Man: But.. I love you and I can't help it! You've taken over my heart and soul!Woman: And I love you too! Damn you!

In-between these riveting snippets of conversation there is always attempted murder, and skulking around in some jungle in South America of Africa or Venice (even if there isn't a jungle in Venice, they'll be skulking in one!) and revenge will always be played out for the death of a a) mother b) father c) child d) etc. The men will always be "talking roughly" as they try to hide their emotion and total horny-ness toward the women.Toss in the witty side-kick helper guy that the Dangerous Man has help him, give him all the skills a person could ever have - be it cooking award-winning gourmet meals, bomb disabling, animal surgery, brain surgery, plane flying, whatever, maybe give him a whimsical accent like Irish, Scottish or British and call him by his last name at all times and POOF!You have an Iris Johansen novel.Don't forget to have those men roughly tell the women how all they want is to get them in bed.Thank goodness these books spare me the graphic sex scenes.I would be happier if these books weren't all the same, save the character names and locations. They used to have a decent plot and were fun to read and get a little thrilled at the same time. Now? I can't even finish the book I am supposed to be talking about. I just can't. I feel like I have read it all  before and the writing is just making me angry!Don't even get me started on the Eve Duncan series (which started with The Face of Deception) because I am so bloody tired of bad guys always needing to kidnap her, threaten her life, her family's life just so she can do a facial reconstruction on a skull. Come on now. And of course Eve always sneaks off without telling her cop lover/husband thing and he always gets mad and Eve always has to be saved.Yawn.I also dislike how she writes children. They all sound exactly the same. In this book the main character was fifteen when it started and I swear I kept thinking she was a young child, because the last few books that had young children in them? They sounded exactly the same! No matter the age, they are always "wise beyond their years" and "rational" and tell their mothers "it's ok, Mama, I can help you. I can do this myself."Gah!But, um, yeah... make your own decision but I wouldn't recommend it.