Monday, April 28, 2014

Fear has a Name by Creston Mapes [2 stars]

Fear has a Name by Creston Mapes
From back cover:
It was more than a break-in. More than a stalking. It was personal. When a stalker targets his wife and two daughters, journalist Jack Crittendon must uncover who the person is and what his motives are-if he is to protect the ones he loves. The investigation leads Crittendon into a world of behind-the-closed-door secrets and faith gone awry, as does his story on a missing pastor, whose apparent suicide is more than it appears.

Each move Crittendon makes weaves him tighter and tighter into a web of lies, greed, hypocrisy, sin, and danger. He believed he'd never give in to fear and the hate it leads to. But that was before. And holding on to his faith won't be easy. Nor will keeping his family safe and ending the terror. Because that might require him to step over lines he said he would never cross.

Much of the beginning chapters were spent with the author going on and on about how perfect Jack's life is. He has the perfect wife, the perfect kids, he lives in the perfect town and has the perfect job. Everything is just too perfect. No annoying co-worker, no crazy barking dog next door, nothing to relate the reader to the characters, no real reason for me to really care about them and their well-being. I felt as though the author spent WAY too much time going on and on about details that really weren't important. Such as pages and pages describing the town Pam grew up in, the kids playing outside, all the shops she passes as she's driving around.

This book is categorized as a suspense/thriller, I really didn't find this book to be suspenseful or thrilling at all.
I found the secondary characters to be more interesting than the main characters.

The more I read about the villain, I felt more pity toward him than anything else. He's the only character with some back story. I'm not supposed to feel sorry for the bad guy! I'm supposed to not like him! You can't take him seriously as a villain because everyone knows he's just making a bunch of empty threats.

Evan was the only somewhat interesting character. He was the only person who had some depth.

The ending was just okay, but not good enough to make up for what was lacking in the rest of the book. Sadly, I would not recommend this book and I don't think I would bother reading the next book in the series.