Book Review - Fixation by Mark Schorr
Category Book Review Mark Schorr Fixation
I followed up the book Borderline with Mark Schorr's next novel in the Brian Hanson series, Fixation. As with Borderline, I loved the setting of the story in my home town. Also, the suspense of being stalked and harassed at each turn was good enough to keep me turning pages. I don't think I was quite as enthralled this time as with his first novel, but it was an entertaining read.
Hanson's semi-love interest, Louise Parker, leads a failed raid on a white supremacist compound. The raid goes sour as someone tips off the group ahead of time, and the FBI team are sitting ducks. As with most failed efforts like this, someone has to take the blame, and Parker appears to be on the hook for this one. That might not be so bad, except she also has her wallet and badge stolen while on administrative paid leave. This starts a series of harassing events, like stalking videos sent to her home from a video rental account... phone calls with strange individuals... her face photoshopped on another woman's body for a lewd adult website. The FBI investigators are starting to feel that perhaps she's going off the deep end, and that she really has something to hide (like the off-shore account she didn't know she had). Hanson wants to help her out and be there for her, but she's not even convinced that he might not be behind all of this harassment. She's seen Hanson when he detaches into his Vietnam soldier role, and she knows he's quite capable of flipping out and losing control. He's got his own problems in addition to Parker's, as it appears the same people after her are also trying to take him out of the picture. The question becomes who will crack first... Hanson, Parker, or the stalkers?
The pacing was pretty good in Fixation, but there was much more personal drama between Hanson and Parker as they struggled with trust issues. There's also tension on the reader's part as two apparently separate people are out to settle scores with Parker, and it's unclear until the very end exactly what is going on. I don't expect every novel to hit on all cylinders, as writing a great story isn't easy. Although I liked Borderline better than Fixation, I'm looking forward to additional installments in this series should they appear.
I followed up the book Borderline with Mark Schorr's next novel in the Brian Hanson series, Fixation. As with Borderline, I loved the setting of the story in my home town. Also, the suspense of being stalked and harassed at each turn was good enough to keep me turning pages. I don't think I was quite as enthralled this time as with his first novel, but it was an entertaining read.
Hanson's semi-love interest, Louise Parker, leads a failed raid on a white supremacist compound. The raid goes sour as someone tips off the group ahead of time, and the FBI team are sitting ducks. As with most failed efforts like this, someone has to take the blame, and Parker appears to be on the hook for this one. That might not be so bad, except she also has her wallet and badge stolen while on administrative paid leave. This starts a series of harassing events, like stalking videos sent to her home from a video rental account... phone calls with strange individuals... her face photoshopped on another woman's body for a lewd adult website. The FBI investigators are starting to feel that perhaps she's going off the deep end, and that she really has something to hide (like the off-shore account she didn't know she had). Hanson wants to help her out and be there for her, but she's not even convinced that he might not be behind all of this harassment. She's seen Hanson when he detaches into his Vietnam soldier role, and she knows he's quite capable of flipping out and losing control. He's got his own problems in addition to Parker's, as it appears the same people after her are also trying to take him out of the picture. The question becomes who will crack first... Hanson, Parker, or the stalkers?
The pacing was pretty good in Fixation, but there was much more personal drama between Hanson and Parker as they struggled with trust issues. There's also tension on the reader's part as two apparently separate people are out to settle scores with Parker, and it's unclear until the very end exactly what is going on. I don't expect every novel to hit on all cylinders, as writing a great story isn't easy. Although I liked Borderline better than Fixation, I'm looking forward to additional installments in this series should they appear.