Ice Cold - Tess Gerritsen

Maura is a Bostonian medical examiner who, in Wyoming for a medical conference, impulsively decides to join a friend from college and a few others on a ski trip. Halfway between their destination and the last gas station, the group's SUV gets stranded in feet of snow. Eventually deciding to go for help, the group travels up a private road to the village of Kingdom Come, where a small group of identical houses stand apparently abandoned--there is frozen food on the tables, windows are open, doors are unlocked, and vehicles remain in their garages. It appears as though the residents of Kingdom Come simply vanished in the middle of their day, but as Maura and her friends begin finding footprints, they suspect there is someone watching them.

This is a pretty typical thriller novel as far as plot goes (except for one point, that is, which I will not mention here because I am adamantly against spoilers). However, I will say that Gerritsen's writing embodies, to me, an example of what thrillers should be like. Ice Cold is quick-paced, captivating, and thrilling. I read this in a few hours today, during which I did absolutely nothing else (well, I suppose I ate some peanuts, but I went to the kitchen in back with my nose in the book). I didn't expect this book to be a piece of great literature, and it wasn't--but it did serve its purpose in my mind, that purpose being to entertain and engage me for a few hours of suspense and pure enjoyment.

Thanks to Tess Gerritsen and Ballantine Books for supplying me with a paperback ARC via Goodreads. It was requested, but not required, that I write a review, favorable or otherwise. Ice Cold will be available on July 27, 2010.