The Scent of Fear [Kindle Edition]

Tom Adair (Author)

Book Description

Sarah and Daniel have each stood face to face with evil before. This time they will face the threat together. Youthful and impulsive, Sarah is a tough; no nonsense criminalist determined to measure up to the male cops around her. Daniel is a former special ops soldier adjusting to civilian life while working at his uncles forensic science center. Now, two killers have brought them together. One is a psychopathic murderer who turns the tables on Sarah. The other is a professional assassin only Daniel understands. Hampered by her inexperience and the snipers knowledge of forensics, Sarah struggles to understand the unusual clues left at the crime scenes. When Daniels mysterious past lands him in jail, Sarah must overcome her fears as she finds herself trapped between the killer she is pursuing and the one pursuing her.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A stunning debut. Tom Adair knows forensics so well he plants your boots inside the crime scene tape." CJ West author of The End of Marking Time

From the Author

The Scent of Fear is the first novel in a trilogy about the pursuit, capture, and prosecution of a serial sniper at the center of a multi-generational conspiracy to forever change the seat of power in the United States. This story has been rolling around in my head for the last ten years but as a full-time CSI I never had the time to write it. Now that I have left law enforcement I am bringing the story to life and I am thrilled with the results so far. I never expected to form such a strong bond with my characters and I hope my readers will too. Much of that realism comes from my experience as a forensic scientist. While the story is fictional many of the scenes and characters are inspired by real people and real events. I hope you enjoy reading The Scent of Fear as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 585 KB
• Print Length: 366 pages
• Publisher: Frost River Publishing; 2 edition (February 24, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007DLPGAI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,199 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars crime fiction meets true crime February 24, 2012

By Sunchine

Format:Paperback

In the interest of full disclosure, Tom Adair is a friend of mine. I was fortunate enough to read an advanced copy of this book. Not just because I'm an avid reader (40-50+ books a year), but more importantly because I am an experienced crime scene investigator (criminalist). This review is written from the perspective of a well-read CSI, not from the perspective of a personal friend of the author.

I have read all sorts of mystery novels in my time, even true crime (Ann Rule type). Before I got into the forensic field I loved them. After, well, notsomuch. With the laudable exception of Kathy Reichs' earlier books, most of the forensic and/or police detail in popular crime novels is either pure speculation or incredibly dramatized reality. As an investigator, I found most of these mistakes to be distracting at best and insulting drivel at worst. So I stopped reading crime fiction.

The Scent of Fear, what Tom promises to be the first in a trilogy, just might bring me back to the world of crime fiction. At least to crime fiction written by Tom Adair. The heroine, Sarah, is a young crime scene investigator just figuring out who she is in the world. Her profession and temperament put her into some interesting situations. Her life experiences and inexperience both combine to make how she deals with and gets out of these situations compelling reading.

From her first encounter in the opening chapter with what turns out to be a dangerous serial killer to her meeting the hotty nephew of her professional mentor to the actual scene investigations for the dual murder mysteries, Tom keeps the plot moving with solid writing and interesting characters and dialogue. As a reader this is crucial.

If you like to read about forensics and crime scene investigations, you will be even more thrilled to learn that for once what you are reading is actually accurate. As a criminalist, I get asked all the time about the details of what I do. I usually say how routine and boring it is most of the time. But Tom is such an experienced writer that I didn't even get bored reading about what I do every day anyway. As a friend, I'm thrilled for him that this book is so good. As a reader and a criminalist, I'm even more thrilled that The Scent of Fear was so enjoyable and spot on!

I vote for Amy Adams to play Sarah in the movie!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story suffers from the need for editing March 29, 2012

By Angela J. Benford

Format:Paperback

I will start with the positives. The story was good and kept me entertained. The characters for the most part were well developed and I got a feeling for them (some I didn't like, but that was the point)

The bad things - LOTS of grammar and formatting errors. I mean A LOT, and my grammar isn't so great...so if it bothered me, then you know it was rampant. I got confused several times with the formatting because there wasn't a line break or sometimes even a return when another party started talking/thinking. Also, there were several new plot points and characters introduced in the last 30 or so pages -- I kept wondering if Tom was going to be able to tie up all the loose ends, and no, he wasn't. The book ended with a lot of unanswered questions -- obviously a set up for a series/trilogy. I hate that. Make the first book stand alone before you go off on more. Leave your readers satisfied.

Looking at that review, it looks like the bad outweighed the good, but that is just not true. The story let me look over the problems, I just suggest some serious editing before a second edition (or the next book in the series) comes out.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The Scent of Fear April 16, 2012

By D. M. Carlson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Before deciding to write this review I had to ask myself if it was fair to base my review on format and editing issues. I decided that to give a fair review I had to talk about those issues. To be fair, the story itself was good for the most part, but the issues with the format for the Kindle were so horrible and intrusive that they really had a negative impact on the flow of the story. The story is written from the perspective of multiple characters and this is fine if there is a break so that you know there will be a switch to a different scene and/or character perspective. These "breaks" were totally absent. From one paragraph to the next there would be a total switch and I'd have to stop reading and refocus to keep following the action. As an example, at one point in the story we are at a crime scene with the crime scene investigators and police and in the next paragraph we are in the Internal Affairs office at the police station with totally different characters in the story. The story itself has editing issues; missing words, names spelled differently from one scene to another and sometimes a person is given a different name within a scene. Many of these issues should have been caught by a good proofreader or editor. From my perspective as a reader, publishing a well edited book vs publishing a book containing glaring editing issues does effect the overall rating of that book.

More About the Author

April 18, 2012. I was horrified to learn that the original e-book version of The Scent of Fear contained some significant formatting issues with some Kindle devices. I have corrected these problems. Please accept my sincere apology for this oversight.

From investigating the shootings at Columbine High School to locating grave sites in the remote back country of the Rockies, Tom Adair has lived a life most crime authors only write about. An internationally recognized forensic scientist, he has a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and a Master's degree in Entomology. He has served as the president of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction, Rocky Mountain Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and the Rocky Mountain Division of the International Association for Identification. While in law enforcement he was board certified as a senior crime scene analyst, was one of only 40 board-certified bloodstain pattern analysts and one of 80 board-certified footwear examiners worldwide. In addition to writing over 60 scientific papers, he has served as the editor of an international peer-reviewed science journal. Over his 15 year career he has been interviewed by and consulted for television, text books, novels, magazines, and newspaper articles as well as documentaries on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. He continues to teach and conduct research in the forensic sciences. When he's not writing he enjoys hunting, hiking, fishing, and camping in Colorado's back country with his wife and chocolate lab.