Customer Reviews

Black Ice (Fog Point Series #2)

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Linda Hall does it again in the latest installment of the Fog Point Series. When Lenore Featherjohn finds a girl frozen in a snowbank, it seems long-hidden secrets are about to see the light of day, leading to dangerous and wide-reaching consequences. Crisp, intense, filled with suspense and intriguing characters, BLACK ICE is a read you won't want to miss.

Marta Perry

In Fog Point, Lenore Featherjohn welcomes guests to her B&B not caring whether the visitor is alive or otherwise. She simply cares about anyone who passes through her door. She especially goes out of her way when a child regardless of whether the youngster still breathes enters her inn.

A young female ghost receives the royal treatment from Lenore who finds her corpse in a praying like position. While the townsfolk of Fog Point adopt the child as an angel, Lenore hires Jake Rikker to investigate who Jane Doe was when she lived and what happened to her that led to her death. While Minister Ben McLaren fears that the person who killed an apparent innocent lamb could murder again if anyone like the owner-hostess of the B&B gets to close to the truth, his wife Amy is unhappy.

The latest Fog Point thriller (see DARK WATER) is a fascinating tale of fear and belief though the multitude of players with the changing perspectives can be difficult to follow. The story line is action-packed as everyone reacts differently to the deceased "angel". Readers will enjoy Linda Hall's return to Fog Point with this fine Christian thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Winter comes to Fog Point, and for the first time in forty-five years ice has moved into the harbor. It snows every day, and as if that isn't bad enough, Lenore Featherjohn finds the body of a young woman back of her bed and breakfast. Lenore has two sons, who are a long way from being saints, and she doesn't want anyone suspecting them. She tells one little lie, just trying to protect her family, and it mushrooms until she is piling lie upon lie, with no end in sight.

Amy McLaren, minister's wife and a mother, knows something is wrong with her family, but she doesn't know what to do. And she's not sure she believes in God anymore, a disaster for a pastor's wife. Her husband is keeping secrets from her and her daughter is rebelling. Something is seriously wrong in Fog Point, and Jake Rikker and May Williams, private investigators, are on a hunt for a murderer before anyone else gets killed.
Black Ice is a tangled story with too many people who have too much to hide. Fans of Linda Hall's Fog Point series will welcome this one.

I don't know how I've managed to miss Christy nominated, best-selling author, Linda Hall.

I will be rectifying this.

Black Ice wrapped around me and pulled me in, holding my attention until the very satisfying conclusion. Beautiful, haunting descriptions. Multi-dimensional and realistic characters. Page-turning, haunting plot.

The Christianity elements resemble the Christians I know, chipped, cracked and broken in progress and process.

Well done and recommended.

As reviewed at novelreviews blogspot

Linda Hall has done it again--provided her faithful readers with a novel rich in descriptions, filled with real and unique characters, and a mystery that keeps you turning the pages. Black Ice, the second book in the Fog Point Series brings back Fog Point's quirky cast of characters that we all came to care about in Dark Water.

Black Ice opens with Fog Points' local busybody Lenore Featherjohn's discovery of a young girl frozen outside her bed and breakfast entrance. Fearing her sons involvement in the murder of this unknown girl, Lenore moves the body, and positions the girl's hands together as if in prayer. Lenore's decision to alter the body's location and position the hands fuels the local gossip and draws media attention, as they ask, are the folded hands a sign that she is an angel? Does she have mysterious healing powers? Who is she? Who killed her and why?

Thus begins a mystery that involves a cast of thoroughly developed Fog Point characters that includes the resident minister, his wife, and his adopted daughter, along with the local PI team of Jake Rikker and May Williams. But Hall doesn't stop with the locals, as she delves into the girl's past and through varied points of view she brings us characters who unravel the far reaching mystery.

A fan of Linda Hall's writing for years, it wasn't difficult for me to thoroughly enjoy Black Ice. I am drawn to Hall's work because of her rich characters and her ability to engage them in fast moving yet intricate plots. Black Ice is no exception. Hall breaks the stereotype of a minister's wife with Amy who battles her burgeoning unbelief and gives us a glimpse into the real life of a minister's wife. Hall takes Lenore Featherjohn, a woman who would fall under the `extra grace required' category, and shows us what God sees in her, reminds us that no one is unimportant to God. All in all, Hall provides us with real people faced with real problems who happen to be caught up in a mystery that needs solving.

Though you don't need to read Dark Water to understand Black Ice, you might want to pick up Dark Water first so you can enjoy the books in the order Hall has released them. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

Back then it all seemed so innocent. But now the web of deception has stretched into the future, stealing another life.

This winter Fog Point harbor was unusually crammed with ice. Reporters and photographers snapped endless pictures while snowplows constantly cleared the streets. Most of the locals stayed indoors, and it was rumored that the ice was a bad omen. But that was before the shocking discovery.

Lenore glanced out the back window of her bed and breakfast. She noticed a dark spot in the snow. Had her sons carelessly tossed the garbage outside? It seems they were so lazy at times. Lenore marched outside in a huff. When the truth struck her senses, she inhaled sharply and covered her pounding heart. There, in the wintry snow, was the lifeless form of a young woman. Kneeling beside her, Lenore gently brushed the snow from her icy cheek. A scattering of freckles appeared. Her hair was in a ponytail. She seemed so young. Why, Lenore thought. Why would someone want to hurt her?

No one came forward claiming to know the young woman. But rumor quickly spread that she was an angel, sent by God, to protect Fog Point from impending doom. Had the entire town gone berserk? People were lining up in droves behind Lenore's Bed and Breakfast. They wanted to see where the angel miracle happened. Many prayed in the snow bank, some left gifts, and others came in search of inner peace. Guests arrived and left on a daily basis, but the TV reporter and cameraman stayed for several days before disappearing suddenly. When Jake and May, two part-time investigators, discover that danger still lurked, fear spread like a rushing flood.

After the snarled past eventually connects with the present, the elusive answers are just a stroke away. When long-hidden truths finally surface, who will float away free and who will drown in their lies?

Black Ice is crammed full of imaginative characters, past and present. At first they appear unrelated and a bit hard to keep straight, but just keep reading.

Armchair Interviews says: A read well worth your time.

The most compelling book I have read this year. I don't have a lot of time to read, but I made time for this book because it was so good. Linda Hall not only creates a mystery that holds my attention but she has complex characters with clear motive for their actions. The character of Lenore Featherjohn is both poignant and repulsive.Hall does not present the usual cardboard perfect Christians either. Her portrayal is much more realistic and honest. In addition, the details in the setting of Fog Point make it feel like it's a place I could drive up and see. I can't wait to read another Linda Hall book.