The Bullet

In bestseller Johansen’s overstuffed 28th outing for forensic sculptor Eve Duncan (after 2020’s The Persuasion), scientist Diane Connors, the beautiful ex-wife of Eve’s husband, Det. Joe Quinn of the Atlanta PD, turns up on Eve’s doorstep and asks her “to perform a reconstruction on the skull of a man who is supposed to be buried somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Nevada and help me identify him.” The reconstruction of the skull gets lost in the main plot, in which Diane, who has found a way to synthesize a plant that can cure cancer and practically everything else, Eve, and Joe do battle with billionaire Joshua Nalam, who has the “power and money and ability to bend governments and companies to his will” and covets Diane’s discovery. Paranormal elements include the ability of Eve’s psychic 10-year-old son, Michael, to achieve a sort of emotional contact with various players in the drama. Readers should be prepared for long stretches of expository dialogue in which characters lay out their CVs to one another. This one’s strictly for series fans. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (June)