Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson was one of those books that can make a reader stop and say, “I didn’t see that coming.” Agatha Christie mastered the twist endings that immortalized her books. Move over, Ms. Christie, you have some competition. With all its plot twists Absolute Fear is a page turner that won’t let you put it down until the final thrilling end and an epilogue that leaves the lives of the characters open for a sequel.

Lisa Jackson breathed life into her characters by giving them such intriguing back stories that a reader of her novels wants to go back and read more, hoping that each of the character’s lives warranted their own novels.

The gothic setting of Our Lady of Virtues Hospital and the eerie past it holds is enough to make chills run up your spine with the feeling that it’s no place I would want to be alone, especially with a murder on the loose who kills in ritual fashion tattooing his victims with cryptic numbers. Our Lady of Virtues also plays into the back story. This is not the only serial killer associated with the mental hospital.

The unstable murderer is obsessed with palindromes and his focus is on Eve Renner who throughout the course of the novel digs up some dark secrets from her past. But the true identity of a manipulative killer was entirely unexpected.

Absolute Fear was a delightfully chilling read from beginning to end and leaves a reader wanting more of Lisa Jackson’s work. It is no wonder she is labeled as a #1 New York Times Bestselling Author.