Book Review: Frozen

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Frozen     Amazon US PB Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB
Richard Burke
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth
Orion, 2003

Burke is an author new on the scene, and his books may not be widely available in the United States as yet. But if you can find one, it's worth a look-see.

Harry spends every Wednesday evening with his childhood friend Verity, enjoying dinner together in a favorite pub and catching up on the events of the last week. Since Verity is almost always late, Harry at first is unconcerned when she doesn't arrive. Eventually he gives up waiting and returns home, having consumed too much beer while he waited. So having a hangover the next morning does not put him in the best frame of mind to learn that Verity has had a bad fall, suffered serious brain injury and may not recover.

At first, it seems that the fall was an attempt at suicide. But as Verity lingers in a semi-vegetative state, Harry begins to wonder about the validity of the assumption of a botched suicide. Confiding in a few friends, and retracing Verity's actions during the last few weeks of her life, Harry finds his questions multiplying and the answers less definitive.

The difficulty with a small cast of characters in a mystery is that the reader's choices for suspecting the bad guy are limited. I was suspicious at the first appearance of the person eventually revealed as the culprit behind Verity's ruinous plunge off the cliff.

Nevertheless, FROZEN is an enjoyable read, nicely plotted and original.

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM