Panic by Jeff Abbott

by:  Jeff Abbott
published by:  Dutton
publish date:  August 18, 2005

Things are going well for 24 year-old Evan Casher: his career as a documentary filmmaker is booming and his relationship with his new girlfriend, Carrie, couldn't be better. After an urgent phone call from his mother, he makes an unexpected trip home to Austin. Then the unthinkable happens. He arrives to find his mother brutally murdered, and narrowly escapes an attempt on his own life. Spirited away from the scene by an enigmatic mercenary with an agenda of his own, Evan is confronted with a shocking fact: his entire life has been little more than a carefully constructed lie.

This is one of Jeff Abbott's older books.  I liked his more recent Sam Capra series though so I guessed this one would be good too.  I guessed right.  

Evan gets a call from his mom asking him to come home, when he gets there she has been murdered.  He finds out that his mother is a spy and his father has been kidnapped.  Evan realizes that nothing in his life is what it seemed.  He has to decide whether to run and hide or stand and fight.

The whole premise of the book might have been a little far-fetched and unbelievable.  However,  I am generally one that can suspend disbelief for the good of the book.  I found the book to be a great thriller full of great characters and truly awful villains.