It starts with an art show. Jane is exhibiting her paintings at her friend Celine's Paris gallery and having great success. However, one of her paintings - Guilt - has attracted the attention of a cult based on worship of Judas. Though the image of the man in the painting came to Jane in a dream, the cultists recognize it as Judas and feel that she is blaspheming him. The only thing that will satisfy them is Jane's death as the annual sacrifice. They give her eight days to live and the deaths start piling up around her.But Jane isn't alone. She is being protected by her old friend Jock and the formidable MacDuff. She also calls in the enigmatic Seth Caleb who has unusual talents and a need for Jane. Jane isn't at all sure about him and their relationship is a prickly one. But Jane will do anything that she has to do to protect the people she loves - especially Eve and Joe. There are two main villains in this one who are equally evil but who express it in different ways. Millet is the loony who is the head of the cult and who gets off on torturing women. Roland is the behind the scenes puppetmaster who pointed Millet at Jane. While Millet wants Jane as a fitting sacrifice in the annual Offering, Roland is more interested in getting hold of Judas' 30 pieces of silver. He believes that Jane can guide him to them. The story was filled with action, danger, and excitement. The characters were well-drawn and the scenes suspenseful. I had the unique opportunity to listen to the MP3 audio of the first half of the book when I was traveling and then finishing the book by reading it from my TBR mountain. I enjoyed having a voice in my head for the characters based on the audio portion I heard. I recommend this suspense title. Johansen writes compelling thrillers about interesting characters.
