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    Fellowship of Fear
    Fellowship of Fear
    Fellowship of Fear
    Ebook327 pages4 hours

    Fellowship of Fear

    By Aaron Elkins

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    First in the Edgar Award–winning series “that never disappoints,” featuring the forensic anthropologist known as the Skeleton Detective (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

    When anthropology professor Gideon Oliver is offered a teaching fellowship at US military bases in Germany, Sicily, Spain, and Holland, he wastes no time accepting. Stimulating courses to teach, a decent stipend, all expenses paid, plenty of interesting European travel . . . What’s not to like?

    It does not take him long to find out. On his first night, he is forced to fend off two desperate, black‑clad men who have invaded his Heidelberg hotel room with intent to kill. And then there are a few trivial details that the recruiting agency forgot to mention—such as the fact that the two previous holders of the fellowship both met with mysterious ends.

    From there, it is all downhill. Gideon finds himself the target in an unfamiliar game for which no one has bothered to give him the rules. What he does have is his own considerable intellect and his remarkable forensic skills. He will need them, for he is playing for some fairly high stakes: the security of Western Europe.

    Fellowship of Fear is the 1st book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateApr 1, 2014
    ISBN9781497609884
    Author

    Aaron Elkins

    Aaron Elkins’s mysteries and thrillers have earned him an Edgar, an Agatha, a Nero Wolfe Award, and a Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement Award. His nonfiction works have appeared in Smithsonian magazine, the New York Times magazine, and Writer’s Digest. A former anthropology professor, Elkins is known for starting the forensic-mystery genre with his 1982 novel, Fellowship of Fear. He currently serves as the anthropological consultant for the Olympic Peninsula Cold Case Task Force in Washington State. Elkins lives in Washington with his wife, Charlotte—his occasional collaborator—who is also an Agatha winner.

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    Reviews for Fellowship of Fear

    3.5/5

    156 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      "How can a professor of physical anthropology draw upon his special knowledge to find the solution of a mystery that is putting his own life in jeopardy? Professor Gideon Oliver certainly doesn't ask himself that question when he arrives in Heidelberg for a stint as visiting lecturer at the United States Overseas College. Pleasurable excitement is his main emotion; he is visiting abroad for the first time and he hopes the appointment will help him overcome the depression caused by the death of his beloved young wife the year before."When on his first evening in the German university city, Gideon is set upon as he returns to his hotel room, he is able to use his knowledge of national speech patterns to add to the police's description of his assailants. And when, in Itlay, he is brutally ambushed and barely escapes being killed, he determines to take an active part in discovering why he is inexplicably being followed, spied upon, robbed and attacked."Gideon and U.S. security office John Lau, assigned to his 'case,' take to one another immediately. When Gideon is able, from a handful of charred bones and a few teeth, to describe and identify the person whose sparse remains are found in a car connected with the attack on him, Lau realizes his value as a fellow investigator. Together, he and Gideon painstakingly search for the source of the danger that follows Gideon to Italy and Spain and waits for him when he returns to Heidelberg. And often Gideon's academic expertise pays off in a practical way."Not everything that Gideon finds awaiting him in Heidelberg, however, is unpleasant. Thee also is attractive, and very receptive, Janet Feller, a senior staff ember at the college and the first woman to interest Gideon seriously since his wife's death. In a final breathstopping climax, Janet's life is endangered, and Gideon performs the final feat of anthropological detection to uncover the person at the center of it all."I've read several of these books before, but have now acquired all of the series and decided to reread the first books before plunging into the newer ones. And am I glad I did! I knew I liked the series (after all, it is forensic anthropology) but had forgotten how much I like them. What a joy they all are, and this first one hit the ground running. I finished it in a day and am now plunged into the second book and anticipate a smashing good read through them all.
    • 3/5
      3.5 I like this series about an anthropologist who gets involved in solving crimes in interesting locations in the world. Good escape reading.
    • 4/5
      Back in the Cold War, a visiting professor gets caught up in the paranoia and craziness of Russian spies trying to get secrets from US bases in Europe.Brought back lots of memories of my own about that sort of thing.The mystery was okay, and I liked the main character a lot.
    • 4/5
      Interesting, action-packed book, but more espionage oriented than mystery oriented. I'll give him another try; hopefully book number 2 will be better. I did enjoy the anthropological information very much.
    • 3/5
      Good first effort, fortunately later books in this interesting series are less scattered. More travelogue than mystery.
    • 4/5
      This mystery is the introduction of Doctor Gideon Oliver, anthropologist extraordinaire who has a job teaching some courses to interested people at several European military bases run by NATO. Somehow he gets involved in transporting secret infoRmation to the KGB. Actually the how is pretty obvious from the first chapters, but the who what where and why is an interesting adventure.
    • 4/5
      FELLOWSHIP OF FEAR is the first Gideon Oliver novel and it's totally delightful. Oliver is all excited that his stint as a visiting fellow will enable him to visit Europe for the first time. Suddenly, he's enmeshed in an international spy chase and being attacked by masked strangers and saved by equally mysterious strangers and he discovers that both previous visiting fellows met an untimely end.Thus is Gideon Oliver's career as a criminal investigator par excellence born. Bewildered by almost everything outside his professional scope, amazingly uncanny about anything related to his profession, he's a beguiling and likeable lead character. I look forward to reading lots more of the series.
    • 2/5
      All the cloak and dagger seemed incredible and the author lost credibility with me fast. I just didn't buy how Gideon was recruited and how the plot unfolded just seemed very B-movie to me with nothing about the lead character or style making me feel the novel was worth persisting with. The whole premise of one after another visiting lecturer being bumped off--well, in Harry Potter you can believe a curse. In the case of the US military just letting this go yet blithely hiring another lecturer without taking precautions--hard to believe. Gideon also came across to me as supercilious and very Marty Stu before a few dozen pages had passed. (He's a mild-mannered academic, and we're supposed to believe he can successfully fight off professionals attacking him using a technique he read about once years ago?)
    • 4/5
      Gideon Oliver is a visiting professor in Europe and becomes involved in a Russian spy ring. At one point he identifies the charred fragments of bones and teeth from a corpse, revealing, handedness, pipe-smoking, ethnicity, height & weight, etc.
    • 5/5
      The first novel featuring Gideon Oliver, "The Skeleton Detective." The anthropologist who likes his bones already stripped and dry!
    • 4/5
      I wanted to read the first Gideon Oliver again. It's not bad, though the skeletal study is a very small part of the story - more action than thought.
    • 1/5
      Ok-series is supposed to get better later.
    • 3/5
      Needs to be read with the understanding of it being written in the early eighties, when the world was different - as were mindsets and technology. I found it pleasant, and look forward to seeing how Oliver has developed in more recent works.
    • 4/5
      An oldie but the beginner of a fine series (the others keep getting better). Introducing Gideon Oliver, a professor with a tendency to talk over everyone's head but knows his stuff and gets the job done. This story is more of a "deadly spies who are buffoons" than a murder mystery and is set in Europe rather than the Pacific northwest, but the characters are interesting and so is the plot. Besides, it was on sale!Joel Richards is convincing as the narrator.
    • 3/5
      Another excellent mysteryJuly 2, 2019Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseGood twists, interesting science, well- drawn characters, good, solid writing. Everything you need to entertain yourself with a good book.
    • 4/5
      This story makes witty fun of the complicated twists and mis-directions of the spy genre. Dr Oliver is his usual clever, funny self.
    • 5/5
      I had never read any of these books before, nor had I heard of the author, but I love forensic science based stories. This one is a little heavy on the confusion in the story line since the protagonist is totally unaware of the causes of the actions surrounding him until he works it out by the end. Writing from the point of the innocent observer dragooned in to the story is a risk, but it worked out. I intended to read the whole series.
    • 3/5
      Yep, guy lit to be polite. Anthropologist who can tell the race and age of a person from a jaw segment, has a number of violent encounters within a few days of arriving in Europe as a USOC guest lecturer. He finds enthusiastic female company in spite of dissing her feminism. All of the mid-20th century male self congratulation I prefer not to encounter. The plot is a mess of red herrings on a bed of confusion.
    • 4/5
      Before Kathy Reichs’ Tempe Brennan and television shows like Bones, there was Aaaron Elkins’ Gideon Oliver, physical anthropology professor.Fellowship of Fear is the first of Gideon’s adventures (currently sixteen books). Published in 1982, it draws its tension from the cold war between Russia and the U.S.Recently widowed, Gideon has taken a leave from Northern California State University to take on a stint teaching at the United States Overseas College (“bringing college courses to Our Boys in Europe”). His travels take him to Heidelburg in Germany, Sicily, and Madrid.Unknowingly set up to act as the mule for classified army information, Gideon is set upon by thieves, and nearly killed in an automobile accident and its aftermath. This draws the attention of the Security Police who assign officer John Lau to work with Gideon and protect him.Gideon is able to win John’s confidence by looking at some charred bones – a tibia and a jaw bone – and accurately determining the height & weight and the age & nationality of the deceased – and that he was left-handed and smoked a pipe (honest).Gideon is a likeable character, although not a saint. John Lau takes the reader a little longer to warm up to, but that also reflects Gideon’s experience with the relationship.Although I greatly enjoy the detective work in Kathy Reichs’ work, the tension created by a stalking serial killer is a little too “thrilling” for me. This book, centering on “who’s the Russian spy?”, allowed me to enjoy the forensic work at a tension level I can tolerate. In fact, I more than tolerated: I really liked this book and will probably read at least another in the series.

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    Fellowship of Fear - Aaron Elkins

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