City of Ice [Mass Market Paperback]

John Farrow (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited (2000)
• ISBN-10: 0006481051
• ISBN-13: 978-0006481058
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,835,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read delivered in elegant prose, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: City of Ice: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one classy cop novel. Farrow delivers a complex thriller of the highest order. The intricate plotting, complex characterizations and beautifully evoked sense of place, reveal a consumate craftsman at work.

As a born and bred Montrealer, I can only applaud Farrow's considerable achievement in his gritty realization of the city at its bone-chilling bleakest. The material for City of Ice has been culled from to-day's headlines, with some prophecies about tomorrow's. Montrealers are only too aware of the deadly biker turf wars that are raging in this city, and which form the backdrop to City of Ice.

Fans of Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse, will find Farrow's hero detective, Emile Cinq-Mars, equally appealing, as he struggles against the forces of corruption.

City of Ice not only satisfies as a thriller, but manages to transcend the genre with its exquisite writing and psychological insights, as Farrow examines the dilemma of the moral individual in an increasingly amoral society. ---And hang on to your hats, the second half of the novel is one heck of a rollercoaster ride.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant chiller, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: City of Ice: A Novel (Hardcover)

This novel is much more stylish than the usual police/crime book. The main character is thoughtful and complex, and the prose is elegant. If you like thrillers, don't let the idea that this is a literary work deter you from reading it. The hero is so intriguing that you'd like to meet him. I hope Farrow/Ferguson writes more books starring Cinq-Mars.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Starts Strong but Drags On, August 17, 1999

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: City of Ice: A Novel (Hardcover)

The city of the title is Montreal, and I picked this up specifically because I was going on vacation there for a week and wanted to get some of the flavor of the city. As it worked out, I ended up reading it while there instead, which was actually a kind of cool--although by the end I was exhausted and ready for it to end. It's a thriller/procedural, teaming a loner French-Canadian veteran police detective with a young English-Canadian, with the resulting sparks predictably followed by mutual respect. The plot revolves around gang-warfare between rival biker gangs (yes, this sounds hokey, but I gather it's based on real events) who are tied into international crime circles. By then end, it's all a bit much, but still worth reading if you're interested in Montreal. BTW- John Farrow is a pseudonym for Canadian literary talent Trevor Ferguson.