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Book Summary and Reviews of Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

Ice Cold

A Rizzoli & Isles Novel, #8

by Tess Gerritsen

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  • Jun 2010, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen's relentless, inventive novels take readers on pulse-racing thrill rides that are as satisfying as they are heart-stopping. Now, in this edge-of-your-seat suspense novel, a mysteriously isolated town stands abandoned as a silent watcher waits.

In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness - someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless - and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] solid entry in the series, with a compelling mystery and some good, old-fashioned shockers. A solid choice for Gerritsen fans, but probably not the best starting point for those new to the series." - Booklist

"The taut suspense and vivid depictions that are hallmarks of Gerritsen's writing are evident ... although this one feels a bit stretched, with one too many plot twists and one too many villains." - Library Journal

This information about Ice Cold was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cloggie Downunder

more great Gerritsen
The Killing Place is the 8th in Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli/Isles series. It’s cold, it’s November and Maura Isles is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a pathologists’ conference. Things are less than ideal in her relationship with Daniel Brophy, and whilst at the conference, she runs into a college acquaintance, Doug Comley. She makes an impulsive choice to accompany his party to an isolated ski lodge and finds herself, their vehicle stranded in deep snow, in the deserted village of Kingdom Come. When Maura appears to have gone missing, Jane Rizzoli, Gabriel Dean and Daniel Brophy fly to Wyoming to investigate. Their crashed vehicle with four badly burned bodies inside seems to indicate the worst for Maura. Gerritsen departs from her usual crime committed, investigated and pathology done formula: this book has a bit of a Karin Slaughter feel. But once again, an original plot with twists to the end (if you think you know whodunit, you will get a surprise!), credible characters and authentic dialogue. Once again, we are treated to plenty of interesting facts in easily-digestible morsels, this time about the autopsy of poisoning victims, septicaemia and cult religious groups. Gerritsen touches on Stockholm syndrome, polygamy, paedophilia, police corruption, charismatic leaders, mass suicide, gangrene, amputation and toxic waste disposal. Another great Gerritsen read.

Debby H.

Waste of Time
Wow. This was not one of Ms. Gerritsen's better novels. I rarely quit before the end of a book but I only went 100 pages with this one. I have too many worthwhile books to start. She must be busy with the new series on television (which I absolutely love!) and threw this together to be done with it. It was repetitious and full of filler. I felt constantly that things were added or really stretched to add the pages up. Big disappointment. I hope this isn't an effort she plans to repeat.

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Author Information

Tess Gerritsen Author Biography

Photo © Brian Velenchenko

International bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A Stanford University graduate, Tess went on to gain her MD at the University of California, San Francisco. While on maternity leave as a physician, she began to write fiction. She published her first novel in 1987 and has since sold over forty million copies of books in forty countries, winning the Nero Wolfe Award and the RITA Award. Her novels have been top-three US bestsellers and number one bestsellers abroad. Critics worldwide praise her novels as "pulse-pounding fun" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "scary and brilliant" (Toronto Globe and Mail), and "polished, riveting prose" (Chicago Tribune). Publishers Weekly has dubbed her the "medical suspense queen." Her series featuring homicide detective Jane...

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