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THE FEAR WITHIN by J.S. Law

THE FEAR WITHIN

by J.S. Law

Pub Date: Feb. 6th, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17367-6
Publisher: Henry Holt

A detective in the British Navy’s Special Investigation Branch battles demons from the past while searching for a missing woman aboard a naval destroyer.

In his second novel, Law (Tenacity, 2015) draws on his experience as a senior nuclear engineer in the Royal Navy Submarine Service to construct a mystery rich with details that offer narrative authenticity. After her investigation into a death aboard the naval submarine Tenacity, in Law’s previous novel, Lt. Danielle “Dan” Lewis of the Royal Navy’s Special Investigation Branch is processing lingering questions from the case and residual emotional trauma. In addition, she has a superior officer who is seemingly dead-set on preventing her from progressing in her career. Nonetheless, when she is assigned to investigate a young woman who has recently gone missing from her first assignment aboard a naval destroyer, Dan throws herself into the case. Although the initial assumption is that the young sailor, Natasha Moore, is absent from duty for seemingly innocuous personal issues, Dan peels back the layers of personalities aboard the destroyer Defiance and begins to suspect foul play. The suspense builds as the novel fluctuates between Dan’s current investigation into Natasha’s vanishing and the past events leading up her to disappearance. Along the way, a long list of possible suspects starts to emerge. Was it the handsome and charismatic naval instructor to whom Natasha is romantically linked? Maybe her socially awkward, ex-powerlifter co-worker had a strange obsession with her that turned sinister. Or maybe the jealousy of her ex-fiance boiled over into violence. Also, what is her superior officer from a well-to-do family hiding, and what caused her bunkmates to turn against her? These questions develop into a bubbling suspense which builds the reader’s quest for answers.

A page-turner with a mystery that thickens as the story unfolds.