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The title of Jeff Abbott's latest novel is well chosen. The psychological impairment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the thread that runs through FEAR; it is the possibility of a cure --- and the profit that might be made from it --- that brings three individuals reluctantly together not only to conquer the condition that is controlling their lives but also to save themselves from shadowy pursuers who seem to be bent upon their destruction.
Miles Kendrick is a former investigator for an organized crime family. Now in witness protection in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kendrick is being treated for PTSD resulting from the death of his best friend Andy, who literally haunts Kendrick's every waking hour. When Dr. Allison Vance, Kendrick's psychiatrist, offers a new treatment regimen, he's reluctant. However, when Vance's office is destroyed in an explosion just as he was scheduled to meet with her, Kendrick embarks on a wild journey with two unlikely companions who were also being treated by Vance.
Celeste Brant had fifteen minutes of fame as the winner of a reality television show before her husband was subsequently murdered, sending her into a traumatic, self-imposed isolation. Nathan Ruiz, meanwhile, has been traumatized by a wartime experience and is receiving in-patient treatment to help him recover from his recurring nightmares. Both Brant and Ruiz are showing signs of progress with an experimental drug called Frost, which is being used on them without proper experimental protocol.
Millions of dollars could be made from the drug on the open market, but it's Dennis Groote, an ex-FBI agent employed by a pharmaceutical company, who has more than money on his mind as he pursues the Frost formula. Groote's young daughter is a victim of PTSD, and he will do anything to get his hands on it. Convinced that Kendrick engineered the explosion of Vance's office, Groote pursues Kendrick, as well as Brant and Ruiz, in an effort to obtain the formula for his employer and for his daughter. The three patients soon realize that they can trust no one --- and possibly not even each other --- as they are pursued back and forth across the American West by killers who believe, wrongfully, that they have the Frost formula --- which they themselves need in order to conquer the demons that have taken over their lives.
The overriding theme of FEAR is just that, and Abbott ratchets up the excitement (and fear) from practically the first page to the last. While the book is more plot-driven than character-driven, his villains, particularly Groote, are the baddest of the bad. You'll be looking over your shoulder after reading FEAR.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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