Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Panacea by F. Paul Wilson

3.5 Stars

The ICE Sequence - Book 1

F. Paul Wilson is a favourite author of a bunch of my friends and one of them recommended Panacea to me, knowing I enjoy a good thriller.  And I did enjoy this one.  :)

It's a typical thriller in that there's a lot of action, a bunch of twisty turny investigations, bad guys with big guns and lots of power, good guys with a bit of mystery in their pasts, and a possible world-wide disaster to be avoided.  There's also a cute kid and some ancient mythology. 

The book reads lickety split, thanks to some great pacing by the author and chapters that don't run into the 30+ page realm.  I'm a firm believe that short chapters help give a book an aspect of  "can't put it down" or "just one more chapter before I sleep" type of thing.  The characters aren't really complex, but they are believable in a thriller sort of way.  And they're likable - well the good guys anyway - and that, for me, is important.  I especially liked Rick Hayden and his sense of humour.  I also liked him together with Laura Fanning.  There's going to be some romance, somewhere along the line, but there's little of it here, just the pair getting to know each other and starting to trust each other as they search.

I like the idea of ancient history and ancient mysteries being explored and the whole secret societies thing.  I find it all quite fascinating. 

Wilson, I think, is more known for his horror books - Repairman Jack and the like - but there's not much horror in this book.  One scene though.... near the end... well, I guess it was more gross than horror, but EWWWWW!  *LOL*

I think if you enjoy books like the Sigma Force books by James Rollins, you'll enjoy this.  I know I'll be looking to add Book 2 to my library.  :)

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