Mortal Fear

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 624 pages
• Published by: Signet February 1, 1998
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0451180410
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0451180414
• Book Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 10.4 ounces

Product Review
Raymond Chandler once proclaimed that the first-person narrator should never turn out to be the villain in a good mystery or thriller. Luckily, the great writer Greg Iles has seemingly ignored Chandler's advice. Iles has created a character--Harper Cole, a futures trader and online pornographer--who could very well be the human being killing off subscribers to his Internet sex service. Or is it Miles Turner, Cole's very odd colleague? If you thought that stalking a killer on the Internet had been done to death in books and terrible movies, this one will have you pushing the reload button on your browser. Other Iles books in paperback include Black Cross and Spandau Phoenix. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Yet another serial killer stalks the Internet, this one courtesy of the talented Iles (Black Cross; Spandau Phoenix). When futures trader Harper Cole, who moonlights as the systems operator of an erotic online services called EROS, contacts the New Orleans police with information about the murder of celebrated author-and EROS subscriber-Karin Wheat, he immediately becomes the prime suspect in six other murders of EROS subscribers across the country. Also on the FBI's short list is Cole's eccentric friend and EROS colleague Miles Turner, who has dubbed the killer "Brahma." When Cole learns that the man he thought was Brahma was killed a year ago and that his online identity was stolen, a tense cat-and-mouse game commences. Professional hunters, like FBI psychiatric profiler Arthur Lenz, have the online tables turned on them time and again by an insanely brilliant murderer, and it's up to Cole to render justice. His digging leads to an exciting payoff when he goes online and poses as a potential victim, using as bait a secret that endangers the mother of his child, as well as his wife. While Cole's obsession over this guilty secret makes him less than likable at times, a nailbiting climax erases any doubts about his character-and any lingering questioning about the storytelling abilities of Iles, who here uses rich first-person narration and clever plotting to tell a sizzler of a thriller. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; simultaneous Penguin Audio Book.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
Although this book contains more prurient sex and more gory violence than I prefer in a novel, instead of putting it down in disgust, I couldn't stop reading. This is testament to Greg Iles very strong plotting skills, as the tension in Mortal Fear never abated. It is also testament to his even stronger characterizations. The characters in this book are real and smart and likeable, even if any one of them could be the one who is killing off women from EROS, an online erotic discussion service and taking a surgical momento from each victim. Harper Cole, the Systems Operator who connects the killings and comes forward, is ensconced in the turmoil surrounding his very Southern family. They include his physician wife Drewe, who has a great deal of hostility towards EROS; his ex-cover model sister in law Erin and her surgeon husband Patrick, whose marriage difficulties are spinning out of control; and a father-in-law with friends in high places who makes Jesse Helms look like a liberal crusader for civil rights and racial relations. With his friend and fellow SysOp Myles, whose brilliance is unparrelleled in Harper's experience, there are plenty of suspects for the serial killings. Iles's writing is very intelligent and always at least three steps ahead of the reader. This book sucked away three days of my life, which is my way of saying: read it! Although there is little socially redeeming value in this novel, it's a very smart thriller and intensely escapist.