Joan's Reviews > Frozen Lives

I enjoyed this mystery set in the cold north of Michigan. I like Emily as an amateur sleuth who has the help of a friend, an ex-FBI agent. Emily is sort of a non-heroine. She is a good support but it is really others who do the actual work on the abduction. I did not like Emily's over managing her relationship to Brandon. I rarely hope a romance will not happen but I did so with this novel. There was quite an emphasis on that relationship in the novel. In that respect, this novel is for readers who like about as much on the personal life of the main character as on the suspenseful mystery.

One aspect of the novel that captured my attention was how kids responded to the disappearance of a classmate. Speculation was rampant and the possible explanations were imaginative. That this novel deals with the abduction of a child may be a trigger situation for some potential readers.

I like Dornbush's writing style. She has included secondary characters to add depth to the main kidnapping plot. This is the latest in a series but it is the first I've read and I felt it read well on its own. Reading the earlier books in the series would help to better understand Emily's relationships with others in her home town, however.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Partners in Crime Book Tours. My comments are an independent and honest review.