Deadfall: An Alaska Mystery (Alaska Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sue Henry (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alaska Mysteries | Publication Date: July 1, 1999

Iditarod musher Jessie Arnold is being stalked and terrorized by an anonymous enemy. First, one of her sled dogs is badly injured in a steel trap and an ominous note leaves no doubt that the trap was set with malicious intent. Threatening phone calls and unsigned messages follow -- pressing Alaska State Trooper Alex Jensen to urge Jessie to go into hiding while he tries to track down the source of the threats. Finally, a near fatal car crash convinces Jessie to let Alex fly her to an isolated island more than two hundred miles away.

There on desolate, windswept Kachemak Bay, Jessie hikes the island trails with her lead dog Tank, marveling at the splendor of her solitude. But in a wilderness filled with hazards and hiding places, she soon discovers she is not alone. With Alex searching for a madman hundreds of miles away, Jessie is on her own...playing a deadly game of hide and seek with a killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Iditarod musher Jessie Arnold is the focus of unwanted attention in the engrossing fifth Alaska mystery following Death Takes Passage (1997), as she becomes the target of an unknown stalker. Annoying phone calls with silence answering her hellos and threatening messages received in the mail quickly escalate to attacks on her beloved sled dogs and a near fatal sabotage attempt. Alaska State trooper Alex Jensen, Jessie's boyfriend, convinces her to abandon their home in Knik and go to ground in a safe haven while he and his colleagues try to identify and stop the stalker. Jessie chooses an (almost) abandoned island in Kachemak Bay as her refuge, taking with her only her lead dog, Tank. Swinging back and forth between the stalker's attempts to locate Jessie and Alex's efforts to find the stalker, Henry ratchets the suspense steadily and unnervingly. The beautiful and treacherous Alaskan environment is used to wonderful effect as wild storms batter Jessie's island retreat. While trying to cope with the immediate threats posed by the unknown stalker, Jessie also tries to come to grips with her deepening relationship with Alex and the threat to her vaunted independence. This tale, with its riveting suspense, wildly beautiful and dangerous setting and gutsy heroine, should bring this already notable series even further attention.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Henry, who won an Anthony and a Macavity for her first "Alaska Mystery," Murder on the Iditarod Trail, crafts the scary story of musher Jessie Arnold, who retires to a deserted island with her lead sled dog when she fears she's being stalked, only to find that she is not alone.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Avon (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380798913
• ISBN-13: 978-0380798919
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner; this work is truly frightening, June 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Deadfall:: An Alaska Mystery (Alex Jensen Alaska Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Alaska is considered by many people to be the last frontier on the North American continent. The land appears to be pristine and clean, but like the rest of the United States, evil walks the land. Dog musher and trainer Jessie Arnold is internationally renowned for her canine breeding program and her participation in races like the Iditarard. Although she can not fathom who would hate her enough to hurt her, she has recently been under siege from an unknown antagonist.

Her assailant's campaign of terror is frightening Jessie. The culprit has placed traps in her kennels, leading to severe injuries to her dogs. Jessie herself barely escapes from the teeth of one of the traps. She receives threatening calls and letters. Her brake line has been cut, leading to Jessie and her friends being hospitalized from the subsequent car crash. Jessie's significant other, state trooper Alex Jensen, devotes his full attention to capturing the maniac stalking his beloved before the cat and mouse game turns fatal.

Sue Henry brings out the feral isolation of the sparsely populated part of Alaska that provides the reader insight into a region where the law exists only as far as an individual can personally enforce it. DEADFALL imbues the audience with the primal fear that a person feels when a stalker makes them his prey. The imaginative story line with its solid mystery, in which the assailant's motives are as important as uncovering his identity, compels readers to want more novels from this talented author.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What happened?, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Deadfall: An Alaska Mystery (Alaska Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a great fan of Sue Henry and could't wait to read her 5th book. All her other books kept getting better and better. This one just does not have the mystery and smooth writing of her other books. In fact, I found this one rather boring and felt Ms. Henry was reaching for something that was not there. I can only hope her next book gets back into the beautiful discription of Alaska and has a better believable mystery.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Mystery, August 18, 1999

By 

N. Sausser "pucksau" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadfall: An Alaska Mystery (Alaska Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to disagree with some of the other reviewers here. I thought this was a very well plotted story. The action was reminiscent of Murder On The Iditarod Trail which I thought was exceptional. Even the everyday chores Jesse performs are made interesting. I'm glad that the relationship between Jesse and Alex is continuing unchanged. If they were to marry, I think a lot of the spark would be lost. The only trouble with Ms. Henry's books is that they are finished too soon.