Don D'Ammassa, Dead of Winter

Dead of Winter

Don D'Ammassa

Five Star, January 2007, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144958

Her marriage proved a disaster, as her husband turned into a chameleon after they exchanged I do; so when Sean Brennan died, Laura Collier did not mourn her loss. Instead, she leaves Vermont to return to her home town of Dorrance. Her bossy mother Mary expects her to return to her farm, but Laura refuses, having had enough clashes with her iron-willed mom in the past. Instead, she takes residence in the family log cabin, upsetting mom who keeps the pressure up for her to come home.

Meanwhile, someone stalks Laura and goes so far as trying to shoot her in the dark. Her only friend in town Ashley Sothern, who welcomed her home, vanishes. While Officer Dan Sievert is attracted to Laura and her to him, he does not believe her tale of someone wanting her dead, so she investigates her past, starting with the abandonment of her father years ago, and the present vanishing of Ashley on her own.

DEAD OF WINTER is an exhilarating thriller that slowly introduces the audience to the beleaguered heroine and her steel magnolia mom, while painting a clear picture of the remoteness of the town. As the action begins to pick up relatively early, readers begin to learn more about why her father vanished without even a goodbye, especially tied together with the shocking twisting, but over the top Everest climax. Fans of women in peril from unknown predators will enjoy Don D'Ammassa's entertaining thriller, even with an unbelievable ending.