Kay Bigelow

A solid and fascinating serial killer mystery, but the story focused too much on the complications in the private life of lieutenant Leah Samuels, which where also tangled up with the case. A straighter approach with less personal side shows might have worked better. Also, I liked the secondary characters, Cots and Peony, much better than Leah - I wished I hadn't had to share her feelings and thoughts that close up and that often. As it was, the murder case became background music to Leah's personal troubles, where I wished it would have been the main focus. My greatest criticism is that the sci-fi angle was hinted at but never exploited in a satisfying way. There are aliens living on Earth and space travel is possible: so what? Other than mentioning that, the author never really makes use of it. Earth has become a freezing and uncomfortable snowball with snow storms raging almost all year round, but all we get from that is the repeated process of our characters having to bundle up in thick layers of clothing: so what? The story wouldn't have missed anything if aliens and snowstorms would have been left out of the equation. Only at the end the author hints at the possibility of the team moving to a different planet: now that might have potential.

However, the book was entertaining enough to keep me reading and I'm willing to take a second chance with the sequel.

(Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)