Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann
Navy SEAL Finn is hitching a ride home on the USS Abraham Lincoln. His observation skills, honed by years as a sniper, alert him to the poor morale and weak leadership aboard ship. When crew members start to go missing in apparent suicides, it slowly becomes clear that there is a killer on board. Finn is the obvious suspect and maybe the best hope for unmasking the killer. He is still haunted by a mission gone wrong as well as some gaps in his memory that he can’t account for. Staying alive just got a lot more difficult, especially with a crew edging into terror.
Webb and Mann do an excellent job creating an atmosphere of unease. While Finn restlessly prowls the length and breadth of this floating ship the size of a small city, we familiarize ourselves with the ship along with him. Webb and Mann’s ability to vividly describe the scene lends suspense as you picture both the cramped spaces and the vast ocean around and beneath them.
The characters come to life, conveying the stress of their long deployment, their individual obstacles, the effect of lingering poor morale, and the fear that breeds from being trapped on board with a killer. Finn’s uncanny observations give him unique insight while his memory gaps cast doubt in both himself and the reader. The scenes involving young helicopter pilot Monica Halsey and Command Master Chief Jackson are excellent. Jackson in particular is a standout. As both the ship’s morale officer and the one in charge of the investigation into the deaths his instincts and upbringing add dimension and flavor to a tense story. Plenty of characters you love to hate round out the excellent cast.
Steel Fear builds to a suspenseful and thrilling climax that will have you flipping the pages as the story rushes to its end. This is an exciting fiction debut and I’m very much looking forward to more from Webb and Mann.
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.
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