Books read in 2014: No. 16 -- Chill Factor

by Sandra Brown

Started: April 15
Finished: May 3

Notes: This is another novel I saved from the trash can, or at least it seemed so at the time. I pulled my Explorer into one of those do-it-yourself car washes, and there sat this paperback atop a concrete column next to a garbage can. I finished cleaning my vehicle, saw there was no one else around, and absconded with the book. I don't anyone was coming back for it, and I'm always a sucker for free literature. Brown is not an author I've read, but that's a bonus since I always like reading writers for the first time. And there's an additional bonus here as this thriller author is female, and I've been telling myself for some while I need to read more female writers.

Mini review: The gist of the story is a snowstorm traps a woman in a cabin with a man she fears is a serial killer. I could write that story in 30 pages or less. Here it took more than 500 pages. Not all those pages were wasted as there were plenty of subplots and side characters and the like, and it all came together relatively well in the end, but still, I felt like there were too many detours away from the main plot. And I felt a bit cheated. In the end, this was a romance tale, but I felt cheated because the story and the marketing for it don't come anywhere close t to leaning toward romance, at least not traditional romance. Longtime fans of the author might expect this, but I didn't, and it rubbed me the wrong way, but only a little. Overall the writing was pretty solid, the characters somewhat interesting, the scenery more than just background, but I went away from this one with sort of a ho-hum feeling. It didn't completly suck, but it wasn't all that great either. But every book and every author isn't for every reader. So, live and learn. Would I give this author another chance? Maybe, but I probably won't go out of my way to do so.