Customer Reviews

The Ice Maiden (Detective Series)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When it comes to crime novels Buchanan's the best. After almost 20 years of covering the police beat for a Miami newspaper she knows her subject and suspects well. She's a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter with insider knowledge, and potent pen.

"The Ice Maiden" is heroine Britt Montero's eighth spin, and it is a pulse pounding thriller. She's right there when Andre Coney, a would-be robber, is discovered after being electrocuted by a jewelry store booby trap. A quick thinking detective with a full memory bank ties the deceased to a 14 year-old murder case in which two teenagers on their first date were ravaged - the boy was fatally shot and the girl was raped and beaten.

Britt attempts to interrogate the girl, Sunny, hoping that she might recognize any of Coney's fellow thugs as one of the men who had attacked her. Understandably, Sunny wants no part in reopening past trauma.

However, the frightened young woman has no choice as others who may harm her focus on what was thought to be a cold case.

As always with Buchanan, subplots flourish and fascinate while readers are propelled by surprising secrets revealed. One more winner for this whiz bang writer.

Not since the very first book in the Britt Montero series, have I ever been so entranced with a story. I absolutely could not put it down. Ice Maiden is a fantastic read with all the ups and downs that you expect to get with an Edna Buchanan roller coaster ride. But just when you think you've got it figured out, she throws in another turn in the track. Congratulations to Edna. One of the best crime/ Mystery writers that I have ever had the pleasure to read. I just hope another book is in the works. Don't let it end like this for Britt!!!...

As always with Edna Buchanan's Britt Montero novels, this one is a fun read, quick and easy, and not exactly thought-provoking. Though the plot isn't as strong as some of her other books, the ending is powerful, and the characters are as interesting as ever. However, if you haven't read her other Britt Montero books, I wouldn't start with this one. Buchanan doesn't bother with very much character development for the main figures, and this isn't one of her strongest books.

There are some books that are fairly good in a mystery sense even though once again the author is overall depressing in tone and subject matter. Then every now and then, there is a book that has such a twist at the end; the book becomes a horrible book. When a major character over a number of novels is killed off needlessly just when things were going better as another reminder how capricious life is. Considering the fact that Edna Buchanan's books always have frequent references to the capriciousness of life, this is one story telling idea she should have discarded. This book has a simply horrible ending and there is no other way to put it.

As the book opens, a repeat offender has been electrocuted while attempting to drop through the ceiling of a Cuban owned store. The storeowner for years had tried to get help from the Miami Police force, but with little success. So, he wired his ceiling intending to give the burglar a small shock and send him on his way. Instead, the man was electrocuted and has to be extricated by Fire Rescue before he takes a trip to the morgue. Soon the District Attorney's office decides to prosecute the storeowner for murder during an election year despite the fact that the dead man has a long history of crime.

In fact, his body provides a major clue that leads to a case from over fourteen years ago at Christmas when two teenagers were attacked and left for dead. While Ricky died, Sunny was beaten, raped and shot in head and somehow survived. The case created an intense wave of publicity years ago and while a massive manhunt was undertaken, no one was ever identified or charged in the case. The ripples of that night have ruined so many lives and still haunt the survivors because murder affects everyone who knew the deceased person.

The dead burglar is quickly identified and soon it becomes apparent that he was involved in the horrific events so long ago. There are others involved and they have their suspicions as to who they are, but thanks to politics, the Cold Case Squad can't actively investigate. But Sergeant Burch convinces Brit Montero to help work the case with them while ostensibly covering the squad for a profile section of the paper. She of course agrees and soon the nightmare of the past is given new life today.

With frequent references to the terrorist attacks and their aftermath, as well as other novels of the series that had their own pain and suffering, this read is a mostly depressing book. That coupled with an absolute horrible ending for long time fans and readers of the series make this book simply one to ignore in the store.

For some reason I thought this book was a fantasy but I soon discovered it's a mystery. Mysteries usually don't hold my attention but this one managed to.

This book is apparently smack in the middle of a long ongoing series but the references to the earlier books didn't throw me too much although I think I would've found a deeper connection to many of the characters if I had read the earlier books first. Still, this was an attention grabbing murder mystery about a journalist following a cold case. The characterization was done very well and I genuinely cared for many of these people but when the big bad guy of the novel is finally revealed in the end it was a huge disappointment and simply unbelievable to me that the police hadn't figured it out long before. This is a dark book with a lot of pain suffered by most of the characters and adding to that is the fact that it takes place right after the 911 attacks. Don't read this if you need some cheering up!

If the author was going to go down the path she chose to end the story, I wish it hadn't seemed so haphazard and rushed. When the case was wrapped up and Britt was packing for her trip, there were still enough pages left to know that something was going to happen, but few enough pages to know it was going to be weak. I'm not a fan of this type of plot device because I don't like feeling "forced" to buy someone's next book -- if I like their work I will anyway.

Other than that, while not her best, I thought this installment in the Britt Montero series was very good, and I would've given it 4 stars on its own.

I think I should start off and say that I am not a "mystery reader" as such. I don't follow a particular series and this is the only mystery I have read by Edna Buchanan. I found the read to be quick and diverting. However, I found some of her "fringe" characters more intriguing than her main characters. In fact---I wanted to know more about Sunny's parents and what makes them tick. Also Ms. Buchanan never made me care who raped Sunny and killed her boyfriend. I had no problem setting this book aside a while and coming back. Also I couldn't help but see her detective as a watered down version of Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta. And when the "bad guy" is finally found, I found it very unlikely in the sense that it wasn't solved by the police years ago. Short way to put it: Not believable. But the book is worth a read if you want something light and quick. If you want to almost grieve when the book ends----this is not a good choice.

Up to this point, I loved reading and following Edna Buchanan's Strong Women Reporter Britt Montero. All I can say is that the horrible disheartening ending made me decide that I will never buy or pick up at the library another Edna Buchanan novel.

Is it so hard to have happy endings especially in the same novel were 9/11 had an important part. I am thoroughly disappointed in Ms. Buchanan...

They're back; all our favorites...Britt, Kendall, Lottie, etc. This is an action packed adventure involving cold case files. A brutal murder/rape of two innocent teens happened years ago. It changed forever the lives of everyone involved.

HOWEVER, I feel like the anti-heroine of Stephen King's "Misery." Edna's done and gone kilt off one of the recurring characters. NO!!! How could you?? Life in Miami will never be the same now.

Miami News crime reporter Britt Montero is at the morgue where the body of a criminal lies after the felon was electrocuted while breaking into a home. That corpse would not be much more newsworthy then perhaps a line or two, but the Miami Police Cold Case Squad see a link between the dead lawbreaker and an unsolved fourteen year old homicide. Someone had abducted two teens murdering Richard Chance while leaving Sunny Hartley to die. Somehow she survived to tell her harrowing tale, but the culprits were never apprehended.

Sunny has ignored her near death experience by withdrawing from society as much as possible. However, the police reopen her nightmare and the media, led by Britt take no prisoners, go into a feeding frenzy. The original assault team prefers this case remain silent even if it means killing the one that got away fourteen years ago.

The Britt Montero investigations are always wonderful novels, but THE ICE MAIDEN is the best to date. This is a powerful story that is more than just an inquiry into a reopened cold case. Instead the reader observes that side as a delightful, cleverly designed subplot. However, what makes this novel a great crime thriller besides the realistic serpentine twisting climax is Sunny, a victim then and a victim now as she is a front page target of the media, the police, and the killers. Edna Buchanan is sure to receive nominations from several of the major awards for this terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner