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Book Review By Kathy Nielsen
Long After Midnight by Iris Johansen

Kate Denby is a young scientist whose work on anti-rejection formulas for new drugs leads her down a treacherous path. Motivated by her father's terminal illness, Kate hopes to help the world find ways to cure diseases, utilizing the newest drugs and technology. Just as she is nearing a breakthrough with anti-rejection formulas, a pharmaceutical firm CEO pursues her relentlessly to help him get an incredible drug to market. RU2, the drug being developed by his company, has to be shown to be rejection-proof in order to go the next steps. Kate has no interest in working for Noah Smith until her ex-husband is killed in front of her and her son Joshua's eyes.

Joining forces with Smith against a larger pharmaceutical magnate, Ogden (whose motives are to destroy any work on RU2 and keep feeding the world drugs to treat their illnesses when RU2 could cure them), Kate's reluctant partnership with Smith is made more challenging by keeping her son and mother-in-law safe from the killer Ishmaru, whom Ogden has sent to dispose of all of them, as well as RU2. Ishmaru is a Native American who is motivated to kill, not by Ogden's money, but by his quest for "coup" - killing his victims at close range to experience the power of taking a life and being a warrior.

Smith's oldest friend and mercenary, Seth Drakin, enters the picture to protect Joshua and Phyliss while Kate is working on RU2 with Smith. Whether he can keep them safe from harm and RU2 can make it past all the machinations and barriers Ogden puts in their path (e.g. protestors against genetic research, legislation proposed by a "bought" Senator to control such research, and the bombing of Smith's company facilities)is the suspense of the story. Keeping the reader's interest are the subplots with the obsession of Ishmaru to find Kate and achieve "coup" (he sees her as an opponent worthy of this warrior), the emerging chemistry between Kate and Smith and Kate and Seth, the grief of little Joshua over his murdered father and his endangered mother, and the lengths Seth will go to protect them all.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - scarey (primal ax-wielding fear)
Time/era of story:
Medical Thriller Yes
Medical Plotlets:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Has special powers? Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
Eccentric: Yes
Motive of antagonist - insanity
The antagonists are: - big business leader(s)
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
United States Yes
Forest? Yes
City? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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