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Alex Delillo #2
Never Fear
Set in the suburbs of simmering Los Angeles, NEVER FEAR is a fast-paced thriller featuring Alex Delillo, detective and single mother, which proves that Scott Frost is an exciting new addition to the crime arena. Seventeen years ago, three young women were murdered; their bodies dumped in the wasteland of the Los Angeles River. The serial killer was never found. Now, Lieutenant Alex Delillo, is forced to re-open the case after the brother she never knew existed, a private investigator, is found murdered. As Alex gets closer to the truth behind her brother's murder, alarming flashbacks from her childhood start to plague her and she realises that the truth may lie closer to her life than she could have ever imagined. Alex will have to reach deep into her past to uncover the truth behind the killings and will have to use all her resources if she is to find out the truth before those that want to cover it up find her.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
7 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Scott Frost
26 books47 followersScott Frost is an American screen writer and novelist. He is the son of actor Warren Frost and the brother of Mark Frost and actress Lindsay Frost. He worked with his brother and David Lynch on the Twin Peaks television series, writing two episodes. Among others, he has also written episodes of Babylon 5 and Andromeda. In the early 1990s, he wrote the script for the mystery/thriller TV movie Past Tense with Miguel Tejada-Flores. He again worked with his brother on the 2001 series All Souls.
Series:
* Alex Delillo Mystery
Series contributed to:
* Babylon 5: Other Voices
Series:
* Alex Delillo Mystery
Series contributed to:
* Babylon 5: Other Voices
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 21, 2021
A fast paced story. Alex a female Pasadena detective discovers she has a brother who has apparently committed suicide. He tried to fax her something just before he is discovered dead in an area where two murders happened years ago and were connected to
her father who disappeared when she was a kid.
The story revolves around corruption and obsession. There are some big holes in it such as the lack of cooperation between departments and the corruption of the LAPD police. Why Alex does not push her mother more on questions about her father. How he can disappear and get new identities? The speed of which events happen is farfetched. Saying that the story is easy to read and if you suspend belief entertaining.
her father who disappeared when she was a kid.
The story revolves around corruption and obsession. There are some big holes in it such as the lack of cooperation between departments and the corruption of the LAPD police. Why Alex does not push her mother more on questions about her father. How he can disappear and get new identities? The speed of which events happen is farfetched. Saying that the story is easy to read and if you suspend belief entertaining.
November 13, 2013
PROTAGONIST: Lieut. Alex Delillo, homicide detective
SETTING: Pasadena, CA
SERIES: #2 of 2
RATING: 3.75
NEVER FEAR
Alex Delillo is a lieutenant in the homicide detective of the Pasadena, California, Police Department. It's puzzling to find that a man who just died was trying to send her a fax right before his death. It's shocking to find that this man, John Manning, is her half brother and that she had never before known of his existence. Certainly, her family life was quite dysfunctional. Her father, Thomas Manning, was an actor and a man who abused his wife. Alex also discovers that he may have been a murderer, as he was a prime suspect in the River Killings of three young women 18 years earlier. No one wants to believe such a thing of their own father, but Alex has very eerie half-memories of her childhood that support the idea that Thomas Manning was a man to be feared.
Along with one of the detectives in her department, Dylan Harrison, Alex goes into a deep investigation of her brother and father. Her brother's death took place in a place that is the responsibility of the Los Angeles Police Department. They believe that John's death is a suicide, but Alex becomes convinced that it is murder. Could her father have murdered his own son? As she and Harrison pursue the leads, they find that the LAPD seem to be covering up information – why would they not share their files and notes with their sister police department?
Why did Alex's brother die in almost the same spot as the victims of the River Killings? Is Alex's father dead or alive? Did she suffer abuse at her father's hands when a child? Why are the LAPD being so difficult to deal with? There are a lot of questions that draw the reader deeper and deeper into the narrative, with some surprising responses along the way. At the same time as the people in the story are destroying one another, Mother Nature is wreaking her destruction on the Los Angeles area, with summer fires eating up whole neighborhoods.
My one lingering question about the book is how Delillo and Harrison were able to spend all their time on this case, even though it was outside their jurisdiction. I felt Frost squandered an opportunity to show us how a female operated in a position of power in a predominantly male world. We rarely saw Alex in action with her team. Instead, she came across as just another detective (albeit, a good one). I also felt it was unfortunate that Delillo and Harrison were interested in each other in a romantic way.
Frost excels at ratcheting up the suspense and building a complex and puzzling plot with a good sense of pacing which keeps things moving. There are a few too many sub-plots, but the author resolves all of them well and in a fair way. Part police procedural, part psychological thriller, NEVER FEAR is a page turner that will be loved by thriller fans.
SETTING: Pasadena, CA
SERIES: #2 of 2
RATING: 3.75
NEVER FEAR
Alex Delillo is a lieutenant in the homicide detective of the Pasadena, California, Police Department. It's puzzling to find that a man who just died was trying to send her a fax right before his death. It's shocking to find that this man, John Manning, is her half brother and that she had never before known of his existence. Certainly, her family life was quite dysfunctional. Her father, Thomas Manning, was an actor and a man who abused his wife. Alex also discovers that he may have been a murderer, as he was a prime suspect in the River Killings of three young women 18 years earlier. No one wants to believe such a thing of their own father, but Alex has very eerie half-memories of her childhood that support the idea that Thomas Manning was a man to be feared.
Along with one of the detectives in her department, Dylan Harrison, Alex goes into a deep investigation of her brother and father. Her brother's death took place in a place that is the responsibility of the Los Angeles Police Department. They believe that John's death is a suicide, but Alex becomes convinced that it is murder. Could her father have murdered his own son? As she and Harrison pursue the leads, they find that the LAPD seem to be covering up information – why would they not share their files and notes with their sister police department?
Why did Alex's brother die in almost the same spot as the victims of the River Killings? Is Alex's father dead or alive? Did she suffer abuse at her father's hands when a child? Why are the LAPD being so difficult to deal with? There are a lot of questions that draw the reader deeper and deeper into the narrative, with some surprising responses along the way. At the same time as the people in the story are destroying one another, Mother Nature is wreaking her destruction on the Los Angeles area, with summer fires eating up whole neighborhoods.
My one lingering question about the book is how Delillo and Harrison were able to spend all their time on this case, even though it was outside their jurisdiction. I felt Frost squandered an opportunity to show us how a female operated in a position of power in a predominantly male world. We rarely saw Alex in action with her team. Instead, she came across as just another detective (albeit, a good one). I also felt it was unfortunate that Delillo and Harrison were interested in each other in a romantic way.
Frost excels at ratcheting up the suspense and building a complex and puzzling plot with a good sense of pacing which keeps things moving. There are a few too many sub-plots, but the author resolves all of them well and in a fair way. Part police procedural, part psychological thriller, NEVER FEAR is a page turner that will be loved by thriller fans.
May 18, 2019
This is another fast paced and gripping story that follow Alex DeLillo as she discovers she has a half-brother who's death she now needs to investigate. In doing so she uncovers and remembers a lot about her past and her father than she really wanted to and is left having to solve an 18 year old seriala killer mystery focused around the banks of the L.A. river, an area outside of her authority where her presence and assistance is not particularly welcome. Frost develops Alex's character even more incorporating elements of her past hinted at during the first novel as well as new flashbacks and memories, all of which occurs against the backdrop of L.A. wildfires and murky river corridors. I did miss Lacy's no nonsense presence but she did pop up a few times to remind Alex of how she should be and how to tell others what for (always useful). Definitely more gripping than the first one, and more disturbing.
March 15, 2013
I think it's a very good book, because it's very exciting. It's really a thriller. Once you picked this book up you can't stop reading. The novel has lots of story lines, once you read it you keep guessing what's going to happen. That's why it's a very mysterious novel. The novel has too many details and that slowed the story down. That's the only negative point of this novel. I can really recommend this novel, because it's very exciting and you really understand how the main character feels and if you love thrillers you'll probably enjoy this book.
September 12, 2008
Typical of the sort of blockbuster thriller that sells zillions today. It's about a detective who uncovers corruption in the authorities, blah, blah. I read it easily enough, so I suppose it can't be all bad. Maybe I was just looking for more than a plot - I want characters and ideas and something to make me take notice.
December 29, 2024
I enjoyed the book but again, as with other detective novels, in the last few pages the author has to pull all the loose ends together. And that includes telling the reader how each of the several evil characters was involved in the crime/s. Still I was eager to finish the book to find out what happened. But I found the ending somewhat underwhelming and predictable.
September 15, 2017
Loved the pacing, very high stakes. yes.
June 26, 2021
Lots of twists & turns. Will look for more books by this author.
August 2, 2021
3.5 I enjoyed this book. Good plot and believable characters.
August 31, 2021
Great reading, slightly disappointed with the ending.
January 5, 2023
Fun imagery and stressful scenes but it lost steam about 3/4 of the way in and I got confused about who was who. Also what happened to Danny? Is he ok?
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January 20, 2025July 2010
March 29, 2025
Good read.
February 3, 2025
4.5 stars (not sure how to do a half) I read this book in just over a day. It was so exciting, I couldn't stop reading it. I really enjoyed the characters, the pace and that it kept you guessing. I thought the writing style was very clever and really painted a picture. I only wish I had read the previous book first.
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February 1, 2013Never Fear, by Scott Frost, B. Narrated by Shelly Frasier, Produced by tantor Media, downloaded from audible.com.
This is the second in the Alex Delillo series, the first book being “At Risk”. Alex is a lieutenant in the Pasadina police force. Seventeen years ago, three women were killed, their bodies dumped in the wasteland of the L.A. River. The serial killer was never found, and the case was closed. Alex’s daughter, Lacey, has now started college and is using Alex’s maiden name due to the horrific events of the first novel where they were stalked by a serial killer and Lacey had been kidnapped. Then Alex receives a partial fax one day from someone with the same last name, her maiden name. Alex, to her knowledge, had no siblings, but her father left home when she was quite young and she had never seen him again. Now, all these years later, Alex receives information that she is wanted at the morgue, that there is a body, and it allegedly is her brother. Alex believes it must be some kind of hoax because she doesn’t have a brother, but when she arrives and views the body, she can’t deny that he is the spitting image of her father. She puts that together with the half fax she got and believes her brother was trying to contact her when he was murdered. Her brother’s case seems to be connected in some way with the River Killings that happened 17 years ago, and Alex must convince the L.A. police to re-open that case in order to determine her brother’s murderer. Her brother seemed to be researching the river killings case, and the major suspect at that time, never convicted, was her own father who has a history of violence against women. The LAPD is calling her brother’s death a suicide, and people believe her father is dead. But Alex comes to believe her father is still alive, may still be killing people, and that her brother was murdered.
This book didn’t quite “make the grade” for me. I gave it a B because I don’t even finish a book that I believe rates lower than that. But Alex Delillo, who is supposed to be a police lieutenant, doesn’t do much police work except to track her brother’s killer, and she continually over-steps her boundaries into LAPD territory in a way that seems unconvincing to me in terms of real-life police work. Also, the author was much more interested in whether or not there would be a love interest between Alex and her subordinate detective, her junior in age as well as her supervised employee. And the ending is rather ambiguous as to what she will be doing next. Rather disappointing.
This is the second in the Alex Delillo series, the first book being “At Risk”. Alex is a lieutenant in the Pasadina police force. Seventeen years ago, three women were killed, their bodies dumped in the wasteland of the L.A. River. The serial killer was never found, and the case was closed. Alex’s daughter, Lacey, has now started college and is using Alex’s maiden name due to the horrific events of the first novel where they were stalked by a serial killer and Lacey had been kidnapped. Then Alex receives a partial fax one day from someone with the same last name, her maiden name. Alex, to her knowledge, had no siblings, but her father left home when she was quite young and she had never seen him again. Now, all these years later, Alex receives information that she is wanted at the morgue, that there is a body, and it allegedly is her brother. Alex believes it must be some kind of hoax because she doesn’t have a brother, but when she arrives and views the body, she can’t deny that he is the spitting image of her father. She puts that together with the half fax she got and believes her brother was trying to contact her when he was murdered. Her brother’s case seems to be connected in some way with the River Killings that happened 17 years ago, and Alex must convince the L.A. police to re-open that case in order to determine her brother’s murderer. Her brother seemed to be researching the river killings case, and the major suspect at that time, never convicted, was her own father who has a history of violence against women. The LAPD is calling her brother’s death a suicide, and people believe her father is dead. But Alex comes to believe her father is still alive, may still be killing people, and that her brother was murdered.
This book didn’t quite “make the grade” for me. I gave it a B because I don’t even finish a book that I believe rates lower than that. But Alex Delillo, who is supposed to be a police lieutenant, doesn’t do much police work except to track her brother’s killer, and she continually over-steps her boundaries into LAPD territory in a way that seems unconvincing to me in terms of real-life police work. Also, the author was much more interested in whether or not there would be a love interest between Alex and her subordinate detective, her junior in age as well as her supervised employee. And the ending is rather ambiguous as to what she will be doing next. Rather disappointing.
August 26, 2008
LA's Burning and Bodies are Filling the River - but wait - there's More!
I've always found Los Angeles the perfect setting for crime novels: the sprawling city of contrasting seediness and glitz, mean streets and the meaner people living in them, plastic Hollywood sleaze mixing with the grit of rundown residential hotels, suntanned surfers and sunburned loners of the eastern high desert. Raymond Chandler started it all and is still the master, Robert Crais does LA best today (though some - not me - would argue Michael Connolly), but give Scott Frost credit - "Never Fear" stacks right in there with the best of LA noir.
Alex Delillo is a Pasadena homicide detective who is told that a body found in the LA River is that of her brother. Problem is, Delillo doesn't have a brother - or at least she didn't think so - leading her down a path uncovering the shady past of her long-estranged father, a serial killer of nearly two decades ago, and the obligatory crooked cops of the LAPD. This is an intelligent and complex novel, which, if there is a problem with Scott Frost's second novel, it is the sheer volume of subs, subplots, and distractions. Poor Alex, who's only recently recovering from a psycho's failed attempt to blow up her daughter, must now deal with a dead brother she's never met, a dad who may have been a serial killer, a neurotic mother, while facing down what feels at time like the entire Los Angeles police force. And somebody's trying to kill her - again. Meanwhile, the hills of LA are burning, threatening to take the entire city down. Got all that?
So yeah, this is ambitious, but it works, and kept me pretty much glued to the pages to the flaming end. Frost is a screenwriter, and it shows in the rapid pace that doesn't tolerate boredom, delivered in the hip, comfortable style you'd expect from LA. This was my first Scott Frost, but it's good enough for me to go back and check out his well-received debut, "Run the Risk".
I've always found Los Angeles the perfect setting for crime novels: the sprawling city of contrasting seediness and glitz, mean streets and the meaner people living in them, plastic Hollywood sleaze mixing with the grit of rundown residential hotels, suntanned surfers and sunburned loners of the eastern high desert. Raymond Chandler started it all and is still the master, Robert Crais does LA best today (though some - not me - would argue Michael Connolly), but give Scott Frost credit - "Never Fear" stacks right in there with the best of LA noir.
Alex Delillo is a Pasadena homicide detective who is told that a body found in the LA River is that of her brother. Problem is, Delillo doesn't have a brother - or at least she didn't think so - leading her down a path uncovering the shady past of her long-estranged father, a serial killer of nearly two decades ago, and the obligatory crooked cops of the LAPD. This is an intelligent and complex novel, which, if there is a problem with Scott Frost's second novel, it is the sheer volume of subs, subplots, and distractions. Poor Alex, who's only recently recovering from a psycho's failed attempt to blow up her daughter, must now deal with a dead brother she's never met, a dad who may have been a serial killer, a neurotic mother, while facing down what feels at time like the entire Los Angeles police force. And somebody's trying to kill her - again. Meanwhile, the hills of LA are burning, threatening to take the entire city down. Got all that?
So yeah, this is ambitious, but it works, and kept me pretty much glued to the pages to the flaming end. Frost is a screenwriter, and it shows in the rapid pace that doesn't tolerate boredom, delivered in the hip, comfortable style you'd expect from LA. This was my first Scott Frost, but it's good enough for me to go back and check out his well-received debut, "Run the Risk".
May 30, 2011
Am besten zuerst Risk lesen, denn viel von der Stimmung geht in dieses Buch mit ein, manchmal stolpert man direkt über alte Fäden, die man nicht zuordnen kann. Ich habe den Erstling auch noch nicht gelesen. Da gleichzeitig nirgendwo zu erkennen war, dass es sich um eine Reihe handelt, die so eng verknüpft ist, hier als erstes diese "Warnung" ;)
Ohne diesen Makel hätte Fear vielleicht sogar, wenn auch knappe, 5 Sterne eingefahren :)
Ein spannender Krimi, der höchstens an mikroskopisch kleinen Stellen unglaubwürdig erscheinen kann. Der einzige große Zufall ist die Rolle des Vaters der Polizistin, der als Täter in Frage kommt. Aber Achtung, Alex DeLillo ermittelt als Ich-Erzählerin!
Frost versteht es, kontinuierlich Spannung aufzubauen und den Leser nicht mehr loszulassen. Die Story flacht hin und wieder zwar etwas ab, aber mehr um Schwung für die erneute Beschleunigung der Geschichte zu holen. Die Handlungsstränge sind sehr kunstvoll zu einem Plott verwoben, so dass auch lange ungewiss bleibt, wer was wann verbrochen hat.
Ohne diesen Makel hätte Fear vielleicht sogar, wenn auch knappe, 5 Sterne eingefahren :)
Ein spannender Krimi, der höchstens an mikroskopisch kleinen Stellen unglaubwürdig erscheinen kann. Der einzige große Zufall ist die Rolle des Vaters der Polizistin, der als Täter in Frage kommt. Aber Achtung, Alex DeLillo ermittelt als Ich-Erzählerin!
Frost versteht es, kontinuierlich Spannung aufzubauen und den Leser nicht mehr loszulassen. Die Story flacht hin und wieder zwar etwas ab, aber mehr um Schwung für die erneute Beschleunigung der Geschichte zu holen. Die Handlungsstränge sind sehr kunstvoll zu einem Plott verwoben, so dass auch lange ungewiss bleibt, wer was wann verbrochen hat.
September 16, 2013
I'm done with this series. The characters can be interesting, but the lead is relentlessly unlucky and there's no satisfaction for her or the reader as she works through each mystery and crime. And every time she tells herself to "work it" you can be sure she will lose all professional perspective and approach.
February 11, 2010
Very Good; Continuing character: Alex Delillo; a half brother she didn't know she had tries to contact the detective before he dies, pulling her into a case involving police corruption and a serial killer that just may be her long estranged father
July 27, 2013
This book was okay. I lost interest about half way thru - too many characters, too many characters dying, couldn't keep them all straight and really didn't care how it ended -- just not my kind of story.
March 19, 2016
Liked this a lot. Suspenseful and twiesty turny. Police officer gets a call from the morgue saying her brother is dead, she didn't even know she had a brother. It leads her to unlock the secrets of her childhood. Unsolved murders, corrupt police forces, pretty good.
June 18, 2008
A fun summertime mystery.
April 21, 2010
Strange.
January 22, 2011
riveting adrenaline filled page turner! once I picked this up and started reading I didn't want to stop until the ending! left me speechless! Excellent!
January 20, 2011
Great plot lines, kept me guessing even when I thought i MIGHT know the answers. Great read!
May 25, 2013
cliched and derivative.
June 24, 2013
Good detective thriller set in my hometown (Pasadena CA!). Intriguing, interwoven plot elements, a great protagonist/police detective. Moves right along.
October 17, 2013
Great book! Can't believe it didnt' get all good reviews on goodreads.
February 17, 2014
Pleasantly surprised...good murder mystery!
October 21, 2015
Pleasant, for skin slivering sister mysteries.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews