Ordinarily you would never expect me to want to read a book with that title. Ordinarily I would never expect to want to read a book with that title. But it had been recommended to me by a reader I respect.

Despite my initial doubts, Every Last Fear, by the pseudonymous Alex Finlay, turned out to be worth reading, at least in the sense that it’s unputdownable. Plot is strong, pace rapid, settings interesting, dialog snappy, character development…well, yes, what about character development? Characters are mostly likable, but their development is weak. Of course YMMV. In any case, there is definitely a lot of suspense.

If you like stories with plot twists, this is for you. If you need to pigeonhole it in a genre, you’d have to say that it’s somewhere in between a thriller and a mystery. Potentially confusing flashbacks and varying viewpoint characters are kept crisply delineated by signaling names and relative timing at the beginnings of chapters.

All in all, you can’t call it literature. But you can call it an enjoyable mystery. Or thriller. Or whatever.

Categories: Books