Time to “Panic”

Burglar Carlos Sanchez isn’t expecting anyone to be home, when he breaks into a brownstone in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, at the beginning of Jason Starr’s new thriller, Panic Attack (Minotaur). Much less is Sanchez expecting to have an entire ammo clip emptied into him as he reaches the top of that residence’s staircase. The shooter, psychologist Adam Bloom, has his own surprises in the aftermath of this incident. Instead of being hailed as a hero for defending his wife and daughter in their own home, the media blast him as a vigilante. Even worse, the sociopathic Johnny Long, who’d tagged along with his pal Sanchez for what they figured was an easy score, decides--after escaping into the night--that the Blooms should pay in more blood for what they did to his partner.

Once again, Starr (The Follower, Fake I.D.) succeeds in scaring the stuffing out of his readers.