"Starts at hyperspeed and accelerates from there"

In a Miami bar overlooking the Government Cut waterway, former FBI Agent turn cruise line security chief Matt "Loose Cannon" Shannon is having his usual run of bourbon when his stepbrother Jack Fontana arrives having been released from the pen three years early. Jack discusses a freighter passing by and his time as a defrocked drug agent used in blanket party sex by his peers. He hands Matt a small video game for him to try. Jack hits what he assumes is the on button, sees the word bang on the screen, and the freighter blows up. "Vanishing Jack" disappears with the box that contains Matt's prints all over it.

The Feds assume it is terrorism although no one steps forth claiming the deed. Jack demands Matt arrange for him and his comrades to board the Festival Cruise Line ship Norwegian Empress when it next travels to Cuba. The plan is to rob those on board the luxury liner. Matt seeks out of Jack's cleverly arranged trap, but sees no escape except to cooperate, but other players have agendas that cause collateral damage leaving people dead and more probably about to die unless Matt risks his freedom and his life by playing hero.

FEVER takes off with its opening bang and never slows down until the final confrontation with Matt's wife. The story line is action-packed as Matt gets in deeper and deeper while the Norwegian Empress is hijacked with several dead including members of Jack's team. Surprisingly the roguish Jack is the more fascinating character though Matt has his moments. Sean Rowe provides an adrenaline burner that starts at hyperspeed and accelerates from there.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 28, 2005

Summary

DESCRIPTION: A blisteringly fast debut thriller--James M. Cain meets Elmore Leonard--in which hijacking a cruise ship is just the first step in one man's sprint to deliverance, or destruction. Matt "Loose Cannon" Shannon is an ex-FBI agent turned security chief for the world's largest cruise line. It's a career move that owes more to personal weaknesses than his fondness for the Miami sun. In the novel's explosive opening, Shannon's stepbrother, Jack Fontana, puts his back against the wall. At a waterfront reunion, Fontana gives Shannon what looks like a game controlle--and before he knows what he's done, Shannon has sunk a freighter in Miami's shipping lane and his fingerprints are all over the device that sent the signal. Only once he's cornered does Shannon learn his stepbrother's real plan--a cruise ship job that could make enough money to last their lifetimes. Shannon thinks he's only providing backup and intelligence. And by the time he learns what's really going on, he's in too deep: the cruise ship has been hijacked and several people are already dead. FEVER is the story of Shannon's race to unravel the deadly labyrinth that's grown up around him. With the help of a mysterious woman and his own instincts, he might find the one path that could allow him to survive.