Anne Stuart, Ice Storm

Ice Storm

Anne Stuart

Mira, Nov 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 9780778325000

The ice cool enigmatic Isobel Lambert heads the covert The Committee; as such she exclusively works behind a desk, her field days in the cold long past. Behind her cool intelligent fa ade she still hauntingly remembers when as Mary Isobel Curwen she killed Thomas Killian seventeen years ago; her first kill but she rationalized that his death was needed because as a terrorist he posed a threat to her clients.

As she looks into the Josef Serafin affair, she stunningly realizes he is Thomas, whom she left for dead. She does not know how he survived, but she believes this terrorist who has killed thousands for the highest bidder is coming for her. His plan is ingenious as he tries to bait her to come back out in the cold with a deal he offers the Committee that they both know they cannot refuse. He will tell all if she escorts him safely from Morocco to London.

ICE STORM is the appropriate name for this superb espionage thriller as the audience wonders when Josef will make his move on Isobel and how she counters it. Josef and Isobel display ice in their veins as they play cat and mouse with each playing both roles in a fascinating relationship. Set aside plenty of time because this is a one sitter.

Harriet Klausner