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A Novel
by Stephen White
Book Reviewed by:New York Times bestselling author Stephen White brings back his popular character, psychologist Alan Gregory, to take on the sociopathic killer from White’s first novel—who, many years later, has walked away from a mental hospital, hungry for revenge.
It has been years since the mayhem was unleashed in Privileged Information. Now Michael McClelland, the brilliant, determined killer introduced in White’s first novel, has left the Colorado State Mental Hospital—and he’s coming after Alan Gregory’s family. The timing couldn’t be deadlier; like a cornered animal, Alan is in a deeply vulnerable state, facing severe doubts about his professional life, his marriage, and his own psyche. And McClelland holds the most powerful weapons of all: secrets from Alan’s past. Secrets Alan thought he had successfully buried years ago. Secrets not even his wife knows. Time is running out as Alan scrambles to outwit his nemesis while confronting each of his worst nightmares. His becomes a captivating psychological journey into the events that forever change us, and the relentless drumbeat of the past. Faithful readers of the series and newcomers alike will be mesmerized by this searing view into the revered doctor’s heart—with a haunting conclusion that will secure Dry Ice’s place as the most memorable of White’s novels.
Prologue
The sky above the mountains was stained with the last pastels of a mediocre sunset.
Headlights approached from the east.
Cruz
climbed from the raw dirt to the bucket, jumped from the bucket up to the ground, killed the diesel, and prepared to meet the maintenance supervisor halfway between the fresh grave and the truck.
The work was running late.
The Ford rolled to a stop on the crushed granite with its brights aimed directly at the grave. Ramirez stepped down from the pickup's
cab and marched toward the hole. Crazy shadows bent every which way as the beams from the truck and the wash from the floods above the excavator competed to obliterate the creeping darkness.
One at a time, Ramirez rubbed the tops of his cowboy boots on the calves of his jeans. Not content with the results, he polished the leather on one boot a second time before he tucked his right hand into the pocket of his down vest, turned his head, and spit. Ramirez kept his boots shinier than a new
...
If you've dropped into this series from time to time, this would be a good time to take another dip as this is one of White's best reviewed books in years. A couple of reviewers caution newcomers from starting with Dry Ice due to the many references to past events and secondary characters. As a general rule I find such concerns a little overrated. Of course, when dropping into an established series there will be plotlines that are unfamiliar and character development that the reader will be unaware of (or at least there certainly should be if a series is worth its salt!) but that rarely means that the reader can't appreciate the novel in its own right - just as a visitor to a country will have a more superficial understanding of its mores than a resident, but that doesn't prevent the visitor from enjoying his stay!. In fact, there are a number of series where I'm convinced my appreciation has been greater by reading it it out of sequence, because I've been able to get to know the characters and then go back in time to discover what made them who they are. Just like in life, there are some friends you grow up with with whom there are few secrets, and others you meet as adults and, overtime, discover what makes them tick...continued
Full Review
(652 words)
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Stephen White grew up in
New York, New Jersey, and
Southern California and attended
the University of California
at Irvine (where he
lasted three weeks as a creative
writing major) and Los Angeles,
before graduating from Berkeley
in 1972. Along the way he
learned to fly small planes,
worked as a tour guide at
Universal Studios in Los
Angeles, cooked, waited
tables and tended bar.
Trained as a clinical
psychologist, he received his
Ph.D. from the University of
Colorado in 1979 and became
...
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