[BOOK REVIEW] FEAR BY ROB BLISS

[book review] Fear by Rob Bliss

5/8/2021

All in all, Fear is a gripping book with its secrets and hidden messages that aren’t fully realized until the very end.

FEAR BY ROB BLISS
[a BOOK REVIEW by astrid addams]

Well first of I was not looking forward to putting my thoughts on this book into words and I would struggle to give it a star rating. This is not because it is a bad book, in fact three of the main leads kept me engaged for 500 odd pages. It is just not easy to describe without spoiling the plot and it was not what I expected.


The plot focuses primarily on four main characters that are all connected. One is a secret organisations homicidal operative, the other three are prisoners in an under ground bunker run by the organisation. The plot expands but I don’t want to spoil the fun.


The three prisoners are all fascinating and kept me engaged. The organisations secret agent and his colleagues- well not so much. Bliss somehow managed to write boring psychopathic murderers, I’m not sure how but I suspect it is because they belong to an all powerful organisation and are above the law and the consequences of their actions. Sort of like super villains in a super villain club that can do whatever they want and that just isn’t very interesting. I wanted to see these super villains go down horribly, torn apart by literary dogs. I wanted to see the organisation burn. Things didn’t go as I hoped and this let it down for me, especially at the end. Bliss has a message permeating through Fear, involving War, freedom, the War on Terror, shady manipulation and the shit government agencies get away with to suit their own agenda. I liked this about the novel, but it meant the evil largely lived on without suffering.


I particularly enjoyed the narrative of the female prisoner Stitch and her revenge, I also liked Mahmoud’s narrative and the stories of his experiences. John Doe, whilst his story and the mystery around him was interesting, I felt his hallucinations were predictable. His last hallucination, if it was one however, was beautiful-
‘I love you because I murdered you. We worship those we kill, and who kill us in return.’

Just beautiful but I won’t spoil it for you. Something else I liked was the total lack of romance in the plot.


All in all, Fear is a gripping book with its secrets and hidden messages that aren’t fully realized until the very end. I would have liked to have seen more evil blood being spilt far more horribly, but I understand why it wasn’t. I would have also liked to have seen more rebellion from the three prisoners and a different ending, but I think Bliss went for far realer and more probable actions and reactions to situations.

FEAR BY ROB BLISS

Nurse Stitch has her mouth sewn shut and her memory erased.

John Doe has undergone 'nightmare surgery', his memory also erased, replaced by crippling trauma and delusions.

Mahmoud Farouz is a captured insurgent from Iraq who is going to be used by a special Black Op organization to make America feel fear again.

When these three prisoners of a secret underground torture facility band together to escape, they cannot realize that not only has their torture been orchestrated, but so too will be their path to freedom.