Greg Iles was born in Germany, raised in Mississippi, and and spent several years on the road with a band Frankly Scarlet. After marrying, he settled down and started writing and saw his first novel – “Spandau Phoenix” – published in 1993. “Mortal Fear” is his third book, and was first published in 1996.

Harper Cole, was born, raised and still lives in Rain, Mississippi. A former musician who now makes his living trading futures, Cole is married to Drewe, his childhood sweetheart. Drewe, a doctor, has a sister called Erin and a very well-connected father. She also has hopes of starting a family very soon, something that Harper himself isn’t quite so keen on. Harper also works as a sysop for an online computer service called EROS – as the name would imply, it provides an outlet for those who need a certain spark in their lives. The service is very expensive, but makes certain arrangements to protect the users’ anonymity. Harper was brought into EROS by Miles Turner, an old friend from childhood and a very highly qualified IT expert.

Karin Wheat, a high-profile author, had been a member of EROS. Unfortunately, she has also been recently murdered. The book opens with Cole contacting the police, believing he has some information which may prove crucial to the case. Harper not only suspects that Wheat was the victim of a man called David Strobekker – another EROS client who, Cole believes, is using EROS to target his victims. Having studied his account, Harper believes that Strobekker has possibly killed six other women – however, this would involve Strobekker somehow having gained access to the company’s master client list. This list, which contains the contact details for all EROS’s users, is not very easy to acquire – only very few people have access to it, Harper and Miles among them. Following a meeting with the police and the FBI, Harper learns that the six missing women he’d identified were, indeed, murdered. Unfortunately, it turns out the ‘real’ David Strobekker has also been dead for nearly a year – with the killer, presumably, taking over his account at EROS. This means that a new suspect is required – and Harper and Miles appear to be the leading contenders…as a result, Harper finds himself working the case unofficially, in an attempt to prove his innocence and protect his family.

This was the first book by Iles I’ve read and I certainly enjoyed it. Despite its size, I was able to race through it at a fair pace – some sections were a little overlong, but I’ve read shorter books that were harder work. It’s also nice to read a book, once in a while, where the hero has a few skeletons in the closet. (There’s one of these skeletons that’s putting Harper under a great deal of pressure). The villain, meanwhile – who Harper and Miles refer to as ‘Brahma’ – is as intelligent as he is dangerous : not only an IT expert, it becomes clear he also has a medical background. Easily good enough for me to keep an eye out for more of Iles’ books.