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Fear is the Jeff Abbott thriller with the kind of high-concept hook that makes you suspect the book cannot pay it off. Miles Kendrick is in witness protection in Santa Fe, in trauma therapy for a violent incident he cannot remember. His therapist dies in a way that immediately puts Miles back in the sights of the people he was supposed to be hidden from.
What Abbott does with the amnesia framing is interesting rather than gimmicky. Miles's memory returns in carefully spaced pieces, and the book honors the slowness of the recovery rather than handing him the truth on schedule. The supporting cast (the therapist's family, the witness protection handler, a couple of figures from Miles's past) all earn their pages.
The ending is honest rather than spectacular. Four stars. A leaner and more interesting thriller than the cover promises.
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