Fear Itself
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From Jonathan Nasaw, whose heart-stopping debut was hailed as "a superior thriller" (The Washington Post) and "wickedly compelling" (The Oregonian), comes a new novel that takes readers into the depths of
Fear Itself
Is it possible to be scared to death? FBI Special Agent E. L. Pender thinks so -- when a man afraid of heights falls nineteen stories to his death and a woman terrified of blood is found with her wrists slashed. Could it be that the apparent suicides are actually the work of a twisted psychopath?
To stop him, Pender joins forces with Investigative Specialist Linda Abruzzi, and before long they find themselves facing their own worst terrors -- and a madman who is as immune to fear as he is fascinated by it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nasaw's follow-up to The Girls He Adored is a polished, tongue-in-cheek thriller in which serial killer Simon Childs preys on people with phobias and kills them by bringing their worst fears to life. The novel opens with Childs on the loose in California, stalking Dorie Bell, who has a fear of masks. Bell has written a letter to the FBI about the recent suspicious deaths of several of her phobic friends (a woman with a fear of blood slit her wrists, a man with a fear of heights jumped out of a window, etc.). Her note alerts Linda Abruzzi, an agent who has just been restricted to desk duty after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Ed Pender, her newly retired boss, to Childs's predilections. Pender arrives on the scene just in time to keep Bell from becoming Childs's latest victim, but the murderer escapes during the melee. Once he evades his pursuers, Childs decides to track down Pender and Abruzzi and teach them a lesson. The rest of the book consists of a series of extended chase sequences as Childs makes his way across the country to FBI headquarters. Nasaw goes a bit over the top in spinning out the flaws and foibles of his serial killer, especially during the climax, when Childs sets a series of traps for the two agents. But the murder scenes are entertaining in a sly, cheeky fashion, and the crackling dialogue between Pender and Abruzzi gives extra life to the chase scenes.
