Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
Blink of an Eye by Iris and Roy Johansen brings back the wonderful character Kendra Michaels. It is fun to read how the authors display her deductive skills to find information others over-look. She is perceptive, astute, insightful, detail-oriented and can assess a crime scene meticulously.
The story has mega pop star Delilah Winter kidnapped after performing at the Hollywood Bowl. In attendance were Kendra and her friend Jessie Mercado, the singer’s former bodyguard and a military hero, now a private investigator. They are friends with Delilah and are devastated that she went missing without a clue. They, along with FBI Agent Nate Kellard and Delilah’s former boyfriend billionaire Noah Calderon, investigate her disappearance. Calderon agrees to provide the $20 million dollar ransom, while Department of Justice black ops expert Adam Lynch, who has a complicated relationship with Kendra, is chosen to deliver it. Because directions were not followed, the kidnappers abort the delivery. They then make a new demand, upping the ransom by $5 million and wanting Jessie to deliver it. They chose Jessie for an alternative motive, able to kidnap her as well. Now Kendra, Lynch, the FBI, and the police are running out of time to find the two kidnapped victims. Tensions rise as the kidnapped lives are at stake.
This is an action-packed suspenseful story. It has just the right amount of mystery, character banter, and intrigue.
Elise Cooper: It looks like you changed the setting?
Roy Johansen: This is the first Kendra story that takes place almost entirely in LA where I have lived since college. We kick off this adventure at the Hollywood Bowl, one of my favorite places. We then move the characters to other of my favorite landmarks, including The Hollywood Forever Cemetery where they show movies, the Silver Lake Reservoir, and the airplane graveyard in the Mojave Desert, the Boneyard.
EC: How would you describe Delilah?
Iris and Roy Johansen: Very grounded even with being in the entertainment industry. A waif. She is based on four or five artists that have huge successes since their teens. A lot of them came through on the Disney Channel, such as Miley Cyrus, Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato, and others who came around the same time and grew up in the industry. They are very talented.
EC: How would you describe Jessie?
IRJ: She helped to ground Delilah. Very caring and always had Dee’s best interest at heart. Very tough, fiercely loyal, reasonable, and persuasive. She has many experiences including being a war hero in Afghanistan and participated in a physical game show. Her vast experiences made her the person she is.
EC: What about the different relationships?
IRJ: Jessie and Kendra bonded. They got to know each other in a professional arena. There is this mutual respect for each other, especially after they went to Afghanistan together.
Dee and Jessie had more of an emotional relationship. Jessie thinks of Dee as her kid sister.
Jessie and Olivia are very good friends. They spent a lot of time together in the book before this one, Hindsight.
Kendra and Olivia grew up together and have a life-long emotional relationship. After Kendra got her sight and Olivia did not there was a little tension. But Olivia was generally happy for Kendra, she just wanted her sight back as well. Kendra goes to Olivia when hurt or needs healing.
Kendra and Lynch have a relationship, but we are playing it by ear. She likes Lynch a lot. We want to make sure every minute they are together is interesting. They have mutual respect, admiration, mental stimulation, and of course good sex.
EC: There is an explanation for how women speak?
RJ: I actually have a book about regional linguistics. I made an effort to study and explore. It explains how people in different parts of the country speak regarding different words. We will be using more of this in future Kendra books. She grew up without sight so she relied on what she could hear instead of seeing. These are things Kendra could pick up on. She became an expert of accents.
EC: You are not one of these authors that have the readers sympathize with the bad guys?
IJ: They are pretty creepy. We don’t want readers to empathize with them. At the end of the book people will be glad they got their due. Sometimes they are intelligent, but they should always be hated.
EC: Can you give a shout out about your next books?
RJ: I am writing a stand-alone book with Jessie as a private investigator. Kendra has a small part in it. It will be out next year this time. The year after next Kendra will be back in a featured book. After that we will try to do a Kendra book every year.
IJ: Out in the spring is an Eve book titled The Bullet. It will be a very different Eve type book with a secondary character that comes back from her past. In the fall will be a book with new characters titled, High Stakes.
EC: THANK YOU!!
