Pyrophobia

by Jack Lance

Jason Evans, publicitaire, habite pres de Santa Monica avec sa femme Kayla, qu'il cherit plus que tout. Mais leur vie paisible vole en eclats le jour ou il recoit une lettre anonyme, en fait un simple Polaroid, au dos duquel il lit: TU ES MORT !Peu de temps apres, on lui adresse une deuxieme photo, accompagnee de ce message enigmatique: TU CROIS ETRE VIVANT, MAIS TU N'EXISTES PAS...Puis au verso du troisieme Polaroid, qui montre une pierre tombale, cette phrase menacante: 18 AOUT: JOUR DE TON DECES.Est-ce a dire que le corbeau a decide de l'eliminer ? Qu'il ne lui reste plus qu'un mois a vivre ? L'angoisse gagne Jason, dont la phobie du feu refait surface.Ses pires cauchemars se reveillent, mais cette fois ils sont bien reels..."

Genres: Horror

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2015

Reviews

[Paul Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jason Evans life is turned upside down when he receives a photograph in the mail, a graveyard but it's the cryptic message on the back that spooks him 'you are dead'.

More photos follow, nightmares begin and it all seems to be linked to his condition. Jason suffers from Pyrophobia, an abnormal and exaggerated fear of fire, its source has never been pinpointed and when it rears its ugly head it can leave him incapacitated. For four years he'd been free of the flames torturing his mind, finally extinguished or so he thought and happily married to Kayla. The photos open a world of hurt for Jason, someone is threatening him, intimating his death and his life enters a downward spiral.
 
Jack Lance writes with an incredible amount of detail, almost as if no thought or spoken word is left at the wayside. You feel like nothing whatsoever is omitted, this gives unprecedented depth to both the characters and the story but walks a fine line between going that little bit too far and being a rapid page turner. 
Some will like this style others may be bored by too much heavy description poured into the story, causing the tension to diminish. It can be annoying when your main character is remembering important facts related to a topic that holds significant and substantial value as you go through the story. If something was that pressing, you'd have thought about every nook and cranny constantly and surprises shouldn't really come from your own memory half way through the story. Especially when the issues been there all your life.
 
Pyrophobia for the most part is a well written, quite enjoyable story with a couple of semi-infuriating moments, the resolution is cleverly done and the antagonist difficult to guess. Life can spin on a sixpence, everyone has secrets but how deep are your’s hidden.
 
I received Pyrophobia from Severn House Publishers & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and that’s what you’ve got.

Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping Thriller Explores a Real Fear of Fire, 13 July 2015
The Prologue opens with a murder rigged to look like a suicide. The significance of this is not found until well in to the book, always a pointer to a cleverly-constructed plot.

The main character, Jason Evans, and his wife, Kayla, are living a privileged lifestyle in Los Angeles. He is the art director in a prestigious advertising agency and she is a management secretary for a successful electrical business. But each is flawed. Kayla has a phobia concerning death which can trigger a depression, and Jason has more than a fear of fire. His pyrophobia can instantly convert him into a quivering wreck with hallucinations of gargantuan proportions. But he has always been unable to get to the bottom of the problem.

In the midst of their bliss, Jason receives a Polaroid photo of a graveyard through the post, with the words ‘You are dead’ written on the back. Instantly his well-balanced lifestyle is swept from under his feet as he tries to ponder the meaning of this photo and its words. When another two Polaroids come his way, with words implying that he may already be dead or will die on August 18t, he enlists the help of an IT expert, Lou Briggs, who has suffered severe and life-changing burns, to try to trace the sender.

This is a great book which explores the terrible phobia that fire can produce. Jack Lance has created wonderful characters which drive the plot along at a tremendous pace. He has also beautifully set out the problems a marriage can encounter when, despite undoubted mutual love, one partner suffers from a debilitating and isolating fear.

The eventual denouement is as surprising as it is likely, and is a fitting climax to a wonderful thriller. Congratulations must also go to Lia Belt for her translation from the original Dutch. – Sméagol

Rating: Four Stars.

[Christine Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Representation:
- Schizophrenia

Content Warnings:
- Abduction
- Affair
- Cancer
- Death of Child
- Death of Parent
- Depression
- Doctor/Young Patient Relations
- Miscarriage
- Pestering Someone When They Will Have a Baby
- Self Harm
- Suicide

Words that may bother some readers:
- 1 time
Abortion
Ass
Bullshit
God (Native American use)
Hard
Lord (religious)
Nipple
Son of a Bitch
Thrust
- 2 times
Christ (not religious)
Fuck
Jesus (religious)
Lord (not religious)
Screw
Seed
- 3 times
Bastard
Hellish
Rape
Shit
- 4 times
Breast
Damn It
- 5 times
Suicide
- 7 times
Jesus (not religious)
- 8 times
Damn
- 11 times
God (religious)
- 12 times
Hell
- 18 times
God (not religious)

[Brett Bosley · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. This felt like a first draft. For such a short book, half of it was telling.