Britt is excited to spend her spring break with her best friend in the mountains hiking in the Grand Tetons. Her friend's family has a lodge there and they plan to spend the whole week. Britt is not excited when she finds out her friend's brother, Calvin, is going along to chaperon. Calvin is also Britt's ex, and she hasn't seen him since he went away to school and broke up with her two weeks later.
Britt and her friend are going up to the cabin first, and an unexpected snow storm hits. They get stranded and hike to the nearest cabin where two very strange guys are staying. They have no choice but to let the girls come in, but it's obvious they don't want to. The fear mounts, and as the girls begin to realize what's going on, it's obvious they are now kidnapped. And Britt finds some evidence that indicates these guys must be murderers. The guys want Britt (with her supposed knowledge of the mountains) to lead them out. It's a test of survival, both because of the weather and because of the men.
This book is bloated. There's just no need for this story to take 400 pages to tell. It was hard to feel the tension and fear because I constantly felt like, "Let's get going!" It didn't help that I figured out who the murderer was about halfway through. It seemed so obvious, that I'm wondering if Fitzpatrick wanted us to figure it out.
Part of my frustration may be because I had a hard time believing the story. There are just some major plot anomalies. Just a few examples: Who ever heard of an unexpected snow storm in this day and age? The characters realize that a bear is close, and wanting to get into their hideout. On the next page, they are making out. Where did all that fear go? One character is tied to a chair, and the others are gone for just a few minutes. That character not only gets free of his bonds, but does something else (that I won't say because of spoilers) that couldn't possible be done that fast. Another time, a character is so badly injured that he has to be carried. All of a sudden, he's running and is able to protect another character.
There were so many of these instances that I just couldn't take the book seriously. For a younger audience who just wants an adventure story that also contains some romance, Black Ice might be a suitable book. You have to be willing to just go with it.
Published by Simon & Schuster BFYR, October 7, 2014
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
400 pages
Rating: 2.5/5
I think I'll postpone reading this one :/
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of this one right now and I havn't gotten to everything you are speaking of but I do understand the bloated talk. It took me to page 145 just to get into the story,and it still feels slow. I think thrillers should be short. that is part of the thriller the lenght and the pace make the thriller. I am enjoying it some, maybe a bit more than you but like i said, I havent reached some of the things your referenced.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a pretty disappointing read - such inconsistencies would really annoy me. I haven't read a book by Fitzpatrick before, but I think I will try one of her other series to see if I like her writing style.
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