Book Review: Absolute Zero

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Absolute Zero     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Chuck Logan
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Phil Broker # 3
Harper, Feb 2002, $24.95, 400 pp.

Phil Broker spent his years on the St. Paul's police department as a deep undercover cop. When he left the force, he owned and operated a small resort on Lake Superior. He also help his uncle guide hunters near Ely so he doesn't have time to think that his wife took their baby and went back into the Army after her maternity leave was up. Broker wanted her to stay stateside while she wanted him to go to Europe with her to watch the baby.

The effect of their separation leaves Phil vulnerable as well as miserable and on edge. When he guided three men into the wilderness to look for moose one became very sick. They were able to get him medical help, but something went wrong and the patient was technically brain dead. Phil believes he sees an awareness in the man's eyes and together they find a way to go after the person who seems to have gotten away with killing an innocent man.

Chuck Logan is going to do for suspense thrillers what John Grisham has done for legal thrillers. His prose is crisp, colorful and pointed with not one wasted word. Yet he makes scenes so realistic and colorful that the readers feel that they are mentally watching a video. ABSOLUTE ZERO has so many twists and turns that one never knows from one minute to the next what is going to happen except that this novel is absolutely perfect.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner