Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2006), 528 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML:As director of an inner-city woman's shelter, Dana Dupinsky safeguards many secrets. Some are new identities; some are new addresses; and some are even hidden truths about herself. Passionately dedicated to Hanover House and the women she protects, Dana has always been reluctant to look for love. But now, just as a case puts her and a child in mortal danger, it seems that love has come looking for her. Security expert Ethan Buchanan learned to stalk men in the Afghan desert. Now he vows to track down the ruthless woman who kidnapped his godson-and falling for Dana is not in the plan. Yet her very presence seems to chase away the ghosts that haunt him, and her skillful evasion of personal questions raises his hunting instincts. For there's a deadly new secret at Hanover House. A brutal killer is weaving a web of revenge with a stolen boy at its center. And Dana is the next victim on the list...… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member SmithSJ01
A well written book which drags you along with it as the adventure escalates. It did take me a considerable amount of time to get into it – I was just starting Chapter 8 (p.116) and was still unsure whether I was interested, gave it another chapter and suddenly became hooked. The only thing I
Other than that, which is always something you can live with, the book is very good. It’s jam-packed with the stuff that makes for an excellent thriller. It is face-paced, once it gets going; a good mixture of characters; different crimes and locations as well as a bit of romance. Judging by the ending I have a feeling if I was to pick up another book by Karen Rose written after this one, that there’ll be reference to one or two of the characters introduced in ‘Nothing to Fear’.
It is always difficult to discuss the plot when reviewing a thriller and therefore I won’t as sufficient information is available on Amazon and other places on the internet. I have two others of hers on my bookshelves and I am looking forward to reading them.
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found confusing was the time frame, I believe it all happens in a week, which is a little bizarre when you get to the end and realise how much has happened. Another downside is I felt I was already meant to know something about the characters although this book isn’t part of a series.Other than that, which is always something you can live with, the book is very good. It’s jam-packed with the stuff that makes for an excellent thriller. It is face-paced, once it gets going; a good mixture of characters; different crimes and locations as well as a bit of romance. Judging by the ending I have a feeling if I was to pick up another book by Karen Rose written after this one, that there’ll be reference to one or two of the characters introduced in ‘Nothing to Fear’.
It is always difficult to discuss the plot when reviewing a thriller and therefore I won’t as sufficient information is available on Amazon and other places on the internet. I have two others of hers on my bookshelves and I am looking forward to reading them.
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LibraryThing member bethmal
As far as who done it books this one is great. One of the few that I did not have a clue. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
Style-wise, this wasn't bad--at least on romance novel terms and it flowed well. It was particular turns of plot that had me give up on it after Chapter Six, 117 pages into this contemporary novel of "romantic suspense." Strike One: at the start of this novel a child is kidnapped, and not only
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don't the parents call the police because of the kidnapper's demands, the friend they bring in who is a security professional goes along with that--even though it means covering up someone was also murdered at the time of the abduction. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Strike Two: that friend, our hero, literally bumps into our heroine, the head of the women's shelter the female kidnapper took refuge in. Quel coincidence! Strike Three: love at first sight and touch. Call me cynical, but I always find that eye-rolling, especially the way it's pointed up here. And if baseball allowed me to extend the metaphor, let's just say there'd be a strike four and five plot-wise within those first 100 pages. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dawn772
A riveting romantic suspense with a villain on a killing spree. The hour-by-hour action combined with multiple threads to follow made for a really good read. I liked the development of the relationship with the right mix of attraction and angst. Investigating a kidnapping, Ethan encounters Dana who
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runs a safe house for battered women. Show Less
LibraryThing member mom2lnb
Karen Rose is one of those seemingly rare authors who has not failed me yet, but probably because her books tend to be longer and harder for me to fit into my reading schedule, I only seem to get around to reading one every couple of years. I really need to rectify that, because her books always
Dana was introduced in Karen Rose’s first book, Don’t Tell, as the social worker and director of Hanover House, who helped Caroline escape her abusive husband. She’s still working in that capacity in this book and unknowingly ends up harboring a woman who kidnapped a young boy and has murdered multiple people in cold blood. Dana is a kind, caring person, who wants to help women escape their abusive pasts and start over fresh. She’s extremely self-sacrificing and so committed to her work as to be somewhat of a risk-taker, which tends to upset the people closest to her. She has very deep-seated and complex reasons for what she does, but I won’t go into that too much so as to not give away spoilers. It was very enjoyable to peel away the layers and figure out the woman underneath, so I don’t want to take that away from readers. But suffice it to say that she’s been avoiding any relationships, not because she’s afraid of men, but because she feels her work is too demanding to allow her to get involved with someone. When she first meets Ethan and feels the electric connection between them, she thinks it will just be a fling, because she also knows that he’s from out of town. I liked, however, that her heart was open to the possibility of more when faced with the intense emotions she feels for him. While some of the people in Dana’s life feel she places herself in too much danger, I had to admire her for her bravery and keeping a cool head under intense pressure. I also couldn’t help but love her for her big heart and the work she does that has helped so many women and children.
Ethan is a former marine who had every intention of making it a career until he was wounded in Afghanistan. Now he experiences blinding migraines that can temporarily sideline him. He and his friend started up a security firm, where Ethan mostly does the computer work. He’s drawn into the kidnapping by the brother and sister-in-law of his former best friend who was killed in the war. He also happens to be godfather to their son, the boy who was kidnapped, so he’ll do whatever he has to do to get Alec back. Like all of Karen Rose’s heroes to date, Ethan is a great guy. Much like Dana he has a very complicated background that drives him to do the things he does. Even though he wants to involve the police, he’s moved enough by the parents’ fear for their son’s well-being that he’s willing to go it alone with only Clay, his friend and business partner’s help. He becomes so obsessive about getting Alec back that he doesn’t eat or sleep properly for days. Then Dana comes into his life, helping him to slow down just a little. He feels the instant electrifying connection every bit as deeply as Dana does, and knows he’d regret it if he didn’t at least try to get to know her. I loved him for his unwavering trust in Dana and for intuitively knowing there were things in her past that needed to be uncovered. He’s also a kindhearted person and a tender lover.
As with all of Karen Rose’s previous books, the villain here is pretty dastardly. This is the first of her books I’ve read where the villain is a woman. We know from the beginning who she is, at least in the respect of knowing her name, which changed the dynamic for me somewhat. The only one of the author’s books I’ve read so far where this was the case was Don’t Tell, and in all honesty, I felt like Caroline’s husband had more teeth than Sue/Jane, which is rather weird to say considering all the horrific crimes she committed. After analyzing her action, I don’t know that it was so much the character being female, as it was the way in which she commits her crimes. With the previous villains, they were out there terrorizing the town and you didn’t know who they were or in the case of Caroline's husband, he was hunting her down, leaving mayhem and destruction in his wake. With Sue/Jane, she has a detailed plan in mind and even though things don’t always go her way, her motto is “Adopt, adapt, and improve.” This in some ways made her actions seem a bit more impulsive, not in the sense that she doesn’t still have a master plan, but each murder she commits seems to be fairly quick albeit brutal. Granted the grand finale she’s working toward is the stuff nightmares are made of and she leaves a trail of bodies in her wake, some of which were gruesomely killed, but there was just something about her that didn’t seem quite as intense to me. I’m probably not explaining it very well, because I’m not entirely sure what to attribute that feeling to myself. Maybe it was her being a woman, but most of the time, I didn’t feel quite the same sense of fear and loathing toward her that I did with the previous villains. The thing I did like about the Sue/Jane character, though, was the psychology behind what she was doing, which was pretty fascinating. On the one hand, she could probably be considered a bad seed, because there are plenty of people who’ve gone through horrible circumstances not unlike those she endured and don’t turn out the way she did. On the other hand, there was a part of me that while I wouldn’t exactly say I sympathized, I could kind of understand the why of her actions, which to me is a very well-written character.
Additionally, the author utilizes her complex character web with many characters we’ve already met or who will eventually get their own books appearing. Max and Caroline (Don’t Tell) as Dana’s friends, play fairly significant roles, as does Max’s brother, David, who helps Dana out at Hanover House. Also there’s her friend and assistant, Evie, who’s almost more like a sister and who’s still pretty young. We get to see how her experience with Caroline's husband in Don’t Tell has changed her, but at the same time, she’s still pretty sassy and occasionally a bit immature. The things I love about her character, though, are that she loves kids and is very kind to Alec, and despite everything she went though previously, she’s pretty resourceful under pressure. I think she made great strides in this book, and I look forward to her maturing a bit more to become the heroine of I Can See You. When bodies start turning up in Chicago and the cops are finally brought in on the case, we get to see Abe (I’m Watching You) and Mia (who was also in Abe’s book, but becomes the heroine of Count to Ten) again. Their commander, Lieutenant Spinelli, and Julia, the ME, show up too, along with new law enforcement officials from Maryland. There’s also Ethan’s best friend, Clay, who’s always looking out for him like a mother hen and who becomes the hero of Watch Your Back. Last but not least, is Alec, who’s a good kid who doesn’t let his disability get the best of him, and his parents who are harboring some pretty big secrets of their own.
Overall, Nothing to Fear was a tense and enjoyable read. One might think that slight misgivings about the villain would have dropped my star rating, but I decided not to. In the end, I couldn’t deny that the book was every bit as well-plotted as the previous ones and the characterizations are undeniably deep and complex. The tender romance also earned it a few extra points. Despite Dana and Ethan’s relationship developing within a matter of only one week, their connection was strong and heartfelt. I could just tell that they were meant to be together. So I couldn’t not give it the full five. I’m eager to read more of Karen Rose’s books, just so that I can visit with these wonderful characters again. So I’ll have to try not to allow so much time to pass in between next time.
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impress me with their expert plotting and taut, edge-of-you-seat suspense. But even though the suspense and mystery tend to be more of the focus in her stories, she doesn’t skimp on the romance. Nothing to Fear was no exception to these rules. The characterizations are complex and tightly woven, as is the plot. I was kept guessing as to the villain's motivations for quite a while and there were a few twists that I didn’t see coming. For the most part, it all unravels slowly over time, but there were also parts of the story where I was on the edge of my seat, wondering how everything was going to turn out. So overall, this was a great story that kept me engaged throughout.Dana was introduced in Karen Rose’s first book, Don’t Tell, as the social worker and director of Hanover House, who helped Caroline escape her abusive husband. She’s still working in that capacity in this book and unknowingly ends up harboring a woman who kidnapped a young boy and has murdered multiple people in cold blood. Dana is a kind, caring person, who wants to help women escape their abusive pasts and start over fresh. She’s extremely self-sacrificing and so committed to her work as to be somewhat of a risk-taker, which tends to upset the people closest to her. She has very deep-seated and complex reasons for what she does, but I won’t go into that too much so as to not give away spoilers. It was very enjoyable to peel away the layers and figure out the woman underneath, so I don’t want to take that away from readers. But suffice it to say that she’s been avoiding any relationships, not because she’s afraid of men, but because she feels her work is too demanding to allow her to get involved with someone. When she first meets Ethan and feels the electric connection between them, she thinks it will just be a fling, because she also knows that he’s from out of town. I liked, however, that her heart was open to the possibility of more when faced with the intense emotions she feels for him. While some of the people in Dana’s life feel she places herself in too much danger, I had to admire her for her bravery and keeping a cool head under intense pressure. I also couldn’t help but love her for her big heart and the work she does that has helped so many women and children.
Ethan is a former marine who had every intention of making it a career until he was wounded in Afghanistan. Now he experiences blinding migraines that can temporarily sideline him. He and his friend started up a security firm, where Ethan mostly does the computer work. He’s drawn into the kidnapping by the brother and sister-in-law of his former best friend who was killed in the war. He also happens to be godfather to their son, the boy who was kidnapped, so he’ll do whatever he has to do to get Alec back. Like all of Karen Rose’s heroes to date, Ethan is a great guy. Much like Dana he has a very complicated background that drives him to do the things he does. Even though he wants to involve the police, he’s moved enough by the parents’ fear for their son’s well-being that he’s willing to go it alone with only Clay, his friend and business partner’s help. He becomes so obsessive about getting Alec back that he doesn’t eat or sleep properly for days. Then Dana comes into his life, helping him to slow down just a little. He feels the instant electrifying connection every bit as deeply as Dana does, and knows he’d regret it if he didn’t at least try to get to know her. I loved him for his unwavering trust in Dana and for intuitively knowing there were things in her past that needed to be uncovered. He’s also a kindhearted person and a tender lover.
As with all of Karen Rose’s previous books, the villain here is pretty dastardly. This is the first of her books I’ve read where the villain is a woman. We know from the beginning who she is, at least in the respect of knowing her name, which changed the dynamic for me somewhat. The only one of the author’s books I’ve read so far where this was the case was Don’t Tell, and in all honesty, I felt like Caroline’s husband had more teeth than Sue/Jane, which is rather weird to say considering all the horrific crimes she committed. After analyzing her action, I don’t know that it was so much the character being female, as it was the way in which she commits her crimes. With the previous villains, they were out there terrorizing the town and you didn’t know who they were or in the case of Caroline's husband, he was hunting her down, leaving mayhem and destruction in his wake. With Sue/Jane, she has a detailed plan in mind and even though things don’t always go her way, her motto is “Adopt, adapt, and improve.” This in some ways made her actions seem a bit more impulsive, not in the sense that she doesn’t still have a master plan, but each murder she commits seems to be fairly quick albeit brutal. Granted the grand finale she’s working toward is the stuff nightmares are made of and she leaves a trail of bodies in her wake, some of which were gruesomely killed, but there was just something about her that didn’t seem quite as intense to me. I’m probably not explaining it very well, because I’m not entirely sure what to attribute that feeling to myself. Maybe it was her being a woman, but most of the time, I didn’t feel quite the same sense of fear and loathing toward her that I did with the previous villains. The thing I did like about the Sue/Jane character, though, was the psychology behind what she was doing, which was pretty fascinating. On the one hand, she could probably be considered a bad seed, because there are plenty of people who’ve gone through horrible circumstances not unlike those she endured and don’t turn out the way she did. On the other hand, there was a part of me that while I wouldn’t exactly say I sympathized, I could kind of understand the why of her actions, which to me is a very well-written character.
Additionally, the author utilizes her complex character web with many characters we’ve already met or who will eventually get their own books appearing. Max and Caroline (Don’t Tell) as Dana’s friends, play fairly significant roles, as does Max’s brother, David, who helps Dana out at Hanover House. Also there’s her friend and assistant, Evie, who’s almost more like a sister and who’s still pretty young. We get to see how her experience with Caroline's husband in Don’t Tell has changed her, but at the same time, she’s still pretty sassy and occasionally a bit immature. The things I love about her character, though, are that she loves kids and is very kind to Alec, and despite everything she went though previously, she’s pretty resourceful under pressure. I think she made great strides in this book, and I look forward to her maturing a bit more to become the heroine of I Can See You. When bodies start turning up in Chicago and the cops are finally brought in on the case, we get to see Abe (I’m Watching You) and Mia (who was also in Abe’s book, but becomes the heroine of Count to Ten) again. Their commander, Lieutenant Spinelli, and Julia, the ME, show up too, along with new law enforcement officials from Maryland. There’s also Ethan’s best friend, Clay, who’s always looking out for him like a mother hen and who becomes the hero of Watch Your Back. Last but not least, is Alec, who’s a good kid who doesn’t let his disability get the best of him, and his parents who are harboring some pretty big secrets of their own.
Overall, Nothing to Fear was a tense and enjoyable read. One might think that slight misgivings about the villain would have dropped my star rating, but I decided not to. In the end, I couldn’t deny that the book was every bit as well-plotted as the previous ones and the characterizations are undeniably deep and complex. The tender romance also earned it a few extra points. Despite Dana and Ethan’s relationship developing within a matter of only one week, their connection was strong and heartfelt. I could just tell that they were meant to be together. So I couldn’t not give it the full five. I’m eager to read more of Karen Rose’s books, just so that I can visit with these wonderful characters again. So I’ll have to try not to allow so much time to pass in between next time.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
Dana Dupinsky runs a shelter for battered women in Chicago. Protecting and helping victimized women is taking up all her time, money and energy.
Dana often forgets about her own comfort and does everything she can to help as many women as possible. When she runs into a stranger on a bus station, she
Dana often forgets about her own comfort and does everything she can to help as many women as possible. When she runs into a stranger on a bus station, she
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doesn't know that her life is about to change considerably. She does not yet know that Ethan came to Chicago to look for his kidnapped godson, and that the cruel woman he is looking for is hiding in Dana's shelter. Nothing to Fear is another excellent suspense novel from Karen Rose. It is very fast-paced and extremely hard to put down once you start reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lauren2013
Nothing to Fear
4 Stars
A fast past read with a sizzling romantic element, however, the suspense plot is a somewhat contrived and leans toward the far-fetched.
Dana and Ethan's love at first sight romance is engaging if unrealistic. She is a likable heroine although her self-sacrificing martyr deal
Rose is a genius at characterization and this is particularly evident in her portrayal of the villain, a manipulative sociopath who comes as close to pure evil as is humanly possible. That said, her crimes are inconsistent with her motivations - she wishes to conceal her whereabouts while she gets on with her plans but the corpses just pile up around her. The body count also has the effect of desensitizing the reader to the horror and callousness of the murders - almost trivializing them. Moreover, the fact that her identity is revealed at the outset detracts slightly from the tension and excitement of the story.
The secondary cast is mainly comprised of characters from previous installments in the series and it is nice to catch up on them. That said, Evie's character irritates me no end and I'm not at all interested in reading her book at this point, so it is a good thing that there are several books between now and then.
4 Stars
A fast past read with a sizzling romantic element, however, the suspense plot is a somewhat contrived and leans toward the far-fetched.
Dana and Ethan's love at first sight romance is engaging if unrealistic. She is a likable heroine although her self-sacrificing martyr deal
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becomes tiresome after a while, and Ethan is a gorgeous ex-marine with some heavy emotional baggage. There is no real conflict between them and all issues are resolved quite easily, which places most of the focus of the book on the suspense plot. Rose is a genius at characterization and this is particularly evident in her portrayal of the villain, a manipulative sociopath who comes as close to pure evil as is humanly possible. That said, her crimes are inconsistent with her motivations - she wishes to conceal her whereabouts while she gets on with her plans but the corpses just pile up around her. The body count also has the effect of desensitizing the reader to the horror and callousness of the murders - almost trivializing them. Moreover, the fact that her identity is revealed at the outset detracts slightly from the tension and excitement of the story.
The secondary cast is mainly comprised of characters from previous installments in the series and it is nice to catch up on them. That said, Evie's character irritates me no end and I'm not at all interested in reading her book at this point, so it is a good thing that there are several books between now and then.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lauren2013
Nothing to Fear
4 Stars
A fast past read with a sizzling romantic element, however, the suspense plot is a somewhat contrived and leans toward the far-fetched.
Dana and Ethan's love at first sight romance is engaging if unrealistic. She is a likable heroine although her self-sacrificing martyr deal
Rose is a genius at characterization and this is particularly evident in her portrayal of the villain, a manipulative sociopath who comes as close to pure evil as is humanly possible. That said, her crimes are inconsistent with her motivations - she wishes to conceal her whereabouts while she gets on with her plans but the corpses just pile up around her. The body count also has the effect of desensitizing the reader to the horror and callousness of the murders - almost trivializing them. Moreover, the fact that her identity is revealed at the outset detracts slightly from the tension and excitement of the story.
The secondary cast is mainly comprised of characters from previous installments in the series and it is nice to catch up on them. That said, Evie's character irritates me no end and I'm not at all interested in reading her book at this point, so it is a good thing that there are several books between now and then.
4 Stars
A fast past read with a sizzling romantic element, however, the suspense plot is a somewhat contrived and leans toward the far-fetched.
Dana and Ethan's love at first sight romance is engaging if unrealistic. She is a likable heroine although her self-sacrificing martyr deal
Show More
becomes tiresome after a while, and Ethan is a gorgeous ex-marine with some heavy emotional baggage. There is no real conflict between them and all issues are resolved quite easily, which places most of the focus of the book on the suspense plot. Rose is a genius at characterization and this is particularly evident in her portrayal of the villain, a manipulative sociopath who comes as close to pure evil as is humanly possible. That said, her crimes are inconsistent with her motivations - she wishes to conceal her whereabouts while she gets on with her plans but the corpses just pile up around her. The body count also has the effect of desensitizing the reader to the horror and callousness of the murders - almost trivializing them. Moreover, the fact that her identity is revealed at the outset detracts slightly from the tension and excitement of the story.
The secondary cast is mainly comprised of characters from previous installments in the series and it is nice to catch up on them. That said, Evie's character irritates me no end and I'm not at all interested in reading her book at this point, so it is a good thing that there are several books between now and then.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2005-08
Physical description
528 p.; 4.25 inches
ISBN
0446618993 / 9780446618991