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The Panic Zone (Jack Gannon #2)

by Rick Mofina (Goodreads Author)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 226 ratings · 46 reviews

A car crashes in Wyoming: A young mother is thrown clear of the devastating crash. Dazed, she sees a figure pull her son from the flames. Or does she? The police believe it's trauma playing tricks on the mind, until the woman hears a voice on the phone: "Your baby is alive."

A bomb explodes in Rio de Janeiro: The heinous act kills ten people, including two journalists. Jack...more

ebook, 416 pages

Published July 1st 2010 by Mira Books (first published June 22nd 2010)

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Jan 03, 2012 Proud Book Nerd rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action, crazy-tours, do-not-have, mystery, thriller

This was a good, fast-paced thriller that reminded me of Jurassic Park in that there was a lot of science behind the central threat. I liked how everything that was seemingly separate was woven together into a detailed scheme. This book kept me reading because I wanted see just how exactly these components were related. I was satisfied by the conclusion, and hope we'll be seeing more of Jack Gannon.

For a full review, visit Proud Book Nerd.

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Jan 16, 2012 Wendy Hines rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

They say her baby is dead, but she refuses to believe it. His co-workers say he is inexperienced, but he is going to prove them wrong.

Emma Lane has finally achieved complete happiness. She's deeply in love with her husband Joe, and together they have an infant son, Tyler. Joe's been working a lot of hours lately, so when they get some free time, they decide to have a family picnic. But on the way, a car swerves in their lane and their SUV crashes. Emma and Joe are tossed from the vehicle, and J...more

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Jul 23, 2010 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Emma Lane, her husband Joe and their son Tyler are on vacation. Everything was going along just fine, when suddenly an oncoming truck has a head on collision with them. The last thing Emma remembers before waking up in the hospital is seeing someone take Tyler. Emma insists that Tyler is alive but everyone around her thinks she is crazy. Emma starts to doubt herself, when she receives a mysterious phone call where the caller tells her that Tyler is alive.

Meanwhile in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a b...more Emma Lane, her husband Joe and their son Tyler are on vacation. Everything was going along just fine, when suddenly an oncoming truck has a head on collision with them. The last thing Emma remembers before waking up in the hospital is seeing someone take Tyler. Emma insists that Tyler is alive but everyone around her thinks she is crazy. Emma starts to doubt herself, when she receives a mysterious phone call where the caller tells her that Tyler is alive.

Meanwhile in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a bombing takes places, killing two reporters. World Press Alliance reporter Jack Gannon is sent to the scene to find out the truth about his fellow reporters. At first Jack believes the bombing is the job of drug gangs but quickly dismisses the idea, when he learns what his fellow reporters were working on. Jack’s investigation leads him down a path of no return.

The Salida del Sol cruise liner is heading towards the Florida coast. One of the passengers on the liner suddenly drops dead of a horrific death. The passenger was bleeding from every pore of his body. Before the doctor can figure out the cause of death, another passenger dies. What is happening to the passengers of Salida del Sol is beyond your worst nightmares.

The Panic Zone is the latest Jack Gannon thriller from Mr. Mofina. Mr. Mofina really knows how to crank up the intensity. I really like the Jack Gannon novels. Thus far, I have not been disappointed. Jack was the main focal point in this story. Jack is one tough cookie. No matter how many times you kick him, you can’t keep him down. The moments when Jack was involved was full of high octane. Emma was also strong in face of adversity. I felt for Emma and was rooting for her. The things that were happening to the passengers of Salida del Sol was like something from the X-Files. It was creepy and scary.

There were many other secondary and minor characters in this book. Each new character brings a new layer to the story. If you have never read a Rick Mofina novel then you are missing out on something spectacular. So do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The Panic Zone today. You have nothing to lose but time getting lost in this book.
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Apr 10, 2010 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gripping and mesmerizing from the very first chapter, Rick Mofina’s latest thriller explores a chilling conspiracy that is guaranteed to get your heart pounding.

A car crash in Wyoming, involving a young couple and their baby, sets The Panic Zone into rapid motion. The next day, a reporter in Brazil gets a call to meet an unidentified woman at a café; the woman claims to have a news story, and the documents to back it up. The reporter and her photographer friend have no idea what they’re walking...more

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Mar 18, 2010 Patricia added it · review of another edition

The Panic Zone – 5 Stars
Rick Mofina
Mira Books, 2010, 432 Pages
ISBN No. 978-0-7783-2794-3

Jack Gannon is tough, stubborn and has the ability to see the facts that others miss. Jack is a reporter for The World Press Alliance and works out of the Manhattan office. Melody Lane of WPA hired Jack after he had broken a story that was high profile. Jack hasn't had a good story since moving to New York and his colleagues at WPA whisper behind his back that his story was just a lucky break and he has no bu...more The Panic Zone – 5 Stars
Rick Mofina
Mira Books, 2010, 432 Pages
ISBN No. 978-0-7783-2794-3

Jack Gannon is tough, stubborn and has the ability to see the facts that others miss. Jack is a reporter for The World Press Alliance and works out of the Manhattan office. Melody Lane of WPA hired Jack after he had broken a story that was high profile. Jack hasn't had a good story since moving to New York and his colleagues at WPA whisper behind his back that his story was just a lucky break and he has no business in the big leagues.

When a bomb explodes in a Rio De Janeiro Café and two journalists working for WPA are killed Melody sends Jack to Brazil. The staff at WPA in Brazil resent Jack's presence and would just as soon he return to New York. In spite of his less than warm welcome, Jack uncovers a clue that leads the investigation in an entirely different direction and sends Jack scurrying from one country to another to uncover the real story.

Meanwhile back in Big Cloud, Wyoming a young mother grieves for her husband who is killed in an automobile accident. The mother is told that her child died in the same accident but she knows in her heart that her child is alive.

A passenger on a Caribbean Cruise dies in a horrible and unexplained way. Doctors are at a loss to identify the cause of death. Scientists begin to fear that this death may only be an indication of more deaths to come.

These seemingly disconnected events become clear in Jack’s mind as having a very strong and dangerous connection. The more information Jack uncovers the more danger he is in until he is lucky to come away with his life.

The Panic Zone is an exciting novel and one that the reader can only hope is pure fiction. Jack Gannon pulls in all of the disconnected clues for a brilliant conclusion to this suspenseful book.

This is the second Jack Gannon book. Vengeance Road was published by Mira in 2009 and is an excellent read. It is not necessary to read the first book to enjoy The Panic Zone.

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Dec 04, 2010 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fast paced thriller from the first page to the last page! I will admit I was drawn to this book based on a simple review on the cover by Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors. If he liked it, I was bound to! The story begins with a bombing in a Brazilian café, killing an informant and two news media personnel. We are quickly moved to Wyoming, where a woman, her husband and child are involved in a hit and run accident. Her husband dies but she is sure that she has seen someone take her child...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Neil Mudde rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once again this is a "rollercoaster ride read" by Rick Mofina, I can hardly imagine I almost missed this book, so will contact him, or get on his mailing list in order to be kept up to date.
I dropped him a line on his webpage www.rickmofina.com, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal note from him, suggesting I place my name on the newsletter list found on his website,
Back to "The Panic Zone" get the book and I can guarantee you, you will be in for a great read, as is so often the ca...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Jael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

You notice a strange white car following you. Initially, you dismiss it. Maybe you are seeing things. Then you start to receive strange phone calls from a blocked number. The caller doesn't speak, he or she hangs up after a few seconds. Could this mean something? Maybe. You let all of that go to enjoy a picnic with your husband and son. Then tragedy strikes on a day that was supposed to be filled with joy.

And all of that is in just the first chapter of The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina, the second n...more You notice a strange white car following you. Initially, you dismiss it. Maybe you are seeing things. Then you start to receive strange phone calls from a blocked number. The caller doesn't speak, he or she hangs up after a few seconds. Could this mean something? Maybe. You let all of that go to enjoy a picnic with your husband and son. Then tragedy strikes on a day that was supposed to be filled with joy.

And all of that is in just the first chapter of The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina, the second novel in the Jack Gannon series.

Emma Lane of Big Cloud, Wyoming, is left to pick up the pieces after a car accident takes the life of her husband, Joe, and son Tyler. Emma accepts Joe's death, she felt him slip away while holding his hand amidst the pieces of metal and glass. But in her heart, Emma knows she saw someone rescue Tyler. She tells anyone who will listen that Tyler is alive, but Emma's words are dismissed as the ramblings of a grieving mother. To make matters worse, Emma receives another mysterious phone call. This time the caller speaks, "Your baby is alive." Will anybody believe the anguished mother? How will she find Tyler?

Emma's story is just the beginning of this intricate plot. A reporter in Rio de Janeiro gets a tip about a big story. But before reporter Gabriella Rosa and a co-worker can get the story, the tipster, Maria Santo, and the journalists are killed by a bomb. Enter Jack Gannon, a reporter from the New York office. Gannon is dispatched to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Gannon is loathed by his Brazilian counterparts, who feel he isn't experienced enough. Despite the animosity, Gannon is undeterred. Attempts on his life can't stop this determined man. Gannon picks up where Maria Santo left off, investigating a Brazilian law firm, which serves as a front for illegal adoptions, human trafficking, and many other nefarious deeds. Piecing the puzzle together takes Gannon to London, Morocco, the Bahamas and Wyoming. Every step of Gannon's odyssey is filled with danger.

There are so many characters and locations, it was a little hard for me to keep it straight. We have government official Robert Lancer, who is hell bent on capturing rogue, ex-CIA scientist Gretchen Sutsoff. This particular scientist is determined to make the world pay for her pain. How she intends to do that is rather disturbing, you'll just have to read the book to find out, but I can tell you it involves experimenting on human subjects!

Human trafficking, illegal adoptions, and questionable science experiments, any one of those topics alone would make for a good book. At times I was wondering how does this all come together? It felt like reading a full season of 24. The conspiracy at the heart of the novel is extremely complex. In real life, I have a hard time believing it could be pulled off. But as a work of fiction, I enjoyed it. As the final 80 pages ticked away, I was reading at a rapid pace. You pull for Emma and Jack immediately because they are everyday people. They are people you come across on your way to work or the grocery store. Does Emma get Tyler back? Will Jack get the story? Will Gretchen be stopped? Of course I won't answer those questions, but you will quickly get sucked into this story.

Rating: Give it a try

Notes: I received a copy of the novel from Planned Television Arts in exchange for an honest review. For more information on author Rick Mofina visit: http://www.rickmofina.com/
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Oct 20, 2011 Tom Tischler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

a car crashes in Wyoming and a young mother is thrown clear and sees
someone pull her infant son from the wreckage,or does she. Nobody
believes her including the police until one night a voice through the
phone says your baby is alive. A bomb explodes in Rio and kills 10

people including two journalists with the World Press Alliance and
Jack Gannon's first international assignment begins. A Carribean cruise
ends in horror and doctors are trying to discover the strange cause of a
passengers death. T...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Judi/Judith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first Rick Mofina book and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed this fast paced mystery/thriller and it kept me turning the pages, one right after another.

A young women in Wyoming is in a car crash and she is injured, loses her husband and sees someone carry her baby away from the scene. Everyone in her life tries to convince her that the baby burned in the crash and they think her imagination is going full speed.

A bomb kills ten people in a Rio De Janeiro cafe including two journali...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Patrick Balester rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rick Mofina follows up his first rate thriller, Vengeance Road, with an encore performance in The Panic Zone. Both feature newcomer Jack Gannon, a top notch journalist with a tortured past. Despite recognition for his writing skills, he still must battle to win respect in the cutthroat world of the newsroom. When he isn't staring down the barrel of a gun while pursuing leads in a cafe bombing, he's fighting his jealous colleagues to keep his story alive.

And you thought your job was tough?

Rick's...more

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May 26, 2011 Diana Kirkwood rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was amazing and is about two mysteries that occur at the same time, in different parts of the world. Jack Gannon, detective reporter, is investigating the deaths of his colleagues in Brazil. The killings appear to be drug related but it`s much bigger than that. At the same time, Emma and her family are involved in a head on crash in Wyoming, however, her son Tyler is taken from the scene before anyone arrives. Emma knows he is still alive. The paths of the two heros, Jack and Emma, cro...more

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Feb 26, 2013 John Hancock rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've always been a Rick Mofina fan, so I eagerly looked forward to reading this one on my kindle. Just being upfront I already like the author's work.

I don't spoil, if I can help it, but I will say this is another Jack Gannon story that finds the beleaguered reporter once again at the point of the spear of what is going on around him. This makes me say in my mind "Poor Jack, NOT AGAIN!" as various situations put him in various levels of real hurt. (that's going to leave a mark!).
Mofina's books...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Holly is currently reading it · review of another edition

So far "The Panic Zone" is making my heart race! In this book, which is being told in three people, you follow the lives of Jack Gannon and Emma. Emma who has just lost everything she had, her husband and baby son, is living knowing that someone did save her baby. But everyone tells her otherwise. Jack Gannon, a journalist on a mission to find out who or what caused a bombing that killed two of his collegues in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil. But is there something everyone is missing. A thrilling read t...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Stewart rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well entrenched in the thriller genre, The Panic Zone tells 3 separate storylines which (of course) resolve together at the end. Given that the author is a former journalist, it perhaps is not surprising that the best of these storylines is about a journalist named Jack Gannon. It is a good page turning read. Unfortunately, the other two storylines are nowhere near the same standard. One is dull (the special agent) and the other suffers from very weak dialog (woman who has lost her baby). On the...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Philip rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the best Rick Mofina that I have yet read!
My first impression when I started reading it was "What in hell is this all about anyway and if it's supposed to be a Jack Gannon book, where is he?" and this is going to be a slow read! Boy was I wrong on all counts! The format of all the individual and seemingly unconnected storys in alternating chapters took some getting used to but I think it presented the story in just the way an investigative reporter like Gannon and all the various Law enf...more

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Dec 10, 2010 Peter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadiana, fiction, media, newspaper-novels, thriller

Rick Mofina is a not bad writer...this thriller could be tighter but that's a quibble...Stalwart newspaper reporter and good guy FBI guy reluctantly join forces to stop the ultimate in malthusian terrorists plots...some nice extrapolation of science and demography but the psychological motivations seem weaker than need be and there are a couple of co-incidences and some time shrinking that need to be ignored in order to get on with the story...

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May 13, 2011 Bob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Global traffic in adopeted babies, a really mad scientist with a plan to pare down the world population, various world wide Government agencies and Jack Cannon, a reporter for the World Press Alliance all play a partin this thriller. The scientest is out to unleash a deadly virus in hopes of reducing the world population and everyone else is working to uncover and stop her plot.

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Nov 03, 2012 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was reading this book on my ereader in spare moments but I wasn't moved to pick it up and finish it. Too many character and plot changes which I am sure, knowing Mofina, will all come together in the end. However, I found myself scanning pages instead of reading them and so decided to move on to other books.

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Sep 04, 2012 Suequeenofchaos rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have just discovered this author this year. Really enjoy his books. I found this one a little bit harder to get into because it starts out with many different stories. So, at first it was a little confusing. Once all the stories started to connect together I really enjoyed.

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Nov 22, 2011 Terri rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thrillers-suspense

A reporter investigates a bombing at a Rio cafe where two of his co-workers are killed. What he finds takes him to several continents, investigating a missing baby, illegal adoptions and a defunct bioweapons project.

Suspenseful and a fast read, I enjoyed the ride!

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Nov 23, 2010 Ashley Zacharias rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good, quick read. The technology was mostly accurate, though not available yet, thank goodness. I'm not terribly fond of pages of one-sentence paragraphs, but that's the style for thrillers these days, so I have to live with it.

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Oct 16, 2012 BigJohn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

I've been sitting on this book for a while, and it finally bubbled up to the top of my reading queue. I had bought it on recommendation a few years ago, and it sounded pretty good to me. I finished this fairly quickly; it had a good pace and an engaging story, with a slightly convoluted plot that takes the main character all over the world (did he ever sleep?) on his investigations. There are apparently additional books in this series, which I'm interested in checking out now as well, since I en...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Faye Blondin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This one is pretty much forgettable. I read it a year ago and started it again not even realizing I had already read it. I might have given it a three a yearago but this time it only gets a two

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Feb 08, 2013 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Too much about a mom and her son, but a lot of good drama around that. The rating would be higher had Mofina emphasized that part less. 7 of 10 stars

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Jan 13, 2011 Ksafford rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just started it so will have to wait and see. I have not read anything by this author so am hoping it is good.

Finished. Enjoyable, quick, read with international intrigue.

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Jul 25, 2011 Alfredo added it · review of another edition

Rather pedestrian but still interesting thriller. i reads like a knockoff of a Crichton novel, but it is a good way to pass a few hours on a boring weekend.

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Jul 03, 2012 Polly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

There were likable characters, but the plot was so unbelievable, in so many ways. I'll save the rest of my comments for my book group, but this wouldn't be a book I'd recommend to anyone.

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Sep 06, 2012 Patricia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book. Unfortunately I figuted out the end by the 21st chapter. But I enjoyed the ride anyway

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Jul 08, 2012 Barry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting. Took awhile to get going for me but really picks up towards the end.

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About Rick Mofina

Rick Mofina is a former journalist and an award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers. His reporting has put him face-to-face with murderers on death row in Montana and Texas. He has covered a horrific serial-killing case in California and an armored car-heist in Las Vegas, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD Air Support Division and gone on patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police n...more

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The Panic Zone (Jack Gannon #2)

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