Review: Liquid Fear by Scott Nicholson

Posted 31 March, 2011 by Danny in / 2 Comments

by Scott Nicholson
Published by Haunted Computer Books on March 26, 2011

Book Description (from Amazon):

Ten years after a tragic clinical trial in memory suppression, the research volunteers realize the experiment is still underway. 99 cents for a limited time.

LIQUID FEAR: A Thriller

When Roland Doyle wakes up with a dead woman in his motel room, the only clue is a mysterious vial of pills bearing the label “Take one every 4 hrs or else.”

Ten years before, six people were involved in a secret pharmaceutical trial that left one of them murdered and five unable to remember what happened. Now the experiment is continuing, as Dr. Sebastian Briggs wants to finish his research into fear response and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s backed by a major drug company and an ambitious U.S. Senator, but he also has a personal stake in the outcome.

Only by taking the mysterious pills can the survivors stave off the creeping phobias and inflicted madness that threaten to consume them. But the pills have an unexpected side effect—the survivors start remembering the terrible acts they perpetrated a decade ago. They are lured back to the Monkey House, the remote facility where the original trials took place, and Briggs has prepared it for their return.

Now they are trapped, they each have only one pill left, and cracks are forming in their civilized veneer.

After the pills are gone, there’s only one option. “Or else.”

My Thoughts:

I knew nothing about this book, other than Scott Nicholson had churned out another new release. As soon as I heard he wrote it, I said “Sold!” or something to that effect. And I said that in the middle of my lab to myself. Luckily there wasn’t anyone around to question what I was saying.

I’ve read and really enjoyed several novels that he has written (The Red Church, Disintegration, Speed Dating With The Dead). So I turned on the good old Kindle and started reading.

I always have high expectations when reading anything by Scott Nicholson and I wasn’t let down with this release. He follows up his all-human cast in the thriller Disintegration with another mortal cast of deeply flawed and disturbed people. I love Scott’s work that has a paranormal aspect to it, but I’ve found that I really love his non-paranormal works too. He really has a way of illustrating that evil resides in everyone and it takes the right circumstances to show that side of humanity to the world.

A group of college students volunteered to participate in a drug trial ten years ago. Suddenly, they one by one realize that the drug trial is still happening against their will. The seriously morally challenged lead researcher, Dr. Sebastian Briggs, is reawakening their repressed memories from ten years ago. Six people participated in the original drug trials, but one of them didn’t make it out alive. And these emerging memories can only be forced down by taking a mysterious pill from a bottle that seemingly appears out of nowhere. The cryptic message “Take one every 4 hours or else” has the remaining five participants scrambling to hold onto their sanity once the memories start to bubble to the surface. They quickly start to run out of pills before they realize that there is only one option: return to the “Monkey House,” the original location of the drug trials and face whatever twisted game the evil doctor has in store for them.

Dealing with the relatively new territory of erasing bad memories is a hot frontier for modern researchers. I just listened to a podcast a few weeks ago where one researcher discussed the kinds of memories that could be suppressed, as well as whether science should go there or not. There have been successful trials with rats and unlike this work of fiction, these drugs haven’t been tested on humans yet. Scott Nicholson is always topical with his pieces and he does a great job of illustrating the problems of forcing memories back with pills. Should we try to alter our memories and if we can erase them, are they really gone or just waiting for some trigger to come flooding back?

Liquid Fear is a fast paced, action packed thriller that I couldn’t put down. The pieces of the story emerge throughout the novel and once all of the pieces a slammed together, all hell breaks loose. And I mean that in the best way possible. This is a 5 star book all around.

Check back on this blog tomorrow for a chance to win a giftcard for Amazon or Barnes and Noble during the Liquid Fear Fool’s Gold Rush. This isn’t an April fools hoax, just check out Scott Nicholson’s guest post here introducing one of the main characters in Liquid Fear. 

Here’s the detail straight from the fabulous Scott Nicholson’s website:

LIQUID FEAR FOOL’S GOLD RUSH

More than $200 in prizes. Meet the characters and help promote the mystery thriller Liquid Fear, 99 cents at Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords.

Simple. Go to these blogs on April 1. Get a point each for tweeting each post, Facebooking each post, and commenting at the post. A $10 gift certificate to Amazon or BN.com will be given away on April 9 from each blog.

If Liquid Fear cracks the Top 100 on BN or Amazon by then, I’ll also give away a $100 gift certificate. Tell your friends, promote Liquid Fear, and let’s all win!

APRIL 1 BLOGS – Blog Link followed by Character featured in parantheses.

Paperback Dolls (Dr. Sebastian Briggs)

VVB32 Reads (Wallace Forsyth)

Rex Robot Reviews (David Dunn)

Kindle Obsessed (Martin Kleingarten)

Jenn’s Bookshelves (Roland Doyle)

Not Really Southern Vamp Chick (Anita Molkesky)

2 Read or Not 2 Read (Mark Morgan)

Minding Spot (Sen. Dan Burchfield)

Bewitched Bookworms (Wendy Leng)

The Unread Reader (Dr. Alexis Morgan)

More Ebooks Please (Scott Nicholson)

The following two tabs change content below.
Obsessive Reader by Night - Scientist at Day! You can also find me on goodreads. I'd love to get to know you so, don't be shy and say Hello!

Tags: , , , , , ,

Divider

2 Responses to “Review: Liquid Fear by Scott Nicholson”

  1. vonharzj

    What a fantastic review. While I do not read adult novels any more if I did I would be running out to get this one. I love when an author draws from the things going on in modern medicine and creates a thriller like this one. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply »

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv badge