Panic (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE PHONE AWOKE Evan Casher, and he knew something was wrong..." (more)
Key Phrases: freelance spy, digital music player, laptop bag, Thomas Khan, Evan Casher, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Not many audio versions of thrillers start with the bang that Abbott and Ganser bring to this story about a young man whose life explodes one spring morning. Evan Casher is a rising young documentary filmmaker, living in Houston, who is awakened early by a phone call from his mother, begging him to rush to the family home in Austin for reasons she can't explain on the phone. Ganser, veteran of 150 audio books, perfectly catches the mixture of frustration and annoyance in Evan's reluctant agreement and his attempts to reach his father—supposedly off on a sales trip to Australia—as well as his new ladyfriend, Carrie, back in Houston. Then, in a beautifully written and sensitively read moment of pure horror made all the more powerful by its understatement, Evan arrives in Austin to find his mother's body on the kitchen floor. She has been garroted with a wire. Her killers attack Evan, who is saved by the arrival of a mysterious stranger with a shotgun. Ganser brings all of Abbott's many characters—the killers, the baffled police and the ambiguous Carrie, who might be working for the enemy—to instant, unhyped life, letting Abbott's story about a man whose past has been an elaborate pretense unwind with breath-catching strength.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Those who disparage page-turners seldom appreciate what it takes to pull off a really good one, such as Abbott's engrossing hardcover debut, which follows a string of hardboiled paperback originals. There's nothing especially noteworthy about the story: no fancy props, global implications, history lessons, or distracting subplots. Just the familiar tale of a young man, a documentary filmmaker named Evan Casher, who awakes one morning to find his world turned upside down, his mother killed, himself pursued on all sides by enigmatic forces that range from menacing to sadistic, his loved ones in danger, everything he once believed in revealed to be a lie. Yet, with skilled handling of riveting action sequences, plot twists, and camera angles, all converging at breakneck speed, Abbott whips these simple ingredients into a near-perfect thriller that may indeed result in physical distress akin to panic for anyone trying to put the thing down before the last bullet flies. Fans of Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Joseph Finder, or John Grisham--anyone who enjoys a wild ride on a bumpy road--can cheer the arrival of our latest master of the fine art of the page-turner. Highly recommended. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451412222
• ISBN-13: 978-0451412225
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,965 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spy Kids, October 25, 2005

By	Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panic (Hardcover)

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.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HIGH LEVEL INTRIGUE AND SUSPENSE, September 6, 2005

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Panic (Audio CD)

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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Writing decent thrillers is harder than it looks, March 20, 2008

By	Julia Flyte - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Panic (Hardcover)

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.