Product Description

Five women are missing from the sleepy mountain town of Cleary, North Carolina, and a blue ribbon has been left near where each woman was last seen. Lilly Martin has returned to Cleary to close the sale of her cabin. But when her car skids and strikes a stranger, Ben Tierney, as he emerges from the woods, they've no choice but to wait out a brutal blizzard in the cabin. And as the hours of their confinement mount, Lilly wonders if the greater threat to her safety isn't the storm, but the stranger beside her....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #212081 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Lust, jealousy and murder suffuse Brown's crisp thriller (after White Hot), set in the snowbound mountains of North Carolina. Lilly and Dutch Burton's marriage didn't withstand the loss of their three-year-old daughter, despite their attempt at a fresh start with the purchase of a vacation cabin in bucolic Cleary, N.C., where the novel opens on the divorced couple discussing its sale. Dutch is now Cleary's chief of police, and Lilly is a magazine editor in Atlanta. As she races back to the city to beat a blizzard, her car skids out, striking a hiker emerging from the woods. Turns out he's a man she knows: handsome freelance writer Ben Tierney, whom she met and flirted with the summer before. With no choice but to wait out the storm in the cabin with Ben, who is injured, Lilly calls Dutch, but he can't reach her via the now impassable mountain road. Meanwhile, Cleary is haunted by the case of five missing women—all now feared dead. With Lilly still stranded, Dutch goes ballistic when the FBI arrives in town with evidence that Tierney is the serial killer. The snowy suspense will cool off Brown's fans during the dog days of summer. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Stephen Lang's breathy baritone adds a deep sense of disquiet as writer Ben Tierney buries a body--next to three other bodies. Is he the serial psycho, "Blue," who's been abducting women? The FBI thinks so. But Lilly Burton knows him simply as a guy she flirted with last summer. Lang keeps things intriguing enough to involve listeners as the plot struggles toward its obvious setup: A car accident and a monstrous blizzard combine to leave Lilly and Ben stranded alone at Lilly's cabin. As the pace picks up, Lang keeps anxiety on the front burner. Apprehension mounts, suspense builds, and the climax holds listeners to the headphones. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Brown's new yarn is set in the small town of Cleary, North Carolina, where magazine publisher Lilly Martin is packing up her things at the cabin she shared with her ex-husband, Dutch Burton. Now the police chief of Cleary, Dutch desperately wants another chance with Lilly. She refuses, and he leaves the cabin, warning her of an impending blizzard. On her way down from the mountains, she accidentally hits a man in the road. She manages to get the man, Ben Tierney, back to her cabin, where they decide to wait out the storm. But the more time she spends with Tierney, the more Lilly fears he might be the serial killer dubbed "Blue," who has been abducting women in Cleary for the past year. Despite her mounting concerns, Lilly can't help her growing attraction for the man. Back in town, Dutch is frantic when he learns Lilly is trapped up in the cabin with Tierney, whom the FBI also suspects might be Blue. Dutch's concern grows, and he mounts a desperate attempt to rescue his ex-wife. The suspense builds as Brown's novel chugs toward a gripping, surprising conclusion. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Titillating
This gripping mystery is a real page-turner; there are so many twists and turns in this novel, it becomes a challenge to anticipate the next move. I love the characters they are so compelling and the sexual tension thrown in is titillating....I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Exceptional
Once again a great book by Sandra Brown. One gets to freeze a little bit just by reading the vivid descriptions of the snow storm.

The plot is great. All the characters are so well developed. The main character Tierney captures you, but you still wonder together with Lilly if he is the murderer. His saving her from the asthma attack and what he goes through to accompish that is touching......his whole story is touching.....strongly recommended.

Great mix of sexual tension and thrills!
Sandra Brown is back with another tightly woven thriller. Chill factor (appropriate after her last release "White Hot") takes place in the middle of a blizzard in the mountains of North Carolina. Lilly and Dutch Burton have had a rough go after losing their young daughter, Dutch is the Local small town police Chief and Lilly is a high powered magazine editor. Lilly is leaving the couples mountain get-away cabin during a Blizzard when she loses control of her car and smashes into a hiker. The hiker is good looking Ben Tierney, a freelance writer she met briefly and flirted with a year ago. Lilly has no choice but to take the injured Ben back to the cabin and wait the storm out. Over the previous year the local area has been stricken by the case of five missing women. It is after Lilly calls Dutch and tells him of her situation, that Dutch is contacted by FBI agents with evidence that Ben Tierny is the serial killer. I think we can all see the suspense to be built up in this situation, and for the most part the author carries it off. My main complaint is that some of the plot is built on some pretty shaky assumptions, but then again most books of this genre have the same problem. Nothing too heavy here, a good beach read with well drawn characters, some good sexual tension, and a couple of great plot twists. Fans of Brown will be pleased.