What do you think?
Rate this book
Jaguar Addams #4
A Lunatic Fear
Jaguar Addams is back! Three prisoners are brought to Planetoid 3 with symptoms of exposure to chemicals that can come only from illegal moon mining -- but who's running the lunar mining game, and where are they processing the Artemis byproducts? Alex and Jaguar are caught in a hornet's nest of politics, profits, and psychoses, as both are driven into a moon madness that cannot be denied.
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2004
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 16, 2014
Artemis compounds, a byproduct of lunar mining, cause "phase psychosis." Phase psychosis effects women, bringing on bouts of homicidal and cannibalistic behavior. As a result, Artemis compounds were outlawed and a moratorium levied on lunar mining. A Lunatic Fear is set months before the moratorium lifts. Someone has already begun the refining of Artemis compounds and discovered that men are not, as commonly believed, immune to the side-effects. Men exposed to Artemis become passive aggressive and easy to control. Someone is combining the power of Artemis with empathic amplification for their own opportunistic ends, namely, to rule a planetoid.
Jaguar Addams is assigned to psychically "clear" three female prisoners exhibiting symptoms of phase psychosis. These symptoms aren't just your run of the mill fever or runny nose, oh no, these are much more terrifying. These women have reverted to an animalistic drive to attain their basest desires. The most chilling case is the woman who has the soul of a hunter, and ate her own infant. Jaguar employs ancient spiritual techniques to touch the core of the women's illness, and there by lead them to healing through empathic contact. As Jaguar becomes convinced that the women are infected with Artemis, Jaguar's more-than-just a boss, Alex, is tracking an escaped male prisoner. The prisoner is terrifying, and one of the more originally creepy villains (or villainess's pawn) I've encountered in dark fiction. His deepest desire is for Thanatos; he desires the death of all that he desires, especially women, and desires his own final oblivion. Only the empathic remote control by "The Mother" keeps him from killing himself. He has been armed with Artemis stones, which allow him to boost his emotions and thereby infect others with his death drive. Suicides litter his trail, gristly breadcrumbs along a path planned by The Mother. Alex succumbs to the moonstones, and is taken captive by his own prisoner. Thus Chepaitis effectively set the stage for a battle between Thanatos and Eros, where Thanatos represents the effect of moon-powers as they are appropriated out of greed, and Eros the moon-power that is the birthright of all women.
Chepaitis writes woman's power without insisting that a woman become "man-like" to wield that power. Jaguar is sensual and tough, beautiful and unbroken, and always more than a prop or a trinket. A Lunatic Fear is a story of feminine empowerment, but never stoops to making men less. My only complaint is the slightly fumbled reveal of Jaguar's knowledge of "The Golden Retriever's" true plan in the final scenes. Perhaps a reader who has absorbed the entire Jaguar Addams series would have understood the significance of The Golden Retriever's ring, but that was lost on me, reading A Lunatic Fear as a standalone story. Overall, Chepaitis delivers an exciting and though-provoking story about the nature - and danger- of true power.
Jaguar Addams is assigned to psychically "clear" three female prisoners exhibiting symptoms of phase psychosis. These symptoms aren't just your run of the mill fever or runny nose, oh no, these are much more terrifying. These women have reverted to an animalistic drive to attain their basest desires. The most chilling case is the woman who has the soul of a hunter, and ate her own infant. Jaguar employs ancient spiritual techniques to touch the core of the women's illness, and there by lead them to healing through empathic contact. As Jaguar becomes convinced that the women are infected with Artemis, Jaguar's more-than-just a boss, Alex, is tracking an escaped male prisoner. The prisoner is terrifying, and one of the more originally creepy villains (or villainess's pawn) I've encountered in dark fiction. His deepest desire is for Thanatos; he desires the death of all that he desires, especially women, and desires his own final oblivion. Only the empathic remote control by "The Mother" keeps him from killing himself. He has been armed with Artemis stones, which allow him to boost his emotions and thereby infect others with his death drive. Suicides litter his trail, gristly breadcrumbs along a path planned by The Mother. Alex succumbs to the moonstones, and is taken captive by his own prisoner. Thus Chepaitis effectively set the stage for a battle between Thanatos and Eros, where Thanatos represents the effect of moon-powers as they are appropriated out of greed, and Eros the moon-power that is the birthright of all women.
Chepaitis writes woman's power without insisting that a woman become "man-like" to wield that power. Jaguar is sensual and tough, beautiful and unbroken, and always more than a prop or a trinket. A Lunatic Fear is a story of feminine empowerment, but never stoops to making men less. My only complaint is the slightly fumbled reveal of Jaguar's knowledge of "The Golden Retriever's" true plan in the final scenes. Perhaps a reader who has absorbed the entire Jaguar Addams series would have understood the significance of The Golden Retriever's ring, but that was lost on me, reading A Lunatic Fear as a standalone story. Overall, Chepaitis delivers an exciting and though-provoking story about the nature - and danger- of true power.
August 30, 2014
Full disclosure: This book was written by my one of my English Professors from years at SUNY Albany. In any event, what I really liked about this book was that it is a sic-fi book grounded in enough reality that the sic-fi elements blended in so seamlessly as to seem natural. I also liked the character who shared my name, as he and I share many of the same personality traits (and I love that I was an ersatz inspiration for a character in a work of fiction). Well done.
April 19, 2012
The latest installment in Jaguar Addams is just as good, if not better, than it's predecessors. A good chunk of action, romance and plot driven suspense are just the tip of the iceberg in this thrilling futuristic urban fantasy. Jaguar is a compelling and unpredictable heroine that will keep you guessing and up late turning the pages. I highly recommend this series!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews