Rent: Absolute Fear

I guess it somewhat requires suspension of belief, but then do all the paranormal books I read. I like to read to be entertained and I was by this book, but I guess I just like the author.

Loved this book-for a good mystery pick up a Lisa Jackson book.she's right up there with the best of them.

I have not read any of the other Lisa Jackson books in this series, so I was new to everything, the characters, the mental hospital. I picked this book up just because I have heard Lisa Jackson is a good author and I decided to give her a try. I started the book and could not put it down. I read it in a day. True I was a little disgusted at the "soap operish" conclusion of everyone turning out to be related to each other and yes I thought both Kristi and Eve were very stupid to roam around the hospital at night, but in real life there are people out there who are like that - look at the people who don't lock their car doors or make sure windows and doors are locked at night or who jog at 3 am in cities where rape and murder are prevelant. It does happen. The story kept me turning the pages and not wanting to put the book down to find out how things turned out in the end so with this reader - the author accomplished what she set out to do. The book was bought, was read and I have now started my search for her other books.

Eve Renner has been living a nightmare for the past three months. Her friend was killed, she was shot and believes her fiancé, Cole Dennis, is responsible. Fighting to regain her memory (she only remembers bits and pieces about what happened that night) and her life, Eve must determine the truth. As people around her start dying, all she knows for sure is that the events are connected and appear to be related to the closed asylum, Our Lady of Virtues Mental Hospital. As the story unfolds, and the truth revealed, we see that all is more complicated that it initially appeared.

There are several things that made this an interesting read.....there's a psychopathic killer, who calls himself the "Reviver", who tattoos himself and his victims ( and who believes that "God is speaking to him"); a lot of killing; some entertaining Detectives (Montoya & Bentz); a decent mystery and some shocking twists and turns. There is also romance, violence, suspense and drama. There is everything you need to make this a decent story and an entertaining read.

However, there were a few issues that I will mention about the story: (1) I wondered why Cole was so prominent throughout most of the novel (even figured out most of the mystery before the police) and then was barely mentioned towards the end. He was not really the hero, just part of a group of heroes. (2) There was mention of some phantom "sperm" (once) and the explanation that was given at the end was a tad bit far fetched. It seemed a little "thrown in there". And (3) maybe you have to read the other books to really understand some of the characters and where they are coming from. For example, I didn't really know the whole Bentz storyline or anything about his deceased brother who was a priest; so when they started weaving that into the storyline, I felt like I really needed to read some of the other books to really understand it.

But with all that said, I really enjoyed this story and look forward to reading the sequel!

"I'm livin' a soap opera," drawls Eve under her breath, as she descends the stairs to greet her lover, who is slaving over a hot skillet of bacon for their reunion breakfast. And Absolute Fear is a soap opera of a book, lengthy, repetitive, and so predictable. Incredibly sexy Eve, barely recovered from a terrifying murder attempt, hasn't the sense to 1) stay away from danger and let the police do their work, 2) stay away from the impossibly hunky Cole, whom she thinks may have tried to kill her, 3) stay away from the creepy abandoned psycho hospital where she grew up. The cops on the case, barely a year after another serial killer situation at the same institution, can't seem to hook up the clues that are screamingly obvious. Why they didn't raze that place after the first round is the biggest mystery in this clunker.