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Jack Gannon #2
The Panic Zone
“The Panic Zone is a headlong rush toward Armageddon. Its brisk pace and tight focus remind me of early Michael Crichton.”—Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author
A car crashes in A young mother is thrown clear of the devastating crash. Dazed, she sees a figure pull her son from the flames. Or does she? The police believe it's trauma playing tricks on the mind, until the woman hears a voice on the “Your baby is alive.”
A bomb explodes in Rio de The heinous act kills ten people, including two journalists. Jack Gannon's assignment is to find out whether his colleagues were innocent victims or targets who got too close to a huge story.
A Caribbean cruise ends in Doctors are desperate to identify the cause of a passenger's agonizing death. They turn to the world's top scientists, who fear that someone has resurrected their secret research. Research that is now being used as a deadly weapon.
With millions of lives at stake, experts work frantically against time. And as an anguished mother searches for her child and Jack Gannon pursues the truth, an unstoppable force hurls them all into the panic zone.
Originally published in 2010
A car crashes in A young mother is thrown clear of the devastating crash. Dazed, she sees a figure pull her son from the flames. Or does she? The police believe it's trauma playing tricks on the mind, until the woman hears a voice on the “Your baby is alive.”
A bomb explodes in Rio de The heinous act kills ten people, including two journalists. Jack Gannon's assignment is to find out whether his colleagues were innocent victims or targets who got too close to a huge story.
A Caribbean cruise ends in Doctors are desperate to identify the cause of a passenger's agonizing death. They turn to the world's top scientists, who fear that someone has resurrected their secret research. Research that is now being used as a deadly weapon.
With millions of lives at stake, experts work frantically against time. And as an anguished mother searches for her child and Jack Gannon pursues the truth, an unstoppable force hurls them all into the panic zone.
Originally published in 2010
413 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 29, 2010
140 people are currently reading
656 people want to read
About the author
Rick Mofina
69 books1,333 followersRick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row in Montana and Texas, flown over L.A. with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He's also reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait's border with Iraq. His true-crime freelance work has appeared in The New York Times, The Telegraph (London, U.K.), Reader’s Digest, Penthouse, Marie Claire and The South China Morning Post, (Hong Kong). He has written more than 20 crime fiction thrillers that have been published in nearly 30 countries.
His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Louise Penny, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Lisa Unger, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.
The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”
Series:
* Tom Reed and Walt Sydowski
* Jason Wade
* Jack Gannon
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2003): Blood of Others
His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Louise Penny, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Lisa Unger, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper.
The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.”
Series:
* Tom Reed and Walt Sydowski
* Jason Wade
* Jack Gannon
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2003): Blood of Others
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
February 4, 2023
A fantastic thriller with Jack Gannon right on the heels of one sensational story! His coworkers at his new job working for the World Press Alliance (WPA) in NYC aren't doing him any favors, either. There is a lot of back-biting, jealousy, and sabotaging going on in the midst of him just trying to do the job his boss sent him to do. However, he keeps his eye on the prize and goes about doing what he was hired to do - reporting the story first and accurately.
The plot is a rollercoaster of horrific events at the hands of a very educated, focused and passionate psychopath. Rick Mofina consistently puts out super-charged and pause-resisting hits!
The plot is a rollercoaster of horrific events at the hands of a very educated, focused and passionate psychopath. Rick Mofina consistently puts out super-charged and pause-resisting hits!
March 6, 2016
Oh yeah this is much more like it. If the first Jack Gannon book was a little slow, for this one Mofina has got it in overdrive and put the foot down. Jack Gannon crosses continents on the trail of a story that starts in Rio with the deaths of 2 WPA journalists. In other parts of the world a whole bunch of other weird stuff is happening.
Its a complex and satisfying plot that uncovers a conspiracy so frightening as to be unthinkable. Can Jack and his unofficial CIA 'partner' stop it in time. A real page-turner and highly enjoyable
Its a complex and satisfying plot that uncovers a conspiracy so frightening as to be unthinkable. Can Jack and his unofficial CIA 'partner' stop it in time. A real page-turner and highly enjoyable
February 9, 2013
Too much about a mom and her son, but a lot of good drama around that. The rating would be higher had Mofina emphasized that part less. 7 of 10 stars
March 26, 2019
A crazy dash around the world
This is the second book in the Jack Gannon series about an investigative reporter. The first book VENGEANCE ROAD was a five star read to me.
This one I would rate at 3 1/2 stars if I could. It was just TOO much. The story goes from Wyoming to NYC to Rio de Janeiro to China...and the list goes on. Jack Gannon got his dream job. He's now an investigative reporter for The World Press Alliance (WPA), one of the world’s largest news wire services, operating a bureau in every major U.S. city, and two hundred bureaus in seventy-five countries (I think they made a good start hitting a lot of those countries in this suspense tale).
Jack gets sent to Rio to cover a bombing and he ends up dealing with a whole gamut of bad guys and literally chases all over the world for his story.
The tale was fast-paced but very convoluted. And I hung on all the way through until the ending sequences, which were unjustly rushed after all that went before IMO.
I'm still going to read the next book in the series next IN DESPERATION because author Mofina has written other great books I've read. Here's hoping...
This is the second book in the Jack Gannon series about an investigative reporter. The first book VENGEANCE ROAD was a five star read to me.
This one I would rate at 3 1/2 stars if I could. It was just TOO much. The story goes from Wyoming to NYC to Rio de Janeiro to China...and the list goes on. Jack Gannon got his dream job. He's now an investigative reporter for The World Press Alliance (WPA), one of the world’s largest news wire services, operating a bureau in every major U.S. city, and two hundred bureaus in seventy-five countries (I think they made a good start hitting a lot of those countries in this suspense tale).
Jack gets sent to Rio to cover a bombing and he ends up dealing with a whole gamut of bad guys and literally chases all over the world for his story.
The tale was fast-paced but very convoluted. And I hung on all the way through until the ending sequences, which were unjustly rushed after all that went before IMO.
I'm still going to read the next book in the series next IN DESPERATION because author Mofina has written other great books I've read. Here's hoping...
May 1, 2022
My 3 star rating is not really a reflection of the book but more that there were too many storylines going on at once for my taste. It was good, just not really my thing.
January 19, 2024
I found the books about Tom Reed and Walt Sydowski for free on Audible. I really liked that series. The books about Jack Gannon are free to listen to Audible at the moment.
I did listen to the first book about Jack Gannon but it's not necessary. You can listen to this book as a stand alone.
There are several plots that all come together in the end of the story. It would have been easier to read the book.
I used to take care of patients with infectious diseases when I worked as an RN so of course I liked the story :)
We don't need an evil genius... According to CDC 35 000 people die in the US from infections that can no longer be treated with the antibiotics we have! Sulfa and Penicillin has been available for less than 100 years.
I find both Jack and Emma annoying! Jack has information that would help catch the bad guys but he cares more about his story! Emma keeps repeating things instead of telling the police what she knows. She has the chance to record what someone is telling her but she doesn't. I liked Jack more in the first book.
I did listen to the first book about Jack Gannon but it's not necessary. You can listen to this book as a stand alone.
There are several plots that all come together in the end of the story. It would have been easier to read the book.
I used to take care of patients with infectious diseases when I worked as an RN so of course I liked the story :)
We don't need an evil genius... According to CDC 35 000 people die in the US from infections that can no longer be treated with the antibiotics we have! Sulfa and Penicillin has been available for less than 100 years.
I find both Jack and Emma annoying! Jack has information that would help catch the bad guys but he cares more about his story! Emma keeps repeating things instead of telling the police what she knows. She has the chance to record what someone is telling her but she doesn't. I liked Jack more in the first book.
July 3, 2018
Excellent!
February 9, 2015
The second in series of Jack Gannon books from author Rick Mofina, "The Panic Zone" is a very complex story line of moving parts. Gannon a reporter formerly from Buffalo now works in World Press Associates (WPA) headquarters stationed in NYC. The boss sends Gannon to Brazil to follow up on a story about a bomb blast which killed an associate of WPA and was growing. Gannon runs into every possible wall of stone keeping him away from vital information. Meanwhile in Wyoming, Emma and Joe Lane are out driving with their infant son in the back, are involved with a head on auto collision. Joe is killed. Emma barely hurt, is told her baby Tyler completely burned up in crash. Emma knows she saw someone take Tyler out of crash before passing out. The story line from this novel gets very complicated. It's moving parts are in the Bahamas, London, Virginia, Onterio, California, as well as Wyoming and Brazil. Several other locations are in play which made it difficult to keep track of who was where. The novel is packed with a lot of scientific jargon and properties in it. The science was too much for me. I did a lot of skimming in several areas. Not the best of my school subjects. It also bogged the story down to a crawl several times. The parts of the novel dealing with Emma, and Gannon were great. The whole "Crucible" project, and file 91 with the mad scientist Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff were a bit too much. I thought the characters were great. Very well developed and nicely placed throughout with some great dialog. The last 50 pages of book went very quickly for a conclusion that was a real bang. Overall it was a pretty good book to read. Rick Mofina is one of my favorite authors. This is also the second Gannon book I've read. (First one was better). Hopefully the third is more of a direct story. I gave "The Panic Zone" 3 stars out of possible 5 stars. It really could be a 3.25-3.50 star book. But having to skim and being turned off with too much science kept this one down to a 3 star. Do yourself a favor and don't miss out on Rick Mofina's books. They are for the most part, excellent. Check them out- you won't be sorry, he's a great storyteller.
April 9, 2022
This is one of Rick Mofina’s earlier books, written about ten years ago. What is true now was definitely apparent then: you cannot go wrong reading one of his books.
Although the novel start a bit slowly, with two seemingly unrelated in incidents it dies take not long for the reader to be swept away by exciting events in the novel.
First thread: Jack Gannon, a reporter for a national news wire service ( remember them?) is sent to Brazil to help cover the abduction and deaths of two wire service reporters. Gannon, who has been struggling to make an impact in New York City, looks upon the assignment in Brazil as his last change to stay in the big city. In Rio, where Gannon is not welcomed, he manages to run afoul of the police , it continues to follow a few scant leads, casing him to attracted unwanted attention from the narco gangs suspected of the murders.
Second thread: a young married couple are driving along a country road near their Wyoming home. Suddenly an oncoming vehicle swerves across the road. The passenger car in run off the road , the young husband is killed, his wife , Emma, is thrown form the car, he child is alive strapped in a car seat. Laying stunned beside the road, Emma watchers in horror as the car erupts in flames . She dees her dead husband in the fire. She sees- or thinks she sees, someone go to the car , take her crying baby, get into the other car and drive away.Then she faints.
How do these disparate threads come together. Excitingly, desperately and dangerously for Gannon, Emma and even the President of the US. “ The Panic Zone” is an early book in the many fine books in the Rick Mofina library, but it shows the skill he has as an author. Taut story- telling, great characters, exciting climaxes all,here for the reader to enjoy.
Recommended . Nothing objectionable as to content usual in this genre of crime thriller.
she
Although the novel start a bit slowly, with two seemingly unrelated in incidents it dies take not long for the reader to be swept away by exciting events in the novel.
First thread: Jack Gannon, a reporter for a national news wire service ( remember them?) is sent to Brazil to help cover the abduction and deaths of two wire service reporters. Gannon, who has been struggling to make an impact in New York City, looks upon the assignment in Brazil as his last change to stay in the big city. In Rio, where Gannon is not welcomed, he manages to run afoul of the police , it continues to follow a few scant leads, casing him to attracted unwanted attention from the narco gangs suspected of the murders.
Second thread: a young married couple are driving along a country road near their Wyoming home. Suddenly an oncoming vehicle swerves across the road. The passenger car in run off the road , the young husband is killed, his wife , Emma, is thrown form the car, he child is alive strapped in a car seat. Laying stunned beside the road, Emma watchers in horror as the car erupts in flames . She dees her dead husband in the fire. She sees- or thinks she sees, someone go to the car , take her crying baby, get into the other car and drive away.Then she faints.
How do these disparate threads come together. Excitingly, desperately and dangerously for Gannon, Emma and even the President of the US. “ The Panic Zone” is an early book in the many fine books in the Rick Mofina library, but it shows the skill he has as an author. Taut story- telling, great characters, exciting climaxes all,here for the reader to enjoy.
Recommended . Nothing objectionable as to content usual in this genre of crime thriller.
she
January 16, 2012
They say her baby is dead, but she refuses to believe it. His co-workers say he is inexperienced, but he is going to prove them wrong.
Emma Lane has finally achieved complete happiness. She's deeply in love with her husband Joe, and together they have an infant son, Tyler. Joe's been working a lot of hours lately, so when they get some free time, they decide to have a family picnic. But on the way, a car swerves in their lane and their SUV crashes. Emma and Joe are tossed from the vehicle, and Joe is dying. But Emma, through her haze of pain, sees someone take Tyler from the crushed vehicle, where he is strapped in his seat. No one believes Emma that her son is alive, but she is determined to find him.
Jack Gannon needs a break. He is a journalist and his boss is sending him to Rio De Janeiro to investigate a café bombing that took the lives of two of their own. The local police force claim the bombing is tied to a narcotics gang war, but Jack digs deeper and soon finds himself travelling across the globe, not only for the story but for the truth.
An ex-CIA scientist has vanished. But when a middle age man drops dead unexpectedly on a cruise ship with odd causes, top scientists fear their old research is back to haunt them. But, what they do not know is that their old colleague has been performing clinical trials for years now and is about to go public in a big way.
THE PANIC ZONE is a thriller of magnificent proportions. Rick Mofina sets the stage and deftly builds and weaves the stories together until they all merge into one horrifying and plausible explanation that has the reader sitting on the edge of their seat. A top-notch suspense!
Emma Lane has finally achieved complete happiness. She's deeply in love with her husband Joe, and together they have an infant son, Tyler. Joe's been working a lot of hours lately, so when they get some free time, they decide to have a family picnic. But on the way, a car swerves in their lane and their SUV crashes. Emma and Joe are tossed from the vehicle, and Joe is dying. But Emma, through her haze of pain, sees someone take Tyler from the crushed vehicle, where he is strapped in his seat. No one believes Emma that her son is alive, but she is determined to find him.
Jack Gannon needs a break. He is a journalist and his boss is sending him to Rio De Janeiro to investigate a café bombing that took the lives of two of their own. The local police force claim the bombing is tied to a narcotics gang war, but Jack digs deeper and soon finds himself travelling across the globe, not only for the story but for the truth.
An ex-CIA scientist has vanished. But when a middle age man drops dead unexpectedly on a cruise ship with odd causes, top scientists fear their old research is back to haunt them. But, what they do not know is that their old colleague has been performing clinical trials for years now and is about to go public in a big way.
THE PANIC ZONE is a thriller of magnificent proportions. Rick Mofina sets the stage and deftly builds and weaves the stories together until they all merge into one horrifying and plausible explanation that has the reader sitting on the edge of their seat. A top-notch suspense!
February 6, 2023
I found Rick Mofina's Panic Zone to be a very memorable book. I started reading it before the pandemic hit, things got insanely crazy for me then, but every time I picked up Panic Zone, I picked up right where I left off.
The characters are memorable and believable. If life interrupts you and it takes some time for you to read a whole book then this is the book for you. Action filled, and easy to follow the characters and plot.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars because the story line stays with you for a very long time.
The characters are memorable and believable. If life interrupts you and it takes some time for you to read a whole book then this is the book for you. Action filled, and easy to follow the characters and plot.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars because the story line stays with you for a very long time.
September 24, 2022
This story roped me in from the beginning. I did get irritated with the authorities not believing the young mother, over and over again. I kept thinking that couldn’t happen. But I took the leap of faith that they were convinced she was too traumatized to know what she saw. For a good part of the book, there are three story lines. Then they slowly merge. It’s a nail biter. If you can suspend belief for a while, you’ll enjoy the read.
January 11, 2018
Overpopulation...mad scientist...let's take care of that situation! I have heard this scenario before, yet this was very well handled. The delivery system for the anti-population solvent was a horrifying addition. The further into the novel the reader gets, the harder it is to put down because the action is just moving like a tidal wave. Really good
October 2, 2018
Edge of your seat thriller
It's a fast paced story that has your heart racing till the end. A diabolical plot created by an insane scientist has reporter Jack Gannon involved in a story of twists and turns.
It's a fast paced story that has your heart racing till the end. A diabolical plot created by an insane scientist has reporter Jack Gannon involved in a story of twists and turns.
April 26, 2022
Quite the web
Mr. Mofina has once again taken us on an elaborate ride around the country and the world unraveling an intricate plot to change history. I wasn’t sure he could pull all of the threads together until he did.
Mr. Mofina has once again taken us on an elaborate ride around the country and the world unraveling an intricate plot to change history. I wasn’t sure he could pull all of the threads together until he did.
May 22, 2022
Fast paced, interesting story. It a great example of how investigative journalists research their stories.
November 28, 2022
Great read fast moving interesting topic
May 2, 2023
Really really like this series and jack gannon!
November 26, 2017
While this is the first book of Mofina's that I've read, it was the second thriller focused on child abductions that I started at the end of September, the other being Ridley Pearson's 'The Pied Piper'. Although I didn't intentionally choose to read 2 books with similar plots at the same time, it provided an opportunity for comparison, and I ended up liking this one much more, which will likely lead to me reading more of Mofina's books should I come across them. Where the children in 'The Pied Piper' are taken to be released into the black market of the adoption industry, in 'The Panic Zone', the kidnappings become just one series of events in a worldwide terrorism plot.
The focus of this book is on Jack Gannon, a news reporter disgraced at his former job in Buffalo (I suspect this is the result of the events of the first book in the series) who lands at the World Press Alliance at the request of one of the few people who believe in him after Buffalo. He has a knack for getting to the bottom of a story and being fearless, and a bit reckless, in his pursuit, so when a bombing in Brazil kills 2 members of the WPA bureau who may have been on the way to meet a source for an unknown, but reportedly big, story, Gannon is sent there to figure out what he can about the bombing. As the story unravels, the leads take Gannon to 4 continents, putting him into potential danger at every turn.
Meanwhile, Mofina pursues 2 other stories that eventually feed into the Gannon plotline. First, young mother Emma Lane survives a fiery car crash that kills her husband, Joe, and baby, Tyler. While she was next to Joe in the wreckage and feels his life slip away, she is convinced that someone pulled her baby out, but everyone she talks to chalks it up to trauma-induced hallucination and survivor's guilt. Readers are also introduced to Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff, a former government scientist concerned with the impact of human population growth on Earth's natural resources. After leaving the government due to a disagreement over the use of human subjects for her experiments, Sutsoff goes rogue and continues her experiments in secret, with a master plan to produce via nanotechnology an agent that, when activated, can selectively reduce the population with 100% accuracy.
I enjoyed how Mofina wove all the stories together. For me, the most interesting was the Sutsoff plot simply because enjoy medical thrillers and the doomsday scenarios that authors come up with to sicken or kill our fellow man, but there was plenty of intrigue in all of them. Unlike 'The Pied Piper,' which I felt followed a very formulaic plot, 'The Panic Zone' took many twists and turns, particularly in Gannon's investigation of the bombing and related events that left me guessing until the very end.
The focus of this book is on Jack Gannon, a news reporter disgraced at his former job in Buffalo (I suspect this is the result of the events of the first book in the series) who lands at the World Press Alliance at the request of one of the few people who believe in him after Buffalo. He has a knack for getting to the bottom of a story and being fearless, and a bit reckless, in his pursuit, so when a bombing in Brazil kills 2 members of the WPA bureau who may have been on the way to meet a source for an unknown, but reportedly big, story, Gannon is sent there to figure out what he can about the bombing. As the story unravels, the leads take Gannon to 4 continents, putting him into potential danger at every turn.
Meanwhile, Mofina pursues 2 other stories that eventually feed into the Gannon plotline. First, young mother Emma Lane survives a fiery car crash that kills her husband, Joe, and baby, Tyler. While she was next to Joe in the wreckage and feels his life slip away, she is convinced that someone pulled her baby out, but everyone she talks to chalks it up to trauma-induced hallucination and survivor's guilt. Readers are also introduced to Dr. Gretchen Sutsoff, a former government scientist concerned with the impact of human population growth on Earth's natural resources. After leaving the government due to a disagreement over the use of human subjects for her experiments, Sutsoff goes rogue and continues her experiments in secret, with a master plan to produce via nanotechnology an agent that, when activated, can selectively reduce the population with 100% accuracy.
I enjoyed how Mofina wove all the stories together. For me, the most interesting was the Sutsoff plot simply because enjoy medical thrillers and the doomsday scenarios that authors come up with to sicken or kill our fellow man, but there was plenty of intrigue in all of them. Unlike 'The Pied Piper,' which I felt followed a very formulaic plot, 'The Panic Zone' took many twists and turns, particularly in Gannon's investigation of the bombing and related events that left me guessing until the very end.
March 7, 2020
Η Ζώνη Του Πανικού αποτελείται αρχικά από τρεις σημαντικές υποθέσεις-ιστορίες, οι οποίες εκτυλίσσονται παράλληλα και, ενώ στην αρχή φαίνεται να είναι άσχετες μεταξύ τους, δένονται με έναν υπέροχο τρόπο σε ένα κύκλωμα εμπορίας παιδιών, δολοφονιών και εργαστηριακά σχεδιασμένων παθογόνων ιών που οδηγεί σε ένα, συνομοσιολογικού επιπέδου, σχέδιο για την ελάττωση του πληθυσμού της γης. Όσο φανταστική και αν φαίνεται στην σύλληψη η ιδέα του βιβλίου, στην πράξη δίνεται με έναν ρεαλιστικό και πιστευτό τρόπο.
Στην ιστορία θίγονται και διάφορα ζητήματα, όπως ο υπερπληθυσμός, τα πειράματα που γίνονται στον κόσμο εν άγνοια του, ακόμα και η ψυχική νόσος, χωρίς να "βαραίνει" ιδιαίτερα βέβαια το σενάριο. Εξάλλου πρόκειται για αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα αγωνίας.
Τα μόνα αρνητικά που έχω να προσάψω, είναι πρώτον η δομή του βιβλίου στην αρχή, που τρέχουν παράλληλα οι ιστορίες μας, και τυχαίνει να έχουμε από κεφάλαιο σε κεφάλαιο μεταπτώσεις από μέρος σε μέρος και από ομάδα χαρακτήρων σε ομάδα χαρακτήρων, κάτι που μπορεί να μπερδέψει σε μερικά σημεία και δεύτερον το τέλος που δίνει την εντύπωση ότι έχει γραφτεί κάπως βεβιασμένα σε σύγκριση με το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο που έχει έναν πολύ καλό ρυθμό.
Στην ιστορία θίγονται και διάφορα ζητήματα, όπως ο υπερπληθυσμός, τα πειράματα που γίνονται στον κόσμο εν άγνοια του, ακόμα και η ψυχική νόσος, χωρίς να "βαραίνει" ιδιαίτερα βέβαια το σενάριο. Εξάλλου πρόκειται για αστυνομικό μυθιστόρημα αγωνίας.
Τα μόνα αρνητικά που έχω να προσάψω, είναι πρώτον η δομή του βιβλίου στην αρχή, που τρέχουν παράλληλα οι ιστορίες μας, και τυχαίνει να έχουμε από κεφάλαιο σε κεφάλαιο μεταπτώσεις από μέρος σε μέρος και από ομάδα χαρακτήρων σε ομάδα χαρακτήρων, κάτι που μπορεί να μπερδέψει σε μερικά σημεία και δεύτερον το τέλος που δίνει την εντύπωση ότι έχει γραφτεί κάπως βεβιασμένα σε σύγκριση με το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο που έχει έναν πολύ καλό ρυθμό.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2023
DNF, abandoned on p. 272 which is longer than this book deserved.
Overpopulated with characters, the author has an annoying habit of referring to them in equal amounts by their first and last names. He does this with most of the characters, making it much more difficult to try to keep track of them than need be.
A former journalist, the author's main protagonist is Jack Gannon, intrepid reporter. Jack is a surly, rude, stereotypical loud mouthed American, who, upon being rescued on the verge of torture, in a foreign country no less, immediately becomes belligerent towards his rescuer. The plot is full of improbable scenarios such as this, accompanied by cheesy dialogue.
Additionally, the author writes in choppy sentences, one word paragraphs, and short chapters broken into small sections. The flow of the story is completely disrupted by this approach.
There are many more things I could fault this novel for, but it would be just more time wasted on this dismal book. It is certainly one worth missing.
Overpopulated with characters, the author has an annoying habit of referring to them in equal amounts by their first and last names. He does this with most of the characters, making it much more difficult to try to keep track of them than need be.
A former journalist, the author's main protagonist is Jack Gannon, intrepid reporter. Jack is a surly, rude, stereotypical loud mouthed American, who, upon being rescued on the verge of torture, in a foreign country no less, immediately becomes belligerent towards his rescuer. The plot is full of improbable scenarios such as this, accompanied by cheesy dialogue.
Additionally, the author writes in choppy sentences, one word paragraphs, and short chapters broken into small sections. The flow of the story is completely disrupted by this approach.
There are many more things I could fault this novel for, but it would be just more time wasted on this dismal book. It is certainly one worth missing.
July 10, 2022
I really like this author. That said, I almost stopped reading this book because I just couldn't see how the very diverse story lines came together. Oh, but when they did, I couldn't put it down!
Jack Gannon is a newspaper reporter with a major news agency in NYC. His first assignment with them is to cover the bombing of a cafe in Rio de Janiero in which two of his colleagues were killed.
Meanwhile in Wyoming, a young wife, her husband and baby are in a horrific accident that left her husband dead. She swears she saw someone rescue her baby before their car burst into flames, but everyone from law officials to her relatives to the medical community thinks she's suffering from PSTD.
Jack grabs onto the fragile leads he has and seeks out the truth, even if it means being beaten twice in two different countries. He eventually pulls all the threads together and when he does, this becomes a can't-put-down book.
Jack Gannon is a newspaper reporter with a major news agency in NYC. His first assignment with them is to cover the bombing of a cafe in Rio de Janiero in which two of his colleagues were killed.
Meanwhile in Wyoming, a young wife, her husband and baby are in a horrific accident that left her husband dead. She swears she saw someone rescue her baby before their car burst into flames, but everyone from law officials to her relatives to the medical community thinks she's suffering from PSTD.
Jack grabs onto the fragile leads he has and seeks out the truth, even if it means being beaten twice in two different countries. He eventually pulls all the threads together and when he does, this becomes a can't-put-down book.
January 22, 2025
Second in the Jack Gannon series, and not a book you want to pick up if you're looking for a leisurely read. This is a true thriller with hints at what could happen in today's world. Look at what Israel did recently with cell phones that killed or maimed hundreds of their enemies in the Middle East. Now think bigger: think of killing hundreds of thousands of people without any way to stop the deaths that might accrue. Then think about what you would do if you child was somehow involved, but no one believed you.
There you have it: little hints about what makes this book a can't-put-down tale. Enjoy, but be prepared to stay up until you get to the last page, particularly if you don't start it until well past sunrise.
There you have it: little hints about what makes this book a can't-put-down tale. Enjoy, but be prepared to stay up until you get to the last page, particularly if you don't start it until well past sunrise.
December 9, 2018
A terrible car accident in Wyoming, a missing child in China, and a cafe explosion in Rio. Random acts or somehow connected ... and how and why? Jack Gannon is sent to Rio to assist in the investigation and coverage of the cafe explosion where two employees of the World Press Alliance news group have been killed. What he begins to suspect once he starts digging could be much more complex. To complicate his investigation and theory, though, is that many at the WPA still don't trust his investigative skills. This is a story following numerous side stories that culminate into a climatic rush to the finish.
August 10, 2020
Whoa! I picked this book up yesterday evening and fell asleep reading but was up before 6 to continue! Talk about a roller coaster ride of a medical thriller, this was excellent! A very fast paced book, with great character development & a complicated premise. A young family in Wyoming is involved in a roll-over "accident." The father is killed, the mother is thrown from the car but she can hear her baby in the car seat, crying. In another part of the world, a bomb goes off in a cafe in Rio, killing 2 journalists. How does this connect with a scientist working on weaponizing a virus in the Caribbean? Mofina does a great job of weaving the connections together.
October 14, 2024
If I hadn’t just read Whirlwind (published 2010), I might have rated this higher. I finished it and two days later started this book (published in 2014). Both were written by Mofina.
Similarities: Reporter at a new job. One of the bosses undercuts the main character. The main characters lost a sibling and hope to find him/her someday. Both reporters are orphans. A mother who loses her child in a tornado or a car accident, but is sure the child is out there somewhere. Child trafficking, fertility clinic—you get the idea.
I feel this is very lazy on the part of the author. My advice is only read one of them.
Similarities: Reporter at a new job. One of the bosses undercuts the main character. The main characters lost a sibling and hope to find him/her someday. Both reporters are orphans. A mother who loses her child in a tornado or a car accident, but is sure the child is out there somewhere. Child trafficking, fertility clinic—you get the idea.
I feel this is very lazy on the part of the author. My advice is only read one of them.
December 11, 2019
I liked this book... big fan of Rick Mofina. My only problem with this book was the scientific aspect, but I do realize that it was necessary for the plot of the book. I liked the characters especially Jack Gannon. I didn’t want to be in his shoes at certain times within the book, but I will give him credit for sticking with a story no matter what.
The ending was the most climatic part of the book, filled with so much action and of course a happy ending. Happy to see baby Tyler back with his mom Emma.
The ending was the most climatic part of the book, filled with so much action and of course a happy ending. Happy to see baby Tyler back with his mom Emma.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2020
3 1/2-4 stars. Book #2 in Mofina's Jack Gannon thrillers, this was perhaps not the best choice of book to read during a world wide pandemic. Gannon gets sent to Rio to cover the story about the death of two journalists in a cafe bombing and soon that story leads him to something more complicated. There are several story lines that seem separate but merge into the big story line about a plot to kill many people set in place by a mad scientist. Not as good as some of his other reads, but not a bad little read all in all.
May 24, 2021
This book started off slow, it got better once I got to page 150. A lot of characters in this book so it was somewhat hard to follow at times. It was slightly creepy to me that this virus was being retrieved from bats and we’re in the pandemic over something somewhat similar. All in all I felt the book started off great in the first chapter but dropped off and then picked back up. But it was a little predictable. I find that Rick’s stand alone books are more page turners than this series is going.
May 13, 2024
Jack Gannon is sent to Rio de Genario to meet with a colleague regarding a story she is checking on. Before he can get there a bombing in the Cafe where she was to meet her contact goes off killing her, her photographer and 14 other people in the Cafe. Papers Jack finds at the bomb site suggest that a law firm is involved with kidnapped children and illegal adoptions.
Following the story takes Jack from Rio to New York, the Bahamas, London, Africa in the search of the truth that is looking more and more threatening.
The story is fast paced and keeps you on edge to the last page.
Following the story takes Jack from Rio to New York, the Bahamas, London, Africa in the search of the truth that is looking more and more threatening.
The story is fast paced and keeps you on edge to the last page.
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