Status
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Description
A man lies hidden in an abandoned boat. Stifling screams, he draws a knife across his arm, letting the blood flow free. Soon he'll be dead - and life can begin again. Three decades later Declan McIlroy, a 39-year-old loner, is found frozen to death in his flat as Arctic temperatures grip the cathedral city of Ely. His is not the only cold death that winter, but nevertheless reporter Philip Dryden has worrying doubts - for it seems Declan may not have been alone as he slowly froze to death . . . Dryden's suspicions harden when days later he finds the body of Declan's best friend Joe - frozen within a shell of ice on the doorstep of his secluded Fenland farmhouse. Soon Dryden is picking his way along a disturbing trail of cruelty and betrayal to a brilliantly executed crime. And to a chilling, half-remembered mystery from his own childhood . . .… (more)
User reviews
This one is set over the Christmas/New Year holiday season during a period of extreme cold weather. Following up on a story about taking the proper cold weather precautions, the discovery of first one and then a second frozen body alerts Dryden to a possible series of murders disguised to look like suicide or accidents. As these victims happen to also be involved in an investigation regarding abuse by a Catholic orphanage, Dryden is drawn into a search that will eventually lead him to the past and a half remembered mystery from his own childhood.
We also are following the ongoing story of Phillip Dryden’s wife, who is in the process of emerging from a coma and his guilt and anxiety about her. They were in a car accident a few years ago where the vehicle sank into a marsh. He was rescued but she was trapped in the car, under water for three hours. In this book, we discover that his wife has concerns of own regarding the future.
I enjoyed this book, the story was interesting and not exactly what I expected, which is always a pleasant surprise in a mystery. A well written story enhanced by his use of the setting to create great atmosphere