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Evan Delaney #2
Mission Canyon
From award-winning author Meg Gardiner, co-author of Michael Mann’s Heat 2After a hit-and-run accident leaves a friend dead, Evan Delaney wants justice. But she underestimates the power of the person responsible. When the witnesses begin dying one by one, Evan is unprepared for the dark places retribution will take her.
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 21, 2003
45 people are currently reading
745 people want to read
About the author
Meg Gardiner
48 books2,253 followersMeg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen thrillers. Shadowheart, her latest novel, is part of the UNSUB series featuring FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix. The Real Book Spy calls it “A mind-trip of a story.” Booklist says, “As always, the writing is exquisite and the story is perfectly crafted.” UNSUB, the first novel in the series, won the 2018 Barry Award for Best Thriller. The Dark Corners of the Night was bought by Amazon Studios for development as an hour-long television drama.
Heat 2 is a prequel/sequel to the film Heat, co-authored with the film’s writer/director, Michael Mann. Booklist’s starred review calls it “Riveting… the fully fleshed human stories support and even transcend the often-breathtaking action.” The Associated Press says, “Slick as a Neil McCauley heist and as intense as a Vincent Hanna chase, ‘Heat 2’ is just dynamite.” It debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list.
Meg is the author of the Evan Delaney series, the Jo Beckett novels, and several stand alones. China Lake won the 2009 Edgar award for Best Paperback Original. The Nightmare Thief won the 2012 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense audiobook of the year. Phantom Instinct was one of O, the Oprah magazine's "Best Books of Summer."
Meg was born in Oklahoma and raised in Santa Barbara, California. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she practiced law in Los Angeles and taught writing at the University of California Santa Barbara. She's also a three-time Jeopardy! champion. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Find Meg on Facebook: Facebook.com/MegGardinerBooks Twitter: @MegGardiner1 and Instagram: @Meggardiner1.
Series:
* UNSUB
* Evan Delaney
* Jo Beckett
Heat 2 is a prequel/sequel to the film Heat, co-authored with the film’s writer/director, Michael Mann. Booklist’s starred review calls it “Riveting… the fully fleshed human stories support and even transcend the often-breathtaking action.” The Associated Press says, “Slick as a Neil McCauley heist and as intense as a Vincent Hanna chase, ‘Heat 2’ is just dynamite.” It debuted at #1 on the NYT best seller list.
Meg is the author of the Evan Delaney series, the Jo Beckett novels, and several stand alones. China Lake won the 2009 Edgar award for Best Paperback Original. The Nightmare Thief won the 2012 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense audiobook of the year. Phantom Instinct was one of O, the Oprah magazine's "Best Books of Summer."
Meg was born in Oklahoma and raised in Santa Barbara, California. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she practiced law in Los Angeles and taught writing at the University of California Santa Barbara. She's also a three-time Jeopardy! champion. She lives in Austin, Texas.
Find Meg on Facebook: Facebook.com/MegGardinerBooks Twitter: @MegGardiner1 and Instagram: @Meggardiner1.
Series:
* UNSUB
* Evan Delaney
* Jo Beckett
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 5, 2015
SUSPENSE SUSPENSE AND More SUSPENSE!!!
Mission Canyon is the second book in the Evan Delaney Series. I think there are actually five in the series. Stephen King strongly recommends this series! He says "Read Meg Gardiner The Next Suspense Super Star!
This book is a nonstop action thriller. I feel that it is very well written with nail biting suspense. This author rocks!! I don't feel that it was intense as China Lake but it is still very intense! This definitely is another winner! The book is very well done with the characterization of the characters.
This series is a Must Read.
Evan and Jesse are on the hunt for the man that killed Isaac and crippled Jesse in the hit and run accident.
Jesse and Evan also have wedding plans and Jesse is being blackmailed before their wedding. Also witnesses are being killed.
The villain is back in this one and he is trying to kill off Jesse.
I could go on and on about this one but I don't want to give anymore away.
I could not put this book down! I have already read the third book in this series, which should show how much I love this series. You should start out with the first book China Lake to get to know the characters! They are great!! I strongly recommend this series! This book is for those who love a suspenseful thriller!
Mission Canyon is the second book in the Evan Delaney Series. I think there are actually five in the series. Stephen King strongly recommends this series! He says "Read Meg Gardiner The Next Suspense Super Star!
This book is a nonstop action thriller. I feel that it is very well written with nail biting suspense. This author rocks!! I don't feel that it was intense as China Lake but it is still very intense! This definitely is another winner! The book is very well done with the characterization of the characters.
This series is a Must Read.
Evan and Jesse are on the hunt for the man that killed Isaac and crippled Jesse in the hit and run accident.
Jesse and Evan also have wedding plans and Jesse is being blackmailed before their wedding. Also witnesses are being killed.
The villain is back in this one and he is trying to kill off Jesse.
I could go on and on about this one but I don't want to give anymore away.
I could not put this book down! I have already read the third book in this series, which should show how much I love this series. You should start out with the first book China Lake to get to know the characters! They are great!! I strongly recommend this series! This book is for those who love a suspenseful thriller!
December 18, 2024
Meg Gardiner is the queen of chase scenes, and that's from Stephen King, who knows a thing or 2 about suspenseful writing. This is an earlier book in her first series, she's only gotten better since this book. She puts her protagonists through an awful lot, this book more than most of the ones l've read, and l've read many. I had to read other books while reading this to give myself a break from the unrelenting awfulness of the bad guys in this book, but raced through the last 100 pages. It was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on steroids. I only have a few of her books left, sigh. But I look forward to whatever new books she has up her dark sleeve.
January 29, 2009
Meg Gardiner's second novel in the Evan Delaney mystery series shows the same assuredness of storytelling that won me over in "China Lake" but ends up being a far more satisfying and complete reading experience.
Several years ago, Evan's boyfriend, Jesse, was paralyzed in a hit and run incident. Jesse's good friend was killed and all the evidence pointed toward it being a deliberate hit and run incident, with the car's driver, Franklin Brand, going on the run. Now, Brand is back in town, but for what purpose?
As Evan follows Brand to make sure he doesn't leave town, she's slowly drawn into a web involving the incident and who the real target of the incident was. As Evan uncovers the truth of what happened and why, her own life becomes threatened and the discoveries she makes could fundamentally alter her life and her relationship with Jesse.
I came to the Evan Delaney series after reading Gardiner's "The Dirty Secrets Club" and being impressed by it. Hungry for more, I picked up "China Lake" and while there were snippets of what I liked from "Secrets" in there, it still felt like a first novel. With "Mission Canyon," the trappings of a first novel are gone and Gardiner settles in with a satisfying, page-turning mystery thriller that sets everything up well and then delivers a nicely done payoff in the end. I want to say this story is a bit more personal for Evan, but that would be doing a disservice to "China Lake" since it was a story about her protecting her nephew in peril from an evil religious cult. The big difference is that it feels like Gardiner doesn't have as big an axe to grind here with the antagonists and they come off as far more effective and threatening that way. They're not quite the evil, moustache twirling kind of villains that we got in "China Lake" and the book is a lot stronger for that.
Also, having had a novel to get to know Evan, the book is more successful as we see and hear Evan's relentless belief in those she cares about and her dogged determination to defend them. It makes one of the novel's turning points and twists a bit more shocking when you come to it. It also helps to make Evan grow as a character and not just be a stock, plucky female private investigator.
All in all, "Mission Canyon" is a far more complete and satisfying novel than its predecesor. I wonder if I'd read it first if I'd regard it as highly as I do "Dirty Secrets Club." After all, part of the fun of a novel author is the joy of discovering their tricks and storytelling technique in the first novel you're exposed to.
Several years ago, Evan's boyfriend, Jesse, was paralyzed in a hit and run incident. Jesse's good friend was killed and all the evidence pointed toward it being a deliberate hit and run incident, with the car's driver, Franklin Brand, going on the run. Now, Brand is back in town, but for what purpose?
As Evan follows Brand to make sure he doesn't leave town, she's slowly drawn into a web involving the incident and who the real target of the incident was. As Evan uncovers the truth of what happened and why, her own life becomes threatened and the discoveries she makes could fundamentally alter her life and her relationship with Jesse.
I came to the Evan Delaney series after reading Gardiner's "The Dirty Secrets Club" and being impressed by it. Hungry for more, I picked up "China Lake" and while there were snippets of what I liked from "Secrets" in there, it still felt like a first novel. With "Mission Canyon," the trappings of a first novel are gone and Gardiner settles in with a satisfying, page-turning mystery thriller that sets everything up well and then delivers a nicely done payoff in the end. I want to say this story is a bit more personal for Evan, but that would be doing a disservice to "China Lake" since it was a story about her protecting her nephew in peril from an evil religious cult. The big difference is that it feels like Gardiner doesn't have as big an axe to grind here with the antagonists and they come off as far more effective and threatening that way. They're not quite the evil, moustache twirling kind of villains that we got in "China Lake" and the book is a lot stronger for that.
Also, having had a novel to get to know Evan, the book is more successful as we see and hear Evan's relentless belief in those she cares about and her dogged determination to defend them. It makes one of the novel's turning points and twists a bit more shocking when you come to it. It also helps to make Evan grow as a character and not just be a stock, plucky female private investigator.
All in all, "Mission Canyon" is a far more complete and satisfying novel than its predecesor. I wonder if I'd read it first if I'd regard it as highly as I do "Dirty Secrets Club." After all, part of the fun of a novel author is the joy of discovering their tricks and storytelling technique in the first novel you're exposed to.
June 10, 2023
2023: Every time I reread this, I appreciate the subtlety even more. I adore the introduction of Jax and Taylor. Fabulous side characters, both amazing on page yet terrifying if ever I were to meet one of them!
I loved this book! Meg Gardiner rocks and I thought the story unraveled really well. The characterizations are nice and though I wish there had been more of some of the characters from book 1, I loved the focus on boyfriend, Jesse. Looking forward to the next book!
I loved this book! Meg Gardiner rocks and I thought the story unraveled really well. The characterizations are nice and though I wish there had been more of some of the characters from book 1, I loved the focus on boyfriend, Jesse. Looking forward to the next book!
March 10, 2020
I liked how it tied in to what we learned about Evan and her boyfriend, Jesse, in the first book. Evan explained that Jesse was hit by a car while out bicycling with his friend, who tragically died. The driver of the car escaped and disappeared - until now. In an incredibly complicated and dangerous mystery, Gardiner reveals the truth about what happened and why. Shell companies, blackmail, money laundering - all were involved with Jesse's accident.
I missed reading about Evan's nephew, though, and I don't know why Jesse and Evan ever go anywhere alone - it always seems to end with them being injured or threatened. In spite of that, I still enjoyed Mission Canyon.
I missed reading about Evan's nephew, though, and I don't know why Jesse and Evan ever go anywhere alone - it always seems to end with them being injured or threatened. In spite of that, I still enjoyed Mission Canyon.
July 5, 2018
Meg Gardiner is quickly becoming my favorite suspense writer.
February 27, 2015
Franklin Brand is back. The Franklin Brand that took Jesse's ability to walk and killed his buddy. He confesses to Evan that he's still stuck there in Mission Canyon. He can't move to comfort his swimming mate as he lay dying. More memories are coming back and he's being blackmailed all within 9 weeks of his and Evan's wedding.
A couple claiming to be ex-CIA want to hire Evan to ghostwrite their memoirs. She senses something off putting about the couple. She's right. They are part of what happened to Jesse up in Mission Canyon. Her friend is legal counsel for Mako, the company that Brand worked for, is acting weird. The CEO made right toward Jesse, but something is rotten within Mako headquarters, and as Evan and Jesse seek justice for Brand more bodies turn up. What is Mako up to? And why did they (and still do) want Blackburn and another buddy dead?
Again, Meg Gardiner writes a fast paced suspenseful novel. There a few scenes that really stretch suspension of disbelief, but her full characterization of Evan and Jesse in China Lake and this sophomoric installment will allow that suspension of disbelief. Another recommended read.
A couple claiming to be ex-CIA want to hire Evan to ghostwrite their memoirs. She senses something off putting about the couple. She's right. They are part of what happened to Jesse up in Mission Canyon. Her friend is legal counsel for Mako, the company that Brand worked for, is acting weird. The CEO made right toward Jesse, but something is rotten within Mako headquarters, and as Evan and Jesse seek justice for Brand more bodies turn up. What is Mako up to? And why did they (and still do) want Blackburn and another buddy dead?
Again, Meg Gardiner writes a fast paced suspenseful novel. There a few scenes that really stretch suspension of disbelief, but her full characterization of Evan and Jesse in China Lake and this sophomoric installment will allow that suspension of disbelief. Another recommended read.
May 14, 2011
Once again Evan finds herself in the middle of a battle concerning someone she loves. This time it's Jesse, her fiancee.
The book was good, with lots of suspense, but things jumped around alot and there was so much going on I found it hard to believe that all of this could be happening to just these two people. Evan makes some ridiculous decisions just like she did in China Lake and acts more like a cop than a lawyer turned writer.
The book was good, with lots of suspense, but things jumped around alot and there was so much going on I found it hard to believe that all of this could be happening to just these two people. Evan makes some ridiculous decisions just like she did in China Lake and acts more like a cop than a lawyer turned writer.
August 17, 2024
Three years before the book opens, Evan Delaney’s now-fiancée lost the use of his leg when Franklin Grand deliberately ran him down while he bicycled. Brand left the country for a time, but Evan Delaney saw him alive and well and back in California. Delaney and her fiancée, Jesse Blackburn, vow to get even.
This is one of those fast-action hot lead books you have to focus on lest you miss an important scenes. As the book progresses, witnesses to that original hit-and-run years earlier begin violently dying. Brand or one of his associates picks them off one at a time.
For inexplicable reasons, I never connected to these characters. Evan Delaney was so easy to believe in and cheer for in book one, but this felt like a herky-jerky, disjointed compilations of chases and gunshots. With all the flying lead, you’d think Delaney would take a hit and even harmed. She was like John Wayne amid hostile native Americans—shooting as best he can without taking a hit. Needless to say, some of this felt a bit contrived in places. The best scene was one in which Evan’s loud-mouthed Oklahoma cousin played cowgirl in Evan’s bed with a prissy FBI agent accountant.
This is one of those fast-action hot lead books you have to focus on lest you miss an important scenes. As the book progresses, witnesses to that original hit-and-run years earlier begin violently dying. Brand or one of his associates picks them off one at a time.
For inexplicable reasons, I never connected to these characters. Evan Delaney was so easy to believe in and cheer for in book one, but this felt like a herky-jerky, disjointed compilations of chases and gunshots. With all the flying lead, you’d think Delaney would take a hit and even harmed. She was like John Wayne amid hostile native Americans—shooting as best he can without taking a hit. Needless to say, some of this felt a bit contrived in places. The best scene was one in which Evan’s loud-mouthed Oklahoma cousin played cowgirl in Evan’s bed with a prissy FBI agent accountant.
Read
August 18, 2023In anticipation of Heat 2 last summer I decided to read #meggardiner’s debut novel #chinalake (as she co-wrote Heat 2 with #michaelmann). I had a good time with china lake and Heat2 was my favourite book last year so I am continuing to catch up with @meggardiner1 ‘s work. Her second novel #missioncanyon published in 2003. It holds up. Characters from the first novel are tested and developed further. A good mystery with some decent detective work (who doesn’t like money motives). Quite a large cast of characters, but not so large that it needed a list. I could follow who they were and what they wanted. Quite good little cliffhangers at the end of most chapters. It rolls along at a decent pace. A fun dash of comic relief in the right places but still pretty tense throughout.
April 15, 2022
Evan Delaney (a female Jack Reacher type), whose boyfriend Jesse, is partially paralyzed as a result of a hit and run accident committed by a Franklin Brand. Said accident killed his best friend Isaac. Brand, a former golden boy of a cyber-security firm, has been recently seen in the area and Delaney wants to bring him to justice. Over the course of a week or two, there are multiple characters and multiple attempts on the lives on Delaney and her boyfriend, but they always manage to extract themselves. I found that there was too much action to make the story believable.
July 27, 2019
Gardiner's novels are SO GOOD! Deep gritty mysteries with well-written characters that will keep you up past your bedtime. In the second novel in this series, Evan Delaney and her fiance are almost 8 weeks away from their wedding. However, Jesse spots the man who ran him and his friend down, killing Isaac and confining Jesse to a wheelchair. As the two hunt him down, they realize that this was no simple hit and run. Ready to read the 3rd novel in this series and the 3rd Unsub novel!
February 11, 2021
To say I was exhausted after reading this book is an understatement. I thoroughly enjoyed Meg Gardiner's "Unsub" series, but this Evan Delaney series is a bit over the top. How can one person get into so much trouble? It defies the imagination. College educated, intelligent yet willing to take all kinds of chances, both legal and illegal-makes for an exciting protagonist/heroin, but not a very believable one.
April 12, 2018
This was really an exciting read. Abook you do not want to put down as one event is happening after the other. I really enjoyed it and will continue with this series. Is is not my most loved thriller/crime series but definitly one of the better ones. I guess that this feeling is due to the characters, which i like but am not in love with.
March 2, 2022
Nach der ersten Story um Evan Delaney hat mich der 2. Band etwas enttäuscht. Die ersten 200 Seiten sind langweilig und insgesamt theatralisch und langatmig. Hoffen wir auf Band 3. Meg Gardiner kann es besser.
August 5, 2023
I am gobsmacked!
Meg Gardiner is on fire! I can’t believe how long it took me to find her work, but wow. Another masterpiece with flawed characters you can’t help loving, a plot to literally die for, and writing that is world class.
Meg Gardiner is on fire! I can’t believe how long it took me to find her work, but wow. Another masterpiece with flawed characters you can’t help loving, a plot to literally die for, and writing that is world class.
February 13, 2018
One of the best reads yet! It's like the thrill ride that just won't quit! And yet finally the conclusion arrives and this story defitiently resolves nicely. Wow this author is good!!!
October 11, 2018
Good read indeed
Meg Gardiner writes good suspense...try. her you will like her. Does not matter whether it is Evan Delaney or her other endeavors she does not disappoint.
Meg Gardiner writes good suspense...try. her you will like her. Does not matter whether it is Evan Delaney or her other endeavors she does not disappoint.
January 23, 2020
Fast paced with lots of action and twists!
July 12, 2020
Excellent, the series gets better
December 28, 2020
3.5. Audible.
December 29, 2020
Ein Krimi, der sogar echte Agenten enthält, auch wenn es nicht um große Politik oder Ähnliches geht. Aber Tote hat es trotzdem mehrere, und eine Menge Action findet statt. Teilweise fand ich es ein bisschen übertrieben, aber es liest sich gut und bietet eine spannende Lektüre.
March 29, 2021
Full of action - an excellent story!
Read
October 19, 2021Figured out some of it way before it got to the end, but still a very good read.
September 17, 2023
plot was a little confusing to follow at times but overall a great follow up in the evan delaney series
December 27, 2024
This thrill ride keeps gaining speed on the curves! The characters, a marvelous collection, ache with misery, evil, brilliance, and devotion. Great book!
September 16, 2009
Mission Canyon is a place of nightmares and regrets for Evan Delaney and her fiancé, Jessie. It’s been just over three years since Jessie and his best friend, Isaac, where run down while riding their bikes up in Mission Canyon. For Jessie, it’s meant piecing his life back together; physical therapy and a wheel chair, with Evan by his side. Isaac wasn’t quite as lucky.
Meg Gardiner’s second offering in her Evan Delaney series is a tightly wound, thrilling story with all the twists, turns, and blind curves that the road through it’s namesake possesses. While not quite as intense (to me) as China Lake, her first in the series, I found it very well told and deeply engrossing.
In a very different setting than before, Mission Canyon takes place in a world that seems to invade Evan’s familiar Santa Barbara based life. She’s just a few short weeks from her wedding to Jessie when the reappearance of the man who crippled him and killed Isaac takes them both spinning out of control. Everything she thought she knew comes into question; who are these people she thought were friends, and what really happened up in the hills above the city?
When a writer can make me feel loss at the death of a character, that’s the sign of truly deep authorship. Gardiner has done that, yet again, and while I didn’t feel quite the anger I had towards the antagonists in China Lake, the bad guys are well enough constructed that they do evoke plenty of emotion. Likewise for the characters who are revealed to be not what they were thought to be… Not at all predictable.
Mission Canyon is a thoroughly enjoyable book that I would highly recommend. While you don’t have to read the first book to understand the second, it does make the characters far more understandable. I look forward to the next books in this series.
Meg Gardiner’s second offering in her Evan Delaney series is a tightly wound, thrilling story with all the twists, turns, and blind curves that the road through it’s namesake possesses. While not quite as intense (to me) as China Lake, her first in the series, I found it very well told and deeply engrossing.
In a very different setting than before, Mission Canyon takes place in a world that seems to invade Evan’s familiar Santa Barbara based life. She’s just a few short weeks from her wedding to Jessie when the reappearance of the man who crippled him and killed Isaac takes them both spinning out of control. Everything she thought she knew comes into question; who are these people she thought were friends, and what really happened up in the hills above the city?
When a writer can make me feel loss at the death of a character, that’s the sign of truly deep authorship. Gardiner has done that, yet again, and while I didn’t feel quite the anger I had towards the antagonists in China Lake, the bad guys are well enough constructed that they do evoke plenty of emotion. Likewise for the characters who are revealed to be not what they were thought to be… Not at all predictable.
Mission Canyon is a thoroughly enjoyable book that I would highly recommend. While you don’t have to read the first book to understand the second, it does make the characters far more understandable. I look forward to the next books in this series.
June 13, 2010
oh, this one is even better! evan! evan and jesse! and the whole story of jesse (who does show up in the jo beckett books, so i need to find out how he makes the move from santa barbara to san francisco) and it's just good.
i did not want to put this down.
in fact i actually stayed up waaay past my bedtime to finish it and was exhausted at work the next day. i love it.
plus there's all this technological stuff that reminds me of Jeffery Deaver's recent stories and i can't wait to read Broken Wire either.
basically, you should be reading meg gardiner. she lives in london now, and i wish i could go to a book reading or something. she's fabulous and makes me really happy. and i'm so glad i have Jericho Point to start next!
i did not want to put this down.
in fact i actually stayed up waaay past my bedtime to finish it and was exhausted at work the next day. i love it.
plus there's all this technological stuff that reminds me of Jeffery Deaver's recent stories and i can't wait to read Broken Wire either.
basically, you should be reading meg gardiner. she lives in london now, and i wish i could go to a book reading or something. she's fabulous and makes me really happy. and i'm so glad i have Jericho Point to start next!
March 25, 2011
Another strong entry in the EVAN DELANEY series by Meg Gardiner. (This is book #2, the first was CHINA LAKE.) This one is stronger on the characterization, as has more of a techno-thriller vibe than the previous one.
Evan Delaney is a lawyer whose boyfriend was injured in a hit and run accident several years ago. New facts come to light in the case as conspiracies are uncovered and the witnesses start to meet suspicious ends.
Gardiner is a strong writer, and she has a nice way of capturing Evan's inner voice, which makes her action sequences both engaging and believable. There are several "edge-of-your-seat" moments in this book, and the goofy humor that I disliked in CHINA LAKE has been toned way back. More than anything though, it's the characters that make this one worthwhile -- they seem "real," and when they are threatened, we actually care about what will happen to them.
I'll definitely be reading the third in the series, JERICHO POINT, soon.
Evan Delaney is a lawyer whose boyfriend was injured in a hit and run accident several years ago. New facts come to light in the case as conspiracies are uncovered and the witnesses start to meet suspicious ends.
Gardiner is a strong writer, and she has a nice way of capturing Evan's inner voice, which makes her action sequences both engaging and believable. There are several "edge-of-your-seat" moments in this book, and the goofy humor that I disliked in CHINA LAKE has been toned way back. More than anything though, it's the characters that make this one worthwhile -- they seem "real," and when they are threatened, we actually care about what will happen to them.
I'll definitely be reading the third in the series, JERICHO POINT, soon.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews