Panic: Summary and book reviews of Panic by Jeff Abbott, plus links to an excerpt from Panic and a biography of Jeff Abbott.

What if everything in your life was a lie? Things are going well for 24 year-old Evan Casher: his career as a documentary filmmaker is booming and his relationship with his new girlfriend, Carrie, couldn't be better. After an urgent phone call from his mother, he makes an unexpected trip home to Austin. Then the unthinkable happens. He arrives to find his mother brutally murdered, and narrowly escapes an attempt on his own life. Spirited away from the scene by an enigmatic mercenary with an agenda of his own, Evan is confronted with a shocking fact: his entire life has been little more than a carefully constructed lie. Pursued by a powerful, ruthless organization of killers who will stop at nothing to keep old secrets buried, Evan's only hope for survival is to uncover the truth about his family...and his own past. With his mother's attackers fast on his heels and with no one to trust—not the authorities, his father, nor the woman he loves—his perilous search takes him from the Texas Hill Country to New Orleans, to London, and to Miami. Full of unforgettable characters and jolting plot twists, Panic is an emotionally charged, heart-stopping thriller about one man's determination to take back his stolen life.

Media Reviews

Library Journal - Jeff Ayers Abbott's writing style evokes unease from the start, which makes for a tense and intriguing read. Readers should indeed panic. Recommended for all fiction collections.   Publishers Weekly Abbott has fashioned another burst of white-knuckled suspense that's extremely hard to put down.   Booklist - David Wright Starred Review. Those who disparage page-turners seldom appreciate what it takes to pull off a really good one, such as Abbott's engrossing hardcover debut, which follows a string of hardboiled paperback originals. Harlan Coben A sleek, smart thriller that combines a family tragedy, international intrigue, and the redemptive power of love into one of this year's best books. There is no question: Jeff Abbott is the new name in suspense. Jan Burke Jeff Abbott has all the ingredients of high suspense in Panic: an ordinary man whose everyday life changes within minutes into an unrecognizable landscape, a place where he is in constant danger and can find no easy way out. Be prepared to stay up all night. Lee Child Panic is Jeff Abbott's best novel yet... an instant classic immediately full of questions--who, what, why, how--that have answers you won't see coming. Michael Connelly Panic is a ride down the roaring rapids. Jeff Abbott has put together a hell of a page turner. Laura Lippman A superb story, a sterling example of why we love stories about ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Don't even try to anticipate the twists and turns in this intelligent thriller -- just hold on tight and remember to breathe. Tony Hillerman Panic is what a reader enjoys when a really talented writer like Jeff Abbott comes up with a fresh and gripping plot. It's even better than his Cut and Run.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Vivienne
Utter tosh
It is hard to think of a more implausible plot than this! The writing style is fine, shame about the content.. As usual, the plucky Americans face down the world... in the real world the CIA/MI5 kill everything that moves... get back into the...   Read More

Rated of 5 by faiz ahmad
jeff abbot-panic
After a long time I really enjoyed the read. I finished it in one sitting on a flight and lives up to its credits as being unputdownable. No doubt like any fiction load it has an impregnable protagonist,it still makes compulsive reading. The early...   Read More

Rated of 5 by jim
Laughable
The initial concept may be intriguing but the plotting, characterization and writing style are strictly comic book. Panic is riddled with howlers and the only area of which the author seems to have any real knowledge is his strictly nerdy...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Gurmy
Gid Book
I have read Panic twice and it is a very exceptional read. :)

Rated of 5 by Christina
panic
This book was sensational. I love it I've read it twice and both times it still amazes me that a filmaker could turn killer and quite a believing liar. It is such athriller, an amazing read really!

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Books with similar themes

• Thrillers
  
• Ordinary People (Thrillers)
  
• USA 
  
• Southwest 
  
• Texas 
  
• Contemporary