A fast paced thriller from the first page to the last page! I will admit I was drawn to this book based on a simple review on the cover by Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors. If he liked it, I was bound to! The story begins with a bombing in a Brazilian café, killing an informant and two news media personnel. We are quickly moved to Wyoming, where a woman, her husband and child are involved in a hit and run accident. Her husband dies but she is sure that she has seen someone take her child from the scene. Her belief is so strong that she continues on her own investigation to prove her child is still alive. Jack Gannon is assigned to find out why the café in Brazil was bombed and who was involved. Through the investigations of both these characters we meet a brilliant, rogue scientist who has stolen intelligence from a US biochemical project she was assigned to. Her past and growing madness lead her to develop experiments leading to the ability to control who lives and dies. She will go to any means necessary to succeed, to conceal her experiments and expunge those who get too close to the truth. The Panic Zone – 5 StarsRick MofinaMira Books, 2010, 432 PagesISBN No. 978-0-7783-2794-3Jack Gannon is tough, stubborn and has the ability to see the facts that others miss. Jack is a reporter for The World Press Alliance and works out of the Manhattan office. Melody Lane of WPA hired Jack after he had broken a story that was high profile. Jack hasn't had a good story since moving to New York and his colleagues at WPA whisper behind his back that his story was just a lucky break and he has no business in the big leagues.When a bomb explodes in a Rio De Janeiro Café and two journalists working for WPA are killed Melody sends Jack to Brazil. The staff at WPA in Brazil resent Jack's presence and would just as soon he return to New York. In spite of his less than warm welcome, Jack uncovers a clue that leads the investigation in an entirely different direction and sends Jack scurrying from one country to another to uncover the real story.Meanwhile back in Big Cloud, Wyoming a young mother grieves for her husband who is killed in an automobile accident. The mother is told that her child died in the same accident but she knows in her heart that her child is alive. A passenger on a Caribbean Cruise dies in a horrible and unexplained way. Doctors are at a loss to identify the cause of death. Scientists begin to fear that this death may only be an indication of more deaths to come.These seemingly disconnected events become clear in Jack’s mind as having a very strong and dangerous connection. The more information Jack uncovers the more danger he is in until he is lucky to come away with his life.The Panic Zone is an exciting novel and one that the reader can only hope is pure fiction. Jack Gannon pulls in all of the disconnected clues for a brilliant conclusion to this suspenseful book.This is the second Jack Gannon book. Vengeance Road was published by Mira in 2009 and is an excellent read. It is not necessary to read the first book to enjoy The Panic Zone.
What do You think about Web Van Gevaar (2011)?
Good enough, but not a lot of surprises. (Glad I got this from the library.)
—nmzubi
