Customer Reviews

Panic

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought Jeff Abbott's "Panic" based on the unbroken string of 5-star reviews, as well as a strong endorsement from "Booklist". So while Abbott and "Panic" clearly have an enthusiastic following, I've got to take the contrarian view.

This tells the story of Evan Casher, a twenty-something documentary film maker who's life begins to spiral out of control when he finds his mother brutally murdered while narrowly escaping the same fate for himself. Poor Evan begins to realize that everything he's ever accepted as truth is up for grabs as he tries to unravel the mysteries of mom's slaughter, find dad, and keep his new girlfriend satisfied. OK so far. But from this promising start, Abbott meanders at a needlessly slow pace through place and time, infusing what could have been an interesting premise with an overdose of schmaltz and melodrama that I found more tedious than thrilling. I suppose the die-hard black helicopter crowd would consider the plot gospel, but the storyline was stretched just a bit too far for my sensibilities. Evan's transformation from nerdy film boy to super-spy left me out in the cold as he magically matches wits and heavy weapons with steely-eyed operatives who are more comfortable handling Berettas than movie cameras.

This was by no means a bad book, but no better than the average thriller, and definitely not up to the adrenaline-charged page-turners of Lee Child, to which "Panic" has been compared. For a more realistic average-guy-placed-in-extraordinary-circumstances story, try "Caught Stealing" by Charlie Huston. Or, if you prefer a more brutally likely finish for the kid trying to play out of his league with guys who practice violence for a living, try Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." But if you insist on going with the majority, my advice: before dropping sixteen-and-change for the hardback, go to the library, look for a used copy, or wait for the paperback.

I read the negative reviews of this book, but the optimist in me thought the book can't be that bad. After all, the book was recommended by Harlan Coben and Lee Child, the author has had other books published and the plot sounded promising: Evan Casher receives an urgent phone call from his mother summoning him home. When he gets there, he finds her murdered and a hitman lying in wait for him. Then he realizes that his entire life has been a lie and that he is in terrible danger.

Sadly, the premise is about the only thing going for this book. It just goes to show that writing decent thrillers is harder than it looks. It requires more than simply keeping the action going. You need to have a plot that makes at least partial sense and which is credible enough to allow the reader to suspend disbelief. You need to have some sympathy for the lead character and give the other characters reasons to be there. You need to build up the tension so that the reader wants to keep reading. None of those elements are there in "Panic".

It felt like Jeff Abbott had dissected some Harlan Coben novels and thought: "Right, I need a hero who finds out that his life is based on a lie. I'll give him a girlfriend with a mysterious secret and throw in an uber bad guy who wants something from him. I'll make sure he doesn't know who he can trust. That'll work!" And maybe in a ten page synopsis to the publisher, it did. But what eventuates is a convoluted mess that feels extremely formulaic, where plot "twists" are so predictable that the only suspense is in guessing how many pages it will take until they are revealed. I don't recommend this book at all.

When an unsuspecting person leading an ordinary existence is suddenly trapped in a horrifying, life threatening situation it is even more spine tingling than when readers/listeners know there's probably a psycho on the loose or an extra-terrestrial hovering. This abrupt twist is only one of the plots at which Jeff Abbott excels.

In the case of "Panic" we meet young film maker Evan Casher. Life is good for Evan - his career is on the upswing and his girl, Carrie, seems to be the woman he'd hoped to meet. One phone call from his mother turns his world upside down.

He travels to Austin, Texas, only for a shocking surprise - his mother has been murdered and his father missing. Further, there's a swift attempt on Evan's life and he has no idea why.

Evan has never heard of the Deeps, never even dreamed of a spy ring made up of sadistic killers but they're the ones pursuing him. They believe he has access to a computer file holding information that would seriously compromise the Deeps. How did this come to be?

No spoilers here - suffice it to say that his mother, a travel photographer, and his dad, a computer whiz, were secret agents. What of Carrie who appeared to be the girl of his dreams?

Those who remember Abbott's "Cut and Run" and "Black Jack Point well know this author turns out heart-stopping thrillers. Right on with "Panic."

Voice performer L. J. Ganser (seen on TV's Guiding Light, As The World Turns, etc) turns in a pulse racing performance as Evan tries to stay alive, save his father, and discover the secrets of his past.

High level intrigue and suspense at the touch of a button. Don't miss this one!

- Gail Cooke

If you ever travel anywhere with Jeff Abbott, insist on driving. Even if it's just to the corner convenience store. Because if he drives like he writes, you'll be so wired by the time you get to your destination that you'll be hunched beneath the dashboard, with your fingers covering your eyes. Well, you'll be peeking, but you get the idea.

My reason for saying this is that I just finished Abbott's latest novel, PANIC, a task that requires --- nay, demands! --- your nonstop attention from beginning to end. The body count starts on page six and doesn't stop until practically the very end. However, this isn't a spray-and-pray gorefest; it's a smart, intelligent thriller that keeps you unsteady and guessing throughout, combining the best elements of such novels as MARATHON MAN and nearly everything that Robert Ludlum ever wrote, and whipping it into a verbal frenzy that is all Abbott's own.

PANIC begins with Evan Casher getting an early morning telephone call from his mother, who tells him that he needs to come and see her in Austin, TX immediately. Casher makes the two-plus-hour drive from Houston in record time to find his mother murdered in her kitchen and himself on the receiving end of a brutal, deadly attack. He is saved by a mysterious benefactor who sets Casher on a dangerous path of discovery and duplicity.

An up-and-coming documentary filmmaker, Casher is not without his own resources, but soon he finds himself in way over his head. He quickly discovers that his parents are not who he thinks they were, and that someone --- actually, a group of someones --- believes that Casher possesses information that they are all too willing to kill for in order to obtain. Casher cannot trust anyone --- his mysterious rescuer, his girlfriend, even his own father --- and one of the fabulous elements of this book is that the reader can't either.

There are also a couple of really, really nasty guys, Dezz and Jargos, who collectively are a lifetime's worth of nightmares. But don't get too attached to anyone in PANIC; they'll either break your heart or disappoint you by not making it to the end of the novel. Well, there might be an exception or two, but you'll have to read to find out.

If you need an adrenaline jolt, or your heart kick-started, PANIC is just the ticket. The title is in big letters on the cover for a reason. And don't start it if you can't finish it on the same day or night. You'll drive yourself crazy waiting.


--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Lot's of decent reviews for Jeff Abbott's thriller, Panic, with glowing endorsements from authors Lee Child (loving his big, dumb, testosterone-charged Jack Reacher thrillers was the reason I took a chance and bought this thing), Michael Connelly, and mystery/thriller hack auteur, Harlen Coben. If that wasn't enough, somebody went so far as to slap a 'Great Read Guaranteed' tag on the cover of my paperback copy. How could I refuse?

The premise? Pretty simple and straight forward mystery/thriller stuff, with enough of a twist to make it interesting. Up-and-coming documentary filmmaker Evan Casher gets a strange phone call from his mother pleading for him to come and see her immediately. Evan leaves his safe daily routine (and his gorgeous and slightly mysterious new girlfriend) and returns to his parents home to find his mother brutally murdered - and now the killers are after him!

Whooo-boy! Another blurb on the cover, via Maxim, states that "Panic aims to thrill with every page..." They got that right. But frankly, Panic is cheesy to the point of being unreadable. You can just imagine Abbott straining to come up with a concept that's Hollywood-thriller worthy. Well, I guess he managed that - you can distill the plot down into a sentence or two (just like Hollywood likes) - but his writing... Oy.

Forget an intelligent thriller about a normal guy thrown into an abnormal situation. As other reviews here have stated, there's absolutely no way can I buy the fact that soft, movie-boy Casher can suddenly become a super-spy, going up against (supposedly) brutal and hardened, caramel-chewing, CIA-trained assassins and live.

And worse, even if I could suspend my disbelief (maybe being a super-spy is in Casher's genes - ? After all, both his parents were, so why not?), Abbott's dialogue is vapid, his characters are ridiculously overplayed and stereotyped (remember the old movie villain, twirling his teensy mustache while chuckling maniacally?), and there may as well be a flurry of exclamation points at the end of each cliffhanging chapter.

God knows there are worse books out there, and I imagine that folks who like Harlen Coben's silly, over-hyped thrillers will probably get a kick out of this too. At least the cover was sort of cool. But once past that, this 'thriller' can't deliver the promise of it's title. Unfortunately, I can see the movie poster now...

`PANIC' is the first Jeff Abbot novel that I have had the pleasure of reading but it most certainly will not be my last. In the last couple of years I have found myself shying away from the mystery/ suspense genre a bit (which happens to be one of my favorites) because, with the exception of the usual suspects such as James Patterson, Dan Brown and Harlan Coben I haven't found too many authors that have held my interest enough to pick up another of their books. However, after reading `PANIC' Jeff Abbot has put himself in the aforementioned category of a "must read" author.

`PANIC' is an intricate tale of spies and espionage that takes you deeper into the world of the "Deeps" with every turn of the page. The Deeps are a freelance spy network that has worked for every high-ranking government agency in the world including the CIA, FBI and KGB. They stay under the radar, have connections in extremely high places and you never know who is an operative. Unfortunately for filmmaker Evan Crasher his picture perfect life is turned upside down when he finds out that his parents are two of the Deeps chief agents. Now with his mother dead and his father being held captive Evan is forced to attempt to take down the Deeps all on his own. However, this task proves to be even harder than first imagined as the layers of this story slowly peel away to reveal just how far the Deeps run.

Abbot has masterfully woven a tale with brilliant twists and turns at every corner. I assure you this book is impossible to put down and will keep you wanting more, if you are a fan of thrillers `PANIC' is a must!

I decided to read the book based on the plot and though I think the book has some great scenes and is very fast paced at times, it is also a bit unbelievable. Evan Casher, a documentary film director, finds his world turned upside down after he finds his mother murdered in her home.

The problem? Evan Casher is not a spy. He's not CIA, FBI, KGB, etc...His career is filmwork. Suddenly, he's smarter than top rogue CIA agents and is able to outwit them at every turn. Abbott is a good writer and I enjoyed the book, but the main character was just too unbelievable in his ability to deal with the underworld of spies and of particularly tough/vengeful agents.

I enjoyed this book overall. In fact, I thought this book had one of the best "openings" I've seen in a long time. The main character, Evan Casher, gets a phone call from his mother, begging him to come home immediately. Casher does so and finds her murdered, and then has an almost-fatal encounter with her killers.

And that's just the first five pages! Abbott is a very good craftsman, and I certainly had no problems with the quality of the prose in this book. I thought the first 50 pages created a great deal of suspense and mystery. There's a reason why Abbott is considered a rising star in the thriller field.

The problem is that PANIC is pretty much all about action, action, action, at the expense of character development. The main character, Evan Casher, is a very young documentary filmmaker, and basically turns into James Bond as this novel progresses. The plot eventually becomes rather ridiculous, as this 24-year old single-handedly outwits ruthless killers, the CIA, and a whole host of other baddies.

PANIC is like a big-budget action movie on paper, and the film rights have already been sold to the Weinstein Brothers. I think this book is entertaining overall, but if you're looking for good character development, you may want to skip this one.

There are few authors capable of writing a novel with utterly unbelievable characters living out a totally unrealistic plot. Jeff Abbott proves that he is one of these remarkable writers.

"Panic" has Evan Casher, 24 year old Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker finding his mother murdered. He is rescued by a mysterious character, escapes from his would-be benefactor, is retaken and cast into a world of international intrigue and mystery.

The plot has more twists and turns than the Gordian Knot. But Abbott handles them beautifully. I willingly cast aside disbelief simply because the action is furious. This is truly a page-turner.

Anyone with a sophisticated knowledge of computer technology will laugh, as I did, at Abbott's uncountable gaffes in that area. But it's all forgivable because Abbott makes you want to get to the next page, the next twist, the next step in the adventure.

This is definitely not great literature: it's just a fun thriller. A great thriller, in fact.

Jerry

This is an out and out good thriller. Chases, suspense, international intrigue, cat and mouse, red herrings, it's got it all. A well written fantastic thriller that puts Jeff Abbott at one of the top spots on my 'must read' list.

Highly recommended.