Jonathan Nasaw - Fear Itself

Injecting fresh potency into the phrase "scared to death," the wickedly talented author of The Girls He Adored has delivered a spine-chilling follow-up introducing an unforgettable villain who confronts his victims with their phobias.

The charmingly disheveled FBI Special Agent E. L. Pender is strapping on his non-regulation calfskin shoulder holster one last time. Last day on the job, showing the ropes to his eager successor, Investigative Specialist Linda Abruzzi.

Then a letter from Dorie Bell arrives at FBI headquarters. Last year Dorie attended a phobia disorders convention in Las Vegas. Since then, three attendees have died under suspicious circumstances. A man with fear of heights jumped from the nineteenth floor of a building. A woman with fear of blood managed to cut her own wrists in the bathtub. A third victim with fear of suffocation was found in her bathtub, with a plastic bag over her head.

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In the beginning Nasaw introduces Linda Abruzzi, the one taking Pender's place in the Liaison Support, because he really is happy and can't wait for his official retirement. Linda isn't happy about taking his outlaw post because besides the pain she feels 24/7 it reminds her that it was this or leaving the FBI, which graciously already degraded her from Special Agent to Investigative Specialist.

In this book Pender shows himself from another side, one much more personal than in the first novel The Girls He Adored. Nevertheless his reputation hasn't changed much, he's still known of being the worst dressed agent.

So when Pender receives a letter from Dori Bell, suffering from a terrible fear of masks, about friends that officially committed suicide untypical for persons with phobia, he leaves a possible investigation to Linda and takes off for a golfing vacation.
Didn't he know his vacation spot isn't far away from Dori's home.

So things come together and when Pender visits Dori there is an instant connection between them. She seems to be very much like him and not to mind his clothing and Pender's just Pender-Mr-Cool from the outside. But then Dori's already in the killer's focus and is captured the next day.

She knows who he is. She knows she did tell Pender about the convention she visited and that Simon Child's has been the main contributor moneywise but will he be able to rescue her before she is killed by Child's who enjoys torturing his victims with their fears until they ultimately die.

A lot of people will die and already have died through Simon Child's hands and he always seems to be one step further of the people chasing him.

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The sad thing with this book is, that the whole plot somehow is there but that it isn't executed well. I missed the investigation. Instead it seems Pender always knew where to look and what to look for. Unfortunately reality isn't that simple.
I find it really sweet to read about Pender and Dori which seems to be a perfect match, complementing each other but other than that I really don't have much to say about this book.
It is one of those you read and pretty soon forget about it.

Rating:

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Atria (January 7, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743446518
ISBN-13: 978-0743446518