[Winter Chill] by Joanne Fluke
3 ★'s

From the Book
The moment Marian Larsen sees the patrol car stop outside her house; she feels a shiver of foreboding. The news is even worse than she feared. Marian's husband and young daughter have been in a snowmobile crash. Dan is paralyzed and Laura is dead, her body broken on the icy ground. .

Friends and colleagues in Marian's Minnesota hometown rally around to try and ease her grief. But soon there are more horrible accidents. Then the rumors start--that these are not coincidences at all, that someone is picking off victims one by one. And as winter deepens, the search for answers will reveal a killer whose blood runs colder than the blinding snow.

My Thoughts:
The story started out tragically and progressed to a haunting tale of two people’s unresolved grief. A mother that couldn’t come to grips with her young daughter’s accidental death and a father that is suffering from what his doctor calls hysterical paralyze.

We follow these two people…both teachers…as they are caught in the crosshairs of a situation that is having deadly results for everyone in their small town. The book had its good points but they were mixed with far more unexplained, dangling suppositions. To begin with there was no investigation what so ever by the local lawman into what turned out to be the deaths of six people in the course of a month. When someone told the sheriff who they thought the killer might be… instead of opening an investigation he runs off and tells the doctor and between them they set up a competency hearing in secret no less to have the man committed.

All through the book the reader will switch back and forth between the most likely killers. However contrary to what the description says…the ending was disappointing because there simply wasn’t an ending and we are still not sure exactly what happened or who the real killer was. That seems to me to be unacceptable when a reader spends the time to read the book you wrote and sold.

3 stars for a book there carried a great deal of promise but never really delivered. ( )

I didn't get thru this book. This is a reissue of an old JF book. I found what I read to be way too predictable and a bit sappy. I didn't make it half way thru the book. ( )

This book is very disturbing. I read books from many different genres but I have never had a book affect me as this one has. For the first time ever I wish I could un-read a book. This is very differnt from most of this author's works. I cannot recommend this book although I know that there are many out there who will enjoy it. But definitely not me. ( )

Readers of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson mysteries have come to expect a cozy atmosphere with lots of baked goodies sprinkled throughout the narrative. This work is completely different. The atmosphere is dark. Readers feel a combination of sympathy and outrage at the two main characters, the parents of a girl killed in a snowmobile accident. The father was actually paralyzed in that same accident. The mother has somewhat lost touch with reality, finding notes left for her by her deceased daughter. It's not long until there are more accidents in the small community. Are they accidents, or is there a serial killer on the loose? Readers who enjoy psychological suspense will love this book. Although I won't give it away, the ending of this book was fitting. It reminded me of other works I'd read in the past, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I saw another review that likened the ending to an Alfred Hitchcock ending. That described it perfectly. Technically I received this book from NetGalley, but somehow the book was archived by the publisher between the time I hit the send to Kindle button and the next time I was connected to wifi and could receive it. I ended up waiting until my library got a copy, and I used their copy. ( )

Winter Chill by Joanne Fluke is a winner for me. I didn't like the two main characters, Marian Larsen and her husband Dan Larsen, but I kept reading. How did Joanne Fluke do this? I think this is the first book that I have ever read where I could not sympathize with the characters that I have enjoyed.

A history teacher and soccer coach, Dan takes his daughter Laura snow mobiling,and has an accident. His daughter dies and he is paralyzed. Marian is at home and instantly knows that something terrible has happened when a police car shows up in front of her house. The grief is overwhelming. Children are not supposed to die before you. She doesn't feel comfortable in sharing her feelings with anyone. Her husband can't help her. She has to tend to him and do the funeral arrangements herself. She hides her true feelings from Dan. It seems like she wants to crawl in a hole and hide. Her grief never ends.

Then she finds a note from her daughter. Then she changes. This is a much more gruesome story that I am used to reading. But I thought it was very well written. Having a counseling background, I know that mentally ill people have different thought processes than other people. The story made sense to me knowing that.

The ending was perfect for me. I felt that Joanne Fluke has a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock in her

I highly recommend this book to people who are not afraid to read a chilling story.

I received this book as a win from FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review. ( )