Mortal Fear (Mississippi) [Kindle Edition]

Greg Iles (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Raymond Chandler once proclaimed that the first-person narrator should never turn out to be the villain in a good mystery or thriller. Luckily, the excellent writer Greg Iles has seemingly ignored Chandler's advice. Iles has created a character--Harper Cole, a futures trader and online pornographer--who could very well be the person killing off subscribers to his Internet sex service. Or is it Miles Turner, Cole's very odd colleague? If you thought that stalking a killer on the Internet had been done to death in books and bad movies, this one will have you pushing the reload button on your browser. Other Iles books in paperback include Black Cross and Spandau Phoenix.

From Publishers Weekly

Yet another serial killer stalks the Internet, this one courtesy of the talented Iles (Black Cross; Spandau Phoenix). When futures trader Harper Cole, who moonlights as the systems operator of an erotic online services called EROS, contacts the New Orleans police with information about the murder of celebrated author-and EROS subscriber-Karin Wheat, he immediately becomes the prime suspect in six other murders of EROS subscribers across the country. Also on the FBI's short list is Cole's eccentric friend and EROS colleague Miles Turner, who has dubbed the killer "Brahma." When Cole learns that the man he thought was Brahma was killed a year ago and that his online identity was stolen, a tense cat-and-mouse game commences. Professional hunters, like FBI psychiatric profiler Arthur Lenz, have the online tables turned on them time and again by an insanely brilliant murderer, and it's up to Cole to render justice. His digging leads to an exciting payoff when he goes online and poses as a potential victim, using as bait a secret that endangers the mother of his child, as well as his wife. While Cole's obsession over this guilty secret makes him less than likable at times, a nailbiting climax erases any doubts about his character-and any lingering questioning about the storytelling abilities of Iles, who here uses rich first-person narration and clever plotting to tell a sizzler of a thriller. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; simultaneous Penguin Audio Book.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 830 KB
• Print Length: 564 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0340686014
• Publisher: Signet (February 1, 1998)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000OIZV5M
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (198 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,878 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense Reading!, November 24, 2002

By 

Virginia Lore "rumtussle" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mortal Fear (Paperback)

Although this book contains more prurient sex and more gory violence than I prefer in a novel, instead of putting it down in disgust, I couldn't stop reading. This is testament to Greg Iles very strong plotting skills, as the tension in Mortal Fear never abated. It is also testament to his even stronger characterizations.

The characters in this book are real and smart and likeable, even if any one of them could be the one who is killing off women from EROS, an online erotic discussion service and taking a surgical momento from each victim. Harper Cole, the Systems Operator who connects the killings and comes forward, is ensconced in the turmoil surrounding his very Southern family. They include his physician wife Drewe, who has a great deal of hostility towards EROS; his ex-cover model sister in law Erin and her surgeon husband Patrick, whose marriage difficulties are spinning out of control; and a father-in-law with friends in high places who makes Jesse Helms look like a liberal crusader for civil rights and racial relations. With his friend and fellow SysOp Myles, whose brilliance is unparrelleled in Harper's experience, there are plenty of suspects for the serial killings. Iles's writing is very intelligent and always at least three steps ahead of the reader.

This book sucked away three days of my life, which is my way of saying: read it! Although there is little socially redeeming value in this novel, it's a very smart thriller and intensely escapist.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best thrillers I've read in a long long time!, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mortal Fear (Paperback)

This is my first Greg Isles book but I will be looking for more. I found the caracters and the plot mesmerizing. It caught and kept my attention from the very start. I almost felt like I was right there watching the tale unfold between Harper and the other caracters. It also made me think of the very real dangers that the internet could hold, if the information one doles out so readily on here is'nt watched over very carefully.From a little country farmhouse in Mississippi to a large internet company in New York there's romance, murders, and plenty of action to keep your attention. Just my kind of reading!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Step Aside, Hannibal Lecter!, October 18, 2000

By 

Ronald Flackus "Music/Movie Addict" (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mortal Fear (Paperback)

The tension was so great while I read this novel, there were times when I didn't think I wanted to finish the book. Greg Iles' serial killer is one of the most frightening characters in modern suspense writing. The killer, who goes by a number of aliases on the internet, is evil incarnate. His chilling biography alone is enough to write a novel about. It is, among many other parts of this book, a stroke of genius.

Mr. Iles has done a highly magnificent and intelligent job of creating a plot that holds you and won't let you go. As I said, there were times I didn't think I could read to the end of MORTAL FEAR--not because I didn't like the writing, but because I didn't think my heart could stand the constant tension that just kept mounting through every chapter to the very end. Reading "The Silence of the Lambs" was the last time a book had that much impact. I do a LOT of reading, so my hat is off to Greg Iles for his great writing.

Halfway through finishing MORTAL FEAR, I immediately hunted down the rest of Iles' novels which, alas, are too few. I have added him to my very short list of favorite writers, the other two being Nelson DeMille and Elizabeth George. All three writers use character development, detail and excellent plotting to create novels that are intelligent, riveting, and just plain old fashioned good reading.