The Fear Principle is science fiction thriller with moderate to heavy expletives and violence.

After the "Killing Times", a time in human history where serial killing became an epidemic and barely a soul came out of the period unscathed, the government created a program of rehabilitation off-planet, by using the fears of the individual as a control technique. Some corporations, such as DIE, work in the shadows, creating super toys for the elite at the cost of everyone around them.

Dr. Jaguar Addams has empathic abilities which she uses with her prisoners on Planetoid Three, to confront their basic fears, she takes their fears into herself and uses them to heal her subjects. With smoke, mirrors, actors and empathic mind push, she can make anyone stand up to their real selves and face that which most makes us shudder. Most times she is successful and for this reason she is given one of her toughest assignments yet.

Clare Rilasco is an elite assassin, emotionless, hard and very driven. She has been captured and everyone wants a piece of her, some want the answers locked inside her brain and some don't wish for her to share what she knows. She is given to Jaguar to unlock, but Clare isn't without tricks of her own and soon the doctor becomes the student in a power struggle for the ultimate mind control.

Alex Dzarny is the director of the facilities on Planetoid Three, he is also an empath who uses his abilities to control the situations on the planet. He has a special spot for Jaguar and does all that he can to protect her.

Nick Lyola is an ex-lover of Jaguars, who saved her life when she was a child during the "Killing Times". He is a renegade empath and the abilities he is learning could cause him to lose himself forever, as we watch his personality change for the worst as the story progesses. He is jealous of Alex and Jag's "friendship" and will stop at nothing to control Jaguar and make her his again.

I liked the main plot, even though it was very slow paced and I quite enjoyed the empathic abilities of the characters. I enjoyed the mind games, the smoke and mirrors of the set up for the prisoners. I liked the character of Adrian and found him to be well written and was a nice surprise in the story, as well, I equally enjoyed Alex, Nick, Terrence and The Looker. I wasn't overly fond of neither Jaguar nor Clare, I found both of them to be confusing and quite similar in nature, meaning, their wasn't much distinction between their personalities, and you really had to pay attention to their dialogue or you'd miss who was saying what and had to back track your reading.

I didn't like the back story very much, it just wasn't believable, though I did like all the dead guy scenes, they were extremely well written and spooky to read. I wasn't impressed with having to read over half of the book for it to begin to get interesting, if I had borrowed from the library, I'm not sure if I would renew it to see how it had finished, however, after you get thru a large portion of the book, then things begin to come together and a bit more interest ensues. I, myself, wasn't overly fond of the read, the dialogue was disjointed in places and often got away from the writer, leaving a book that required more Planetoid Three and Killing Times back story to make it thoroughly interesting. Playing on your fears and connecting with them thru empathic abilities is a very neat idea but more examples could have been shared with the reader so that you can truly appreciate the Jaguar/Clare storyline. ( )