Deep Freeze [Import] [Hardcover]

Patricia Hall (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Magna Large Print Books; Large Print Ed edition (August 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750518804
• ISBN-13: 978-0750518802
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Patricia Hall remembers telling stories to her little sisters when she was six years old, and by the time she was in her early teens she was sure that she was going to be a writer one day. She gained a a degree in English before becoming a journalist and working for The Guardian and the BBC in London, amongst others.
On 1991 her first crime novel, The Poison Pool, was published in London and New York and this was followed by a book a year. Most feature her feisty heroine, reporter Laura Ackroyd and her on-off lover DCI Michael Thackeray. They are set in the decaying industrial towns of West Yorkshire and the nearby countryside of the Yorkshire Dales. In 2011 she launched a new series with Dead Beat, casting a sceptical eye on "Swinging London" in the 1960s. The sequel, Death Trap, will be published in 2012.
Patricia is married and now lives in Oxford. She has two grown up sons and a grand-daughter.
Visit Patricia's web-site at www.patriciahall.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotta love Laura...., January 22, 2003

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Deep Freeze: A Yorkshire Mystery (Hardcover)

Patricia Hall's latest novel about Yorkshire newspaper reporter Laura Ackroyd (apparently a Nicole Kidman lookalike) and her friend DCI Michael Thackery takes a sad turn in DEEP FREEZE. Hall has never shied away from tough subjects (she probably covered them as a reporter) and her latest novel continues this trend.

A young girl named Dana Smith is shot dead as she leaves the hospital where she recently had an abortion. Was she killed by an aggressive member of the anti-abortionist crowd badgering the clinic daily? Was her death simply another aspect of the crime wave being carried out against her gypsy family by local skinheads? Or, did her death have something to do with the fertility work underway at the clinic? Laura is a female reporter and thus never asked to write the "crime" story by her male chauvinist editor, but she soon turns her "woman's" piece into an investigation of suspicious medical practices, antagonistic anti-abortion activists, and unhappy ex-wives. Meanwhile, boyfriend Thackery has his own clues to pursue and his own ghosts to fight.

I have read Hall's books from the gitgo, I find her protagonists Laura and Thackery well developed. Hall also does a fine job of developing minor characters such as feisty grandmother Joyce Ackroyd, who turns up regularly to protest outrages against women; Val Ridley, the blonde cop who lusts after Kevin Mower her counterpart on the Bradford police force; and Kevin Mower who seems to be going off the deep end over his recent losses. To truly appreciate this series, including the current angst Mower is feeling, the reader should begin at the beginning. Reading Hall's books is akin following a good police/reporter series on tv. Hall is not into forensics, nor does she do graphic violence. Her plots are clever and her characterization is well done. This is exactly the kind of book her Grandmother Joyce would enjoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong British police procedural, January 18, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep Freeze: A Yorkshire Mystery (Hardcover)

Deputy Chief inspector Michael Thackeray has finally taken the first stops towards making a new life with his lover Laura Ackroyd. He has filed for divorce from a wife who is confined to a mental institution with no hope of recovery, and he and Laura have moved in to a flat together. Although Laura would like a child with Michael, she dare not bring the subject up since he has never recovered from the tragic death of his own son.

When a thirteen year old girl is shot and killed on the steps of the May Anderson hospital after receiving an abortion, Michael and Laura both work the case albeit from different perspectives. When a nurse who works at the hospital is also killed, the police know there's a link because the same gun killed the two victims. Using their own resources, Laura and Michael come to the same conclusion about who the killer might be, but proving it to the point of an arrest remains difficult.

Patricia Hall writes some of the best British police procedurals on the market today. Her two protagonist are very independent individuals trying to make a life together while trying to cope with the baggage of their past. The who-done-it it is intricately complex with so many blind allies that readers will want to finish the book in one sitting to learn the identity of the perpetrator.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Why didn't I know about this author before, May 19, 2006

By 

Maryland Reader "marylandreadr" (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Freeze: A Yorkshire Mystery (Hardcover)

This series is new to me. I read one by chance and have quickly sought out more and enjoyed them all. Solid police procedural, but in addition, Hall has a great eye and ear for the nuances of human culture and social stratification in a medium-sized town. Her characters are well-developed and believable, the plot is well paced and in general, makes for a truly enjoyable read.