Deep Freeze [Paperback]

Thom Racina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2005

Sub zero temperatures slice across the beaches of Santa Monica. A blinding blizzard whips through Hollywood. Swimming pools turn to solid blocks of ice. Roads are impassible. Cars have been abandoned. And as night falls, so does hope...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

On the surface, Racina's highly readable thriller has all the ingredients of a perfect summer read: a major natural disaster, an art gallery heist, steamy sex and racial and familial tension. The action focuses on a wealthy Los Angeles family whose members are scattered throughout the city when a devastating snow and ice storm hits Southern California. Bob and Aileene Hanwell are the worried, homebound parents of Michael (a likable TV news weatherman with a wife and baby daughter), Harry (a slimy talent agent who married a washed-up, alcoholic actress) and Susan (who suffers from severe pancreatitis and contracts her most crippling bout during the storm). In a subplot, a cult inspired by Charles Manson's followers believes the storm will usher in a race war and Armageddon. Racina's novel is a strange mix of the extraordinary and the mundane: on one hand, the freak storm's increasing severity keeps the reader's apprehension high, and on the other, the pages are filled with characters complaining about how the weather is inconveniencing their self-absorbed lives. Even as death, destruction and violence occur around them, they often act eerily nonchalant, which undermines the novel's suspense. Still, Racina (Deadly Game) succeeds in painting a grim picture of the all-too-possible effects of extreme global warming.
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Review

An amazing thriller that will keep you cool on the beach this summer...absorbing, chilling, and possibly prophetic. (Kelly Lange)

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Signet (June 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451215524
• ISBN-13: 978-0451215529
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,639,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit of a gyp..., August 1, 2005

By 

Toni "Sharktattoo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Freeze (Paperback)

I picked this up because it sounded interesting, and because I'm a big fan of disaster novels. Imagine my surprise when, 2 pages in, I realize that I've read this before! In the mid 70s (I believe) Racina wrote 'The Great Los Angeles Blizzard'-'Deep Freeze' is a reprint with some revisions to update it and a silly Manson cult subplot tacked on. The book was ok the first time (I really love cheesy disaster novels), and ok this time, but I was a little ticked that the publisher made no mention anywhere that this was a reprint.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Horrible Writing, September 29, 2005

By 

Gryphon "gryphon541" (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Freeze (Paperback)

Even reviewing this bomb seems somewhat pointless! However, it was so bad that I just felt it my duty, as a avid reader, to warn people off from this atrocity. Deep Freeze held my attention (barely) for maybe twenty pages before I knew it was going to be a collosal groaner. The writing is...well...surprising for a multi-book published author. To call it plodding would be generous in the extreme. The characters are paper thin and BORING! The author seems to realize this and gives almost no effort to developing the absymal cast. Sometimes a great story can save bad characters but not in this case. Let's put it this way, if you are stuck on a desert island with the options of counting sand or reading this book...count the sand!

One other thing...I noticed that Amazon's # 1 reviewer gave this book a 5 star rating. Hmmmmm?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pointless and Boring, August 19, 2005

By 

R. Baruta (Kelowna, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep Freeze (Paperback)

I just finished reading Deep Freeze and what a disappointment. It was 366 pages of...well, nothing I guess. After reading about 50 pages of people describing the snow coming down I felt like saying, "enough already, get on with the story!" And that was the problem, the story never really progressed beyond that point.
The only character I even remotely cheered for was the "bad" son. He was the only one who had even a little bit of depth to him. The other characters were flat and dull.
Finally, I still don't get the whole radical faction aspect of the novel. It didn't come into play to any great extent like you're led to believe on the back cover and basically was a minor distraction while reading at best.
Save your money and go purchase a novel by Rick Mofina if you want well developed characters, great story lines and suspense.