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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780451180414
ISBN number: 0451180410
Label: Signet
Manufacturer: Signet
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 624
Printing Date: February 01, 1998
Publishing house: Signet
Sale Popularity Level: 22545
Studio: Signet
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Product Description:
By day, Harper Cole works as a commodities trader and at night he leads quite a different life, serving as a systems operator for an exclusive erotic online service that caters to the rich and famous. But a stranger has now penetrated the network's state-of-the-art security, brutally murdering six celebrated female clients. Falsely accused of these horrible crimes, Harper realizes he must lure an elusive madman into the open--and place everything he holds dear directly in the killer's path! Online promo.
Amazon.com Review:
Raymond Chandler once proclaimed that the first-person narrator should never turn out to be the villain in a good mystery or thriller. Luckily, the excellent writer Greg Iles has seemingly ignored Chandler's advice. Iles has created a character--Harper Cole, a futures trader and online pornographer--who could very well be the person killing off subscribers to his Internet sex service. Or is it Miles Turner, Cole's very odd colleague? If you thought that stalking a killer on the Internet had been done to death in books and bad movies, this one will have you pushing the reload button on your browser. Other Iles books in paperback include Black Cross and Spandau Phoenix.
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Rated by buyers 
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EROS is a high end, very expensive, intensely private and ultra-kinky erotic on-line chat room service. When several normally high frequency users of the service drop off line but continue to allow the almost exorbitant debits to be charged to their bank accounts, Harper Cole, the EROS systems operator, becomes suspicious and worried. As a skilled internet derivatives, commodities and futures trader, he is well aware of the power of money and is justifiably concerned that something has happened to this set of vanishing customers. Further investigation with the help of his colleague, Miles Turner (a very eccentric geek type with extraordinary computer skills) morphs these worries into an ironclad certainty that these customers have been murdered by another EROS customer whom they label "Brahma".
They also discover that Brahma has murdered a male EROS customer and stolen his on-line EROS persona to trap unwitting victims.
When they bring their suspicions to the attention of the authorities, local police and the FBI immediately place him and Miles as #1 and #2 on the suspect list for the string of brutal serial killings concentrating their efforts, of course, in this completely wrong direction. Cole and Turner realize that their own freedom, not to mention the lives of other EROS subscribers, depend on their trapping the killer themselves. Concocting an elaborate on-line false identity, they conduct an elaborate ruse to bring the killer into the open but time after time, the brilliant killer sniffs out his pursuers and remains one step ahead of them. They come to realize that they are now targets and, not only have they placed themselves in dire peril, but they've managed to endanger Cole's child, the mother of his child and his trusting wife.
Greg Iles has created a plot with the potential to sizzle off the page - sex, brutality, blood and guts, computer technology, cat and mouse games with an insanely brilliant and devious killer - but, sadly, "Mortal Fear" is actually an overly long, under-edited series of sadly missed opportunities.
"Mortal Fear" could have delved into the sociological ramifications of on-line sex as a form of infidelity. It didn't. "Mortal Fear" could have dug deeply into the legal issues of "right to privacy". It didn't. "Mortal Fear" could have discussed the psychological impact of incest on its participants and victims. It didn't. "Mortal Fear" could have provided some absolutely fascinating sidebars on the science of transplants, hemophilia and the pineal gland, in particular. It didn't. (I know, I know ... that came out of left field but if you actually bother to read "Mortal Fear" after reading this review, you'll discover how these things fit into Iles' plot!) "Mortal Fear" could have discussed the esoteric art of serial killer profiling in considerably greater detail. It didn't. On top of that, each and every one of his characters were quite flat. There was lots of action, lots of dialogue and lots of movement but none of it really seemed to lift the story off the page into believability.
Frankly, a poor effort overall in comparison to some of his other page turners such as "Turning Angel". Not recommended.
Paul Weiss
Rated by buyers 
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It starts with a call to the New Orleans police that Harper has information about a recent murder that may be connected to six other women in five states spread across the country. When these women are all found to be murder victims, seemingly not-connected to one another, then the FBI and various police departments all are in a frenzy to talk to Harper, who becomes the number one suspect.
I plowed through to page 93 and wondered if I should stop as this book had far too many words, paragraphs and yes even pages for me. I decided to stop for the night and maybe start again the subsequent day. The subsequent day I started again and by speed reading large chunks I finally got so enthralled that I could not stop reading until I turned page 564 at the end. An abridged version would have been a much better read, but even with this fault I give this book five stars which is a level that only twenty five percent of my reviews get.
Ikes tells the story by interweaving surprise after surprise but yet manages to hide important revelations until the very end. If you only read one of his books I defiantly recommend this book.
Author of al-Qaeda Strikes Again
Rated by buyers -
love this book fantastic history he is the best the tile says it all . i recomend this audio story. the best love it love it,
Rated by buyers -
When I started this book, I almost put it down when I learned that this was about an on-line erotic website and I expected maybe this was just going to be one sex scene after another, but it turned out not to be. This was a very exciting thriller that I found difficult to put down. The plot involved a doctor and his wife/concubine who were working on some twisted scientific theory, gathering specimins for their experiments. Well, there's more to it than that of course, but in comes the main character, Harper Cole who works as a SYSOP for this website. Harper has some secrets that come into play and eventually lead the killers to his doorstep. Harper was certainly a flawed character who was attempting to do the 'right' thing. Harper is married to Drewe, a local doctor. Drewe is the sister of Erin, who is the mother of Holly. Unknown to Drewe, her husband is the father of her sister's daughter.
Oh-oh, that could be trouble. Drewe was probably the most likable character in the book and she turned out to be a lot stronger than I or her husband expected. Anyway, this book has plenty of action and plenty of great subplots going on dealing with the family situation and in the end they all tie in together. This is the second book I've read by Greg Iles and the second one that was over 600 pages and definately did not seem that long. This is a quick read and and easy recommend. Not a boring moment in it. Even the discussions of computereze were made interesting although some time I had no idea what they were talking about, being technologically challenged as I am.
Rated by buyers -
I originally bought this book because of Greg Iles' connection to Ole Miss (my daughter just graduated from Ole Miss).
But, I have to say what a surprise find this was. I loved this book. There were always twists and turns that kept you pulled into the book. I love his style of writing. He gives lots of details but he makes those details interesting. You don't want to skim through those filler details like most books. It makes the books I have read in the last year or so pale in comparison. I have subsquently bought 8 more of his books and have them stacked to read.
As a Mississippian, I think his books are ten times better than John Grisham (another Ole Miss alumni).
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