Book Review-- Fear (Jeff Abbott)

My very first post in this account will be a review of the book I've just read, titled 'Fear' by Jeff Abbott. It is a thriller story about a guy called Miles Kendrick who is mentally impaired-- his late friend haunts him. It was in an incident that he can't fully remember, thinking that he shot his friend with a gun. However, he did not turn up in jail, rather went under a witness protection program. He is fighting to regain his sanity with the help of his psychiatrist-- Allison. However, things get complicated when Allison is bombed in her house. Dangerous people began hunting Miles down, thinking he holds the key to Frost, the medicine that will save every mental patient. He joins 'forces' with Nathan and Celeste, another two mental patients to search for Frost to protect their lives and to take it away from the bad guys who are researching Frost illegally. Nathan has hallucinations of his soldier mates who died in an accident during war, since he was blamed for their death. Celeste is a tv star who won a survival game on television, whose husband was murdered by her obsessive fan.
The first thing i have to comment on about the book is the starting. The first chapter starts from Miles angle. At first, the readers do not know that Andy (his friend) is actually dead and that the conversations between Miles and Andy were his hallucinations. However, when Miles goes to Allison's office for treatment, we finally know that Andy is a 'ghost' he talks to. Miles keeps wondering about the 'confession letter' he wrote about what he remembers of the accident, and it makes the readers very interested to know what he actually wrote. The letter was only spelled out at the back of the book, where the patients gradually solve their problems. Another character is introduced-- Sorenson. He is known to be a 'bad guy' at the first few chapters, thought to be the one who set the bomb in Allison's office. However, his true identity is unknown until the second half of the book, where it is clear he is a player hunting for Frost to make money.
The interesting thing about the starting is how the second chapter switches to Denise Groote's point of view. He is a father of a mental teen (Amanda), who saw through her mother's death in a car accident. As an ex-FBI, he resorts to violence to seek revenge for his wife and child, and later to fight for Frost to cure Amanda. At first the readers are unable to identify the link between Groote and Miles, and may think that Groote, being hired by Quantrill, is actually the one behind the bombing of Allison's office. Talking about the bombing, it was probably due to the research materials on Frost that she stole.
Although this book contains much violence, it reflects many aspects of life. The themes present are mainly love for family, courage, survival, overcoming fear, determination, trust and team spirit. The book has shown the worst nightmares people can ever dream of, and how the characters struggle to make things right and to save their fragile lives. Of course I would recommend this book, but be mindful that it is rather gruesome and probably suitable for people aged 13 or above.