How to write

Megan Blair has put the tragic events of her childhood behind her, working as an ER physician and living with her beloved Uncle Phillip, the only family she has left.  One night, on the way home from work, Megan is run off the road by a drunk driver.  Phillip isn’t sure it was random event and so he contacted Neal Grady, a man who has watched Megan grow up, safe and secure from the secrets they share.  The time has come for Megan to remember the events of her past, her mother’s murder, and the voices that once tormented her.  

Megan is a descendent of the Devanez family, most of whom posses some psychic ability; listening, locating, predicting or controlling.  The family, persecuted and hunted, scattered across four continents in an act of self preservation. The only link that remains is a ledger, kept by one family member, which records the family’s lineage.  Molino is desperate to find the ledger and destroy the family of freaks, obsessed since the death of his son.  The only thing that stands in Molino’s way is Neal Grady, and with the help of Megan, they plan to locate the ledger first and draw Molino into the open.  

Pandora’s Daughter has all the key elements for nail biting suspense:  powerful villains bent on destruction, a reluctant heroine plucked from her daily life, a sexy super agent, paranormal powers, international intrigue, and a dash of romance.  Unfortunately, Johansen’s formula for success falls flat.  The characters are cardboard cutouts, stand-ins for real people: they are predictable, dull and robotic.  

The situations are stretched and strained to accommodate a story that has hit a dead end.  It’s laughable the extent to which Molino will go to in order to kill Megan, when he could just shoot her and be done with it.  

“You want Phillip Blair, I get you. Unless you show up here tomorrow alone with Grady or Harley or that other freak, Renata Wilger, anywhere in the background you won’t see Blair again alive…My men told me that Grady and Harley came with you.  I’m sure they’re still somewhere close. I was willing to let you feel safer tonight.  Tomorrow is different.  I want you to feel vulnerable.”

In the end it felt as though Johansen had no idea where the journey was destined to end; so she manipulated the characters and plot to arrive at a very unsatisfying conclusion. Subplots were left unresolved, characters conveniently appeared or disappeared with no foreshadowing and no real emotions were ever uncovered.  

She should have kept this one locked in a box.