August 10, 2009

ICE TRAP by Kitty Sewell

Filed under: Great Reads — jenny @ 8:18 am

If my novel is (ever) bought, readers will see that I love books about snow and cold. There’s something inherently suspenseful about these elements. It’s lucky I never thought I had the market cornered in this respect, because Kitty Sewell’s brilliant thriller would’ve had me eating humble pie.

I discovered this book while on my voyage to Powell’s in Portland and reading it became a voyage in itself.

Amidst the struggles of their workaday life, a couple is trying unsuccessfully to have a baby, and this is taking its usual toll. As tensions mount, the husband receives a letter. It’s from a gawky teenager, claiming to be his daughter.

A lifetime ago Dayffd did a stint as a young doctor in the Canadian wilderness. The world he left behind hardly beckons anymore, although it contained longing, lust, and even love. It also contained a confused and toxic charge nurse, who worked side by side with Dayfdd, and just happens to be the mother of the teenager writing him now.

Dafydd knows he can’t be this child’s father–nor the father of her twin–and he travels back to a far snowy land to prove it. What he finds there is a mystery more twisted than anything he could’ve imagined. And disentangling himself from it may cost him even more than the child he will never have.

Kitty Sewell is a skillful writer whose prose brings to life a totally alien atmosphere. The redemption ICE TRAP holds out in the end is a plus–a thriller that ends thrillingly. And her characters are as real as you or I, but more than that they’re far from any stock or type you might recognize. Reading her novel is a trip to foreign climes in more ways than one, and I am eagerly waiting Kitty’s next.






3 Comments »

  1. Hmm! I am not a big reader of thrillers–mostly I use them to cleanse my palate between dense historicals. But I lvoe the way you described the ending of this: I am intrigued! Plus, you’re right, there really IS something about snow and ice. I can’t write about them, but I respect those who can! One of my favorite scenes in my manuscript LADY DRACULA is when they’re snowed in, in the castle overlooking a vast white landscape of nothing. But it’s just a scene: nothing really actually happens, LOL. Ah, well! I think those of you who can weave a mystery are brilliant.

    And yes….POWELL’S RULES!

    Comment by Savvy — August 11, 2009 @ 12:12 pm

  2. I love finding new authors (’cause a few friends and I will be there someday ;-)) and I love your enthusiasm when you find them.

    Looking forward to giving a shout out about the new Jenny Milchman!

    Comment by Peg Brantley — August 12, 2009 @ 11:40 am

  3. That sounds great. I’ll put it on my “to read” list.

    Comment by Judy — August 17, 2009 @ 4:31 pm

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