Never Fear [Paperback]

Scott Frost (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2008

LAPD Detective Alex Delillo is in a state of shock. The unidentified body the cops found is that of her halfbrother— one she never knew she had. He’s also the spitting image of her father—the father who walked out on his family…the same man suspected of killing three women seventeen years ago. As Alex tries to solve her brother’s murder, someone is tracking her every move—and leaving a body count

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Screenwriter Frost (Twin Peaks; The X-Files) brings back Lt. Alex Delillo, Pasadena supervisor of homicide, from his impressive debut, Run the Risk, for another pulse-pounding, complex thriller in the tradition of Peter Straub's serial killer whodunit Blue Rose series. Delillo's father, Thomas Manning, a second-rate actor, walked out of her life decades ago, but she's still haunted by vague, menacing childhood memories of him. Her family issues resurface when her previously unknown half-brother surfaces dead, an apparent suicide, on the very site of the unsolved Los Angeles River killings that claimed the lives of three young women years before. To make matters worse, her darkest suspicions about her father are aroused when she learns that Manning was questioned extensively by LAPD in connection with the murders. When more dead bodies turn up, including that of a police detective, Delillo comes to believe that her father is still alive and still lethal. Frost's combination of psychological depth, complex plotting and an evocative, arid Los Angeles setting will have fans of intelligent suspense counting the days until his next book. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Pasadena, California, homicide detective Alex Delillo knew little of her father, Thomas Manning, beyond the roles he played as a Hollywood character actor. The Richard Widmark look-alike, who once appeared in a movie in which he was squashed by a cyclops, disappeared from Alex's life when she was just a young girl. Memories of Manning's violent nature (toward women, in particular) surface after the death of Alex's half brother, John. Could Manning be a murderer, or worse yet, a serial killer linked to the deaths of three women nearly two decades before? Alex throws heart and soul into the investigation of John's demise, enlisting help from fellow detective Dylan Harrison, whose good looks and kind nature make maintaining a strictly professional partnership tough. This is the second Alex Delillo mystery for Frost, whose crisp, prickly prose has been featured in episodes of The X-Files and Twin Peaks. Woven throughout the novel are images of the menacing blazes that threaten to level L.A.: "Driving into the canyons was like entering a city under siege. Burning embers were falling out of the sky. . . . The tops of palm trees would explode in flames as if hit by a bomb." Frost delivers a superlative scorcher with a cast of memorably eccentric characters (including a brilliant schizophrenic hell-bent on revenge) and a sinuous plot that crackles and pops. Fans of Robert Crais and Michael Connelly should check out this series. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 386 pages
• Publisher: Jove (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515143197
• ISBN-13: 978-0515143195
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,326,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LA's Burning and Bodies are Filling the River - but wait - there's More!, August 19, 2006

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Never Fear (Hardcover)

I've always found Los Angeles the perfect setting for crime novels: the sprawling city of contrasting seediness and glitz, mean streets and the meaner people living in them, plastic Hollywood sleaze mixing with the grit of rundown residential hotels, suntanned surfers and sunburned loners of the eastern high desert. Raymond Chandler started it all and is still the master, Robert Crais does LA best today (though some - not me - would argue Michael Connolly), but give Scott Frost credit - "Never Fear" stacks right in there with the best of LA noir.

Alex Delillo is a Pasadena homicide detective who is told that a body found in the LA River is that of her brother. Problem is, Delillo doesn't have a brother - or at least she didn't think so - leading her down a path uncovering the shady past of her long-estranged father, a serial killer of nearly two decades ago, and the obligatory crooked cops of the LAPD. This is an intelligent and complex novel, which, if there is a problem with Scott Frost's second novel, it is the sheer volume of subs, subplots, and distractions. Poor Alex, who's only recently recovering from a psycho's failed attempt to blow up her daughter, must now deal with a dead brother she's never met, a dad who may have been a serial killer, a neurotic mother, while facing down what feels at time like the entire Los Angeles police force. And somebody's trying to kill her - again. Meanwhile, the hills of LA are burning, threatening to take the entire city down. Got all that?

So yeah, this is ambitious, but it works, and kept me pretty much glued to the pages to the flaming end. Frost is a screenwriter, and it shows in the rapid pace that doesn't tolerate boredom, delivered in the hip, comfortable style you'd expect from LA. This was my first Scott Frost, but it's good enough for me to go back and check out his well-received debut, "Run the Risk".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced and page turning - great characters, January 19, 2010

By 

J. M. Amor "IslandMeg" (Kailua-Kona, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Never Fear (Paperback)

I loved this book. Fast paced, great characters, well written. I loved the interaction between the two main characters Alex Dililloi and Harrison. I loved the way it moved and the storyline. This was along the lines of Jonathon Kellerman for me in terms of style and pace. I can't wait to track down some more books from this author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get your running shoes out for this one, February 28, 2007

By 

Charlean Souligne (Port St. Lucie, Fl. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Never Fear (Hardcover)

From the first page, this book is a fast-paced non-stop book of twists and turns. With a backdrop of LA, and the surrounding area, throw in fires, corruption of the police department, secrets at every corner, and you have a great read.

I had a hard time putting this book down even to sleep. Our heroine finds she has a brother she never knew existed, a father who may or may not have been a murderer, a mother with secrets of her own, and then there are the dreams and memories that haunt Alex Delillo as she tries to unravel all the little cords to get to the truth of what did or did not happen.

She is trying to solve her brother's murder, not her jurisdiction, solve the 17 year old murders of the River Killer, old stuff, not her jurisdiction, and find the father she can barely remember, who may or may not be alive. Along the way, the body count increases and each one seems to lead nowhere. Putting it altogether is a jigsaw puzzle of pieces spread all over California.

And to top it off, she is thinking of having an affair with her partner, definitely not a good career move for either one.

We have all the elements of a good mystery: murder, mayhem, missing files, missing persons, reluctant witnesses, dirty cops, coveups, its all packed into 289 pages of high energy, running out of time detective work.

And the story line ends with the promise of another book to follow. We have to know how this one ends, eventually.