CHILL FACTOR

Sandra Brown

Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 0-7432-4554-7

August 2005

Mystery/Suspense

Lilly Martin returns to the small mountain town of Cleary, North Carolina, to finalize the sale of the cabin she once shared with her ex-husband, Dutch Burton, Cleary's chief of police. The tiny town has been rocked by the disappearance of five seemingly unrelated women, whose only common link seems to be the blue ribbon left at their last known location. Dutch's reluctance to let Lilly close the door on their failed marriage may be hindering his ability to track the missing women. After yet another ugly scene, Dutch agrees to drive back to town, certain that Lilly will be right behind him. Unfortunately, a snowstorm makes the mountain road especially treacherous, and Lilly's car hits a man who stumbles into her path. With his car disabled and hers wrecked, Lilly and Ben Tierney must return to her cabin and try to survive the storm. 

Ben Tierney is not a complete stranger. A year earlier, he and Lilly met while on a kayaking expedition. Their attraction was mutual, but Lilly was not free to pursue a relationship. Now, however, Tierney's explanation for being on the mountain is flimsy at best, and as the blizzard rages around them, Lilly begins to suspect that Tierney knows more than he ought to about the missing women. Will her rescuer become her killer?

CHILL FACTOR contains more surprises than a child's Advent calendar. The citizens of Cleary are a seemingly genial lot, but in the privacy of their own homes, these folks are keeping more secrets than a priest in a confessional. Beginning with a peek into the mind of the main suspect in the disappearances, Ms. Brown introduces her readers to a cast of characters whose lives are as twisted as the hairpin road down the mountain. Like a precipitous descent, CHILL FACTOR starts out fast and builds momentum unrelentingly right up to the final page. Nothing is as it seems in Cleary, and even the best of friends can turn on each other in a heartbeat. 

Holding Dutch's feet to the fire are a holier-than-thou FBI agent and his apparently innocuous sidekick. As the feds try to gain the upper hand in solving the mystery of the missing women, they are brought up short by small-town politics and the loyalty that can only be manipulated by those who have glimpsed the darkest corners of one's soul. Ms. Brown reveals every juicy scrap of information at precisely the right time, giving teasing glimpses of her characters that shift readers' perceptions like images in a kaleidoscope. CHILL FACTOR is perfectly paced, with an eminently satisfying denouement. Readers are not rushed through explanations, but are given time to appreciate Ms. Brown's bravura as she ties up loose ends, connects seemingly unrelated dots, and shifts the mood from heart-stopping terror to the bright hopefulness of sunlight on fresh clean snow. CHILL FACTOR is Sandra Brown's best book in years, and that is no small accomplishment.

 

Reviewed by Mellanie Crowther

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