There are plenty of times when you pick up a book to check the blurbs and think, “Yeah right. Aren’t they all the best thing since the last best seller?” But when I picked this up and saw Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, and Lee Child blurb the book, I thought maybe this would live up to its self-professed hype. And by all means it has. Panic by Jeff Abbott (Do Unto Others, The Only Good Yankee, Promises Of Home, Distant Blood, A Kiss Gone Bad, Black Jack Point, Cut and Run) is one really interesting thrill ride of a book.

It’s almost a cliché to say that a particular book grabs you from the start and never lets go. But, in this case, Panic truly grabbed me from the very first page. Totally hooked right from the start.

“The phone awoke Evan Casher, and he knew something was wrong. No one ever called him this early. He opened his eyes. He reached across the bed for Carrie but she was gone, and her side of the bed was cool. A note, folded, on the pillow. He reached for it but the phone continued its insistent shrill, so he answered.

‘Hello.’

His mother said, ‘Evan I need you to come home right now.’

‘What’s the matter?’

‘Not over the phone. I’ll explain when you get here.’

‘Mom, get real, it’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive. Just tell me what’s wrong.’

‘Evan. Please. Just come home.’

‘Is dad all right?’

‘I just need you here, okay?’

‘Mom, please. Not until you tell me what’s going on.’

‘I said not over the phone.’”

This is just one top-notch thriller. Great book.