Bryan Bennett lived with his fears for many years. Because of an experience he had as a small boy, he feared being trapped in small places, feared being kidnapped, feared flying, feared going much distance from his own home. He experienced panic attacks when forced into these difficult situations, attacks that felt like impending death to him. To cope with the potential for panic, which often got to him in the middle of the night, he took xanax.

He designs programs for hostage negotiators. He used to act as a negotiator himself but another incident ended that run for him, and now he prefers to stay at his desk.

Then comes the offer: a company in Iceland wants him to teach a program to its employees, to help prevent kidnappings and to deal with kidnappers. Ultimately he goes, but only after trying a few sessions with a new therapist, trying, reluctantly, to see if he can overcome his fears. His therapist says he can. She says he has to face "the worst thing", make it as bad as possible, without any crutches. He has to get through it and then he will realize that he can, in fact, face it, and it will not have the power any more.

This type therapy is called by various names. It is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy, and works very well with persons who are committed to change. It is difficult but it works. I have watched all of the episodes of "Obsessed" on A&E- all are about persons whose obsessions are a way to cope with anxiety. They are all forms of Bryan. The therapists use these techniques and they work - when the patient is really committed.

Well, should I say the worst happens? He is again a hostage, again subject to the whims of others, again he might die.

Well-researched, especially on the subject of anxiety disorders. Probably on Iceland, too. Kept me reading, wanting him to do the right things. An interesting twist at the end. Unlike another reader on here, I did not find the twist unreal. In fact, it is the type thing that happens with our memories, which is why I liked it. ( )

The Worst Thing is an entertaining book with a couple of twists that will surprise the casual reader.

The book is about Bryan Bennett and his occupation of teaching others how to deal with hostage negotiations, especially that of ransom driven hostage taking. Bryan Bennett has a past of his own involving being taken as a hostage that has left him with debilitating panic attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

His wife persuades him to leave his comfort zone and fly to Iceland for a negotiation seminar and then things fall apart from there.

( )

4 stars for quality writing and in-depth background on hostage negotiation and corporate kidnapping! 3.5 stars for plot. 3 stars for easy wrap-up to the kidnapping situation. Publisher made a mistake putting the blurb about the surprise ending....would've been better if I didn't know it was coming I wouldn't have spent so much time figuring out the twist. ( )

This book gave me nightmares! It is an interesting departure from the Gideon books and promises to produce a series at least as intriguing. The main characters are empathetic and compelling. The only weakness is a very Holms-ism section in which characters make leaps of cognition based on no (or at the very most, scant) clues. ( )

Oops, somehow I never marked this as read. ???

Review to come then, since I thought I'd already finished it and now I have to think about it again. ( )