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14th out of 82 books
—
202 voters
What Doesn't Kill You (Catherine Ling #2)
It’s the deadliest poison known to man.
He’s the only one who knows its true power.
She’s the only one who can stop the evil.
The chase is on. . . .
Number-one bestselling author Iris Johansen showcases one of her most fascinating characters yet, pitted against one of the most ruthless killers, in a novel that will make you forget to breathe. . . .
Catherine Ling was abandoned...more
He’s the only one who knows its true power.
She’s the only one who can stop the evil.
The chase is on. . . .
Number-one bestselling author Iris Johansen showcases one of her most fascinating characters yet, pitted against one of the most ruthless killers, in a novel that will make you forget to breathe. . . .
Catherine Ling was abandoned...more
Audio CD, 0 pages
Published
April 17th 2012
by Brilliance Corporation
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Sorry. I wanted to love this spin off from the Eve Duncan novels, but I really didn't like it. The writing was too theatrical. The emotion was exaggerated. I hated how every man wanted to bed Catherine. The CIA and the evil ruthless villains in this book want a deadly poison created by Catherine's old friend Hu Chang, an experienced apothecary. Perhaps I don't like rich villains who seek world domination. I couldn't buy into the story. I thought it and the villains were silly and way over the to...more
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an explosive new thriller featuring Catherine Ling from Chasing The Night.
Catherine Ling was abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong at age four. Schooled in the art of survival, she traded in the only commodity she had: information. As a teenager, she came under the tutelage of a mysterious man known only as Hu Chang—a skilled assassin and master poisoner. As a young woman, she was recruited by the CIA and now, she is known as one of their
Title: What Doesn’t Kill You (Catherine Ling series #2)
Author: Iris Johansen
ISBN: 9780312651299
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis (from bn.com):
In this breathtaking thriller, number-one bestselling author Iris Johansen showcases one of her most fascinating characters—pitted against one of the most ruthless killers…
Abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong, Catherine Ling was schooled in the art of survival by the mysterious Hu Chang, a master assassin and poisoner. Now recruited by the CIA, Cat...more
Author: Iris Johansen
ISBN: 9780312651299
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Synopsis (from bn.com):
In this breathtaking thriller, number-one bestselling author Iris Johansen showcases one of her most fascinating characters—pitted against one of the most ruthless killers…
Abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong, Catherine Ling was schooled in the art of survival by the mysterious Hu Chang, a master assassin and poisoner. Now recruited by the CIA, Cat...more
Picked this up at an airport bookstore in a moment of desperation: I forgot my Kindle with my work books at home, had nothing to read for a four-hour flight, and my only other choices were "Fifty Shades of Gray" and a bunch of manly-man spy novels. I opted for this one, if only because it seemed a little less manly.
The writing is snappy and crisp - Johansen knows her business. There's none of the soggy, amateurish word-vomiting you get in "Twilight" and "Fifty Shades." The plot is pretty much st...more
The writing is snappy and crisp - Johansen knows her business. There's none of the soggy, amateurish word-vomiting you get in "Twilight" and "Fifty Shades." The plot is pretty much st...more
This is the further advntures of Catherine Ling CIA agent who was abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong where she meets mentor Hu Chang. She returns to Hong Kong to get information from Hu Chang. She needs information on Nardik, the man, who kidnapped Hu Chang for a poison he invented and John Gallo is the man with the information.
The story of Catherine living on the streets of Hong Kong and how she meets Hu Chang are most interesting parts of the book though the action is with Nardik and who...more
The story of Catherine living on the streets of Hong Kong and how she meets Hu Chang are most interesting parts of the book though the action is with Nardik and who...more
Aug 05, 2012
♆ BookAddict ~ La Crimson Femme
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
romantic-suspense,
library-book
Kick ass heroine who is a spy for the CIA and is part Asian? What is not to enjoy? Ms. Johansen's latest book is better. For a while, her Eve Duncan books were bogged down with a mother in denial for so bloody long. It was depressing and just morbid. In this book, Eve is barely mentioned and it is a relief.
We have a better protagonist - Catherine Ling. She's the one who helped Eve enjoy closure of Bonnie's death. This time, Catherine's loved one is under attack. Enigmatic Hu Chang is being hunte...more
We have a better protagonist - Catherine Ling. She's the one who helped Eve enjoy closure of Bonnie's death. This time, Catherine's loved one is under attack. Enigmatic Hu Chang is being hunte...more
Catherine Ling: CIA agent extraordinaire who sometimes listens to her long-suffering boss Venable, occasional ally of Eve Duncan, guilt-ridden mother of Luke who has been rescued from his horrific imprisonment and, friend and sometimes student of the enigmatic Hu Chang. Catherine is still gingerly testing out the nearly ruptured bonds between Luke and herself when she is thrust into a mad race to discover one of Hu Chang's earthshaking secrets that nearly costs him his life. Unwillingly allied w...more
Great book. Has created a new spinoff series without Eve and Bonnie. Keeps your interest throughout. Lots of action.
Catherine Ling was abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong at age four. Schooled in the art of survival, she traded in the only commodity she had: information. As a teenager, she came under the tutelage of a mysterious man known only as Hu Chang—a skilled assassin and master poisoner. As a young woman, she was recruited by the CIA and now, she is known as one of their most effective...more
Catherine Ling was abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong at age four. Schooled in the art of survival, she traded in the only commodity she had: information. As a teenager, she came under the tutelage of a mysterious man known only as Hu Chang—a skilled assassin and master poisoner. As a young woman, she was recruited by the CIA and now, she is known as one of their most effective...more
Catherine Ling needs help, it seems her long time friend and once mentor Hu Chang has gotten himself into a heap of trouble and in the sights of some very bad characters, but it’s who the CIA sends to help her that’s not sitting too well. John Gallo is the one man she can’t seem to forget ever since they met on the case involving his and Eve Duncan’s daughter.
John Gallo knows what he wants but Catherine is an enigma and he knows he can’t push her or she’ll run and he only wants her running towar...more
John Gallo knows what he wants but Catherine is an enigma and he knows he can’t push her or she’ll run and he only wants her running towar...more
Catherine Ling grew up on the streets of Hong Kong. Her mother was a prostitute and she overdosed when Catherine was five years old, leaving her alone. Catherine vowed to never become like her mother. Catherine learned to listen to what went on around her and she traded in information. When Catherine gets word that a local gang is going to rob a local storekeeper, she races there to warn him hoping he will reward her with payment. But she gets there to late. Two members of the gang are already...more
Imagine a deadly formula that is completely untraceable. More than one person would like to get it and not for the same reason. Hu Chang is the man who has created it and has a very evil man named Nardik after him to obtain the drug so he can use it for an assassination. The CIA also wants it, and has recruited Catherine Ling - previously seen in Ms. Johansen's Eve Duncan books - to help. But Catherine has close ties to Hu Chang dating back many years to when she was a child in Hong Kong. Along...more
Once I got used to the characters in this one I couldn't put the book down. What took me a while was that the main characters - Catherine Ling and Hu Chang - both had sort of strange reactions. I almost had a feeling that they were autistic because of the lack of emotion. Catherine had been on her own in Hong Kong since she was a young child. Her mother was a prostitute who died when Catherine was only four. Another prostitute took her in but there didn't seem to be any emotional attachment. Cat...more
Catherine Ling is one of the most kick ass characters I've ever read. Raising herself on the streets of Hong Kong she learned how to take care of herself and take crap from no one. She eventually goes to work for the CIA. When she meets Hu Chang she's 14 years old and her life changes. Hu Chang creates concoctions out of herbs and natural ingredients. Most heal, others can be quite deadly. In this story, Hu Chang created a drug that could kill if taken by someone with certain medical conditions....more
Catherine Ling is home from her CIA job in Peru and getting better acquainted with her son when she gets a call from Venable (CIA) that her long time Chinese friend and sometime teacher Hu Chang has gone missing after having been freed from capture by notorious arms dealer. With hesitation Catherine agrees to travel to Hong Kong to try to find Hu Chang who has a deadly and untraceable poison that is what the arms dealer was after. While on the flight Catherine remembers back to her youth in Hong...more
The best part of this book is that it continues on with the story of Catherine Ling and her son Luke. This is a continuation of her Bonnie , Eve, and Quinn series.It also lets you engage John Gallo from that same series, and continues the attraction they felt even though the were playing cat and mouse back then. This time they are joined together with a single purpose.It also gives a back ground of Catherine Ling and her life as a youth. I am not sure I agree with her never waving trust of an ol...more
I've enjoyed all the Eve Duncan books, but this one was specifically about Catherine Ling, a fascinating character who only played as a secondary character in the other books. The other books hinted about her relationship with Hu Chang, a father figure to Catherine, who had an amazing ability to create medicines and poisons. This book centers around this relationship and a deadly poison Hu Chang has invented an untraceable poison that kills a person and makes their death appear as a heart attack...more
What an intense book! I had a hard time starting it, I wasn't sure I was going to finish it because I felt like the begining it was a little more like a war than what I read. However when she flashes back to her past and we learn about Hu Chang and Catherine Ling's relationship I was turning pages as fast as I could read. This book has a lot of twists in it and I didn't see them coming which I like. Hu Chang is a dificult man and he doesn't really listen to anybody and just kind of ignores the l...more
I am usually a book ahead for our book club and it works out because I can pass my book on to other readers and we can keep cost of books down. This book was a monthly pick and it's so different from anything I have read lately. I like a challenge of something new but I am glad to pass this book on. This book is set in Hong Kong, a fun exciting city and chinese medicine and beliefs are always fun and of course this book has a old medicine man who has an ego bigger then TX and he manipulates peop...more
This is a fairly complex story with lots of action. I listened to it on CD, narrated by Jennifer VanDyck. She is a terrific narrator; she really makes the characters come alive. I enjoyed listening to this book.
What Doesn't Kill You is the second book in the "Catherine Ling" series. In order to really follow this story, I think it is necessary to first read Chasing The Night, which is the first book in the series.
What Doesn't Kill You is the second book in the "Catherine Ling" series. In order to really follow this story, I think it is necessary to first read Chasing The Night, which is the first book in the series.
Catherine Ling is abandoned on the streets of Hong Kong at the
age of 4 and she lives by the only commodity that she has to
offer the sale of information. As a teenager a mysterious man
known as Hu Chang takes her in and raises her. Hu Chang is a
skilled assassin and a master poisoner. As a young woman Catherine
is recruited by the CIA and becomes one of their most effective
operatives. Her old friend Hu Chang creates a poision that is
so deadly and completely untraceable once in your system. Now
the...more
age of 4 and she lives by the only commodity that she has to
offer the sale of information. As a teenager a mysterious man
known as Hu Chang takes her in and raises her. Hu Chang is a
skilled assassin and a master poisoner. As a young woman Catherine
is recruited by the CIA and becomes one of their most effective
operatives. Her old friend Hu Chang creates a poision that is
so deadly and completely untraceable once in your system. Now
the...more
The book started out slow, but eventually progressed into the normal, frantic reading pace, I'm used to. I loved finding out more about Catherine and the progress she has made with the people in her life. I have to say the conflict resolution was a bit too easy. I've found in the EVE series that both sides of the table are strong. For her amazingly cunning heroes we have equally dangerous rivals. It's like watching two giant monsters slug it out, but the battle at the end of this book was so wei...more
Goodreads asks me "What did you think?" I'm sorry to say I was somewhat disappointed with the book. Iris Johansen has made a good name for herself in the book world, especially with forensic sculptor Eve Duncan, and she's very good at writing "snack books" - enjoyable to consume, but not a particularly valuable part of a book diet. This recent book, "What Doesn't Kill You," introduces the enigmatic Hu Chang into the mix to bewilder and provoke CIA operative Catherine Ling. Back stories were very...more
This book has just confirmed that I'm done with Iris Johansen. I'd hoped that a non-Bonnie book would work better for me, but no, it just annoyed me even more. All her dialogue is interchangeable between the characters: remove any personal history references and then try to identify the unattributed quote. You can't tell Gallo from Joe or even Hu Chang, or Eve from Catherine or Jane. To an extent you can even ignore gender. They all speak and act the same way, with the only real difference appea...more
This novel concerns some side characters from the usual Bonnie search. Catherine, a CIA agent who grew up on the back streets of Hong Kong is sent back there to contact her mentor, Hu Chang who has concocted a potion that can kill with no trace. Catherine has to gain control from Hu Chang or extract a promise from him regarding its use. She learns that a character referred to as Lucifer wants to use this drug to kill a future President of the USA
So the chase begins---
Only 2 stars because the wri...more
So the chase begins---
Only 2 stars because the wri...more
i like catherine ling. i don't like how the women are always lusting after the men just by laying eyes on them and the men have such carnal responses to even seeing the women. (carnal always makes me think of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. which is a much better book.)
but really, i would like more realism. it makes it so painfully obvious that she came from the real harlequin romance genre, and hasn't fully given it up. it would be so much better if she did!
but really, i would like more realism. it makes it so painfully obvious that she came from the real harlequin romance genre, and hasn't fully given it up. it would be so much better if she did!
I enjoyed learning more about Catherine Ling, Venable and John Gallo who were more minor characters in the Eve Duncan Series. The focus was more on characters than setting. If you don't know much about the city of Hong Kong, you won't learn much. There was action, some suspense, and a few really good plot twists, but overall the flow was as expected. Those readers who like the Duncan series will definitely enjoy this book. I didn't really care for the cover art, but the book was a good airplane...more
I could no longer stand this book at page 364. I had quit several times, but kept hoping it would get better. It did not.
The dialogue is stilted, as if it came through a computer program. Everyone speaks very correct and proper English, even though their native languages are Chinese, Russian, etc.
The story is fantastic with everyone being the most beautiful or brilliant or the greatest practitioner of herbal medicine; one character has total recall developed while he was being tortured as a capt...more
The dialogue is stilted, as if it came through a computer program. Everyone speaks very correct and proper English, even though their native languages are Chinese, Russian, etc.
The story is fantastic with everyone being the most beautiful or brilliant or the greatest practitioner of herbal medicine; one character has total recall developed while he was being tortured as a capt...more
Hu CHang, skilled assassin, herbalist, and man of mystery is in trouble. Catherine Ling cannot be left out or kept from coming to his aide. Abandoned to the streets Catherine did whatever she had too to survive and Hu Chang became her friend and mentor.
Chang has concocted a poison, one powerful and deadly and totally untraceable.
Many want this poison and they want Hu Chang and they want Catherine.
They may get what they ask for and more.
This was my first time reading Iris Johansen, though not the...more
Chang has concocted a poison, one powerful and deadly and totally untraceable.
Many want this poison and they want Hu Chang and they want Catherine.
They may get what they ask for and more.
This was my first time reading Iris Johansen, though not the...more
Excellent book. The sexual tension between Gallo and Catherine is off the charts. I am starting to think think that they are going to be Johansen's new super couple because she has left this book that can go in so many directions with sequels it blows my mind.
As for this story it was well written with a cool twist. You also got to know Catherine Ling so much better and respect her more as a woman and a warrior then you did when she was in the fringes of the Eve Duncan books. I am looking forwar...more
As for this story it was well written with a cool twist. You also got to know Catherine Ling so much better and respect her more as a woman and a warrior then you did when she was in the fringes of the Eve Duncan books. I am looking forwar...more
Catherine Ling is a CIA agent recruited from the streets of Hong Kong. Surviving by gathering and selling information, she meets Hu Chang, an Erstwhile apothecary i.e. an assassin and dealer in poisons. He has gotten himself mixed up with a very bad man who wants to use one of his potions. This particular poison is completely undetectable -- the perfect murder weapon. The CIA comes to his rescue because they want the formula. Catherine is determined to make sure Hu Chang is safe even if it mean...more
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Johansen began writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success. She had seventeen consecutive New York Times b...more
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Jan 29, 2013 07:13pm