Sandra Brown Chill Factor

Chill Factor

Sandra Brown

Simon & Schuster, August 2005, $25.95, 389 pp.

ISBN 0743245548

The quiet tranquil mountain town of Cleary, North Carolina is no longer serene as five women have disappeared without a trace. Authorities and loved ones fear the worst because a blue ribbon was left in the vicinity where each woman was last seen.

Lily Martin doesn't think the disappearances will affect her because she is leaving town after selling the cabin that belonged to her and her ex-husband, chief of police Dutch Burton. As she drives down the mountain in a bad storm, she hits Ben Tierney who suddenly materializes in front of her car. They are forced to return to the cabin since the car is inoperable. The attraction that sprung up between them a year ago on a kayak trip flares up again but Lilly fears that Tierney is the serial killer responsible for the deaths of the five women. When Dutch learns from the FBI that they are looking at Tierney as a suspect, he goes berserk. He uses the power of his office to get up the mountain to kill Tierney; ironically the FBI tries to stop him from executing vigilante justice.

Sandra Brown can always be counted on for giving readers a thrilling, exciting and entertaining reading experience. Unlike law enforcement, readers are privy to other residents who might be considered suspects because they have secrets that they want to keep hidden and deflecting attention to Tierney is one way of doing it. The townsfolk would rather believe an outsider is the perpetrator and not one of their own. CHILL FACTOR is a suspense laden work that is read in one sitting.

Harriet Klausner