April
30
Afraid by Jack Kilborn
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Click to buy Paperback: 9780446535939, $6.99
- Governmental experimentation on U.S. citizens is nothing new (in the fictional world). In Afraid, the debut from Jack Kilborn (alias of JA Konrath, author of the excellent “Jack” Daniels mystery series) the products of these experimentation, an elite, psychotic team tagged “Red-ops” have crash landed in the small U.S. town of safe haven. Worse than the thought of deranged, programed killers carrying out orders on a town of innocent people is the thought that they might not have landed on accident.
- Compared to his other work, Afraid is just as brutal, but the tension is less over the top and nail biting and more of a complex reveal, not slow, but building on itself in levels until the full depth of the situation (and the plot) is realized. There is less humor involved, almost because there isn’t time for the characters to begin to adjust to facing their own, painful, deaths and get cynical.
- Kilborn makes a solid showing in the horror/thriller genre with a tale that’s genuine and engaging enough to keep people reading, but neither over the top, or stodgy with attempts to build up the characters to make the audience sympathize with their plight.
- Fans of David Morrell and Michael Crichton should take note, Kilborn is capable of holding his own against thriller veterans, delivering a solid, tension filled book that rates high on the readibility scale.