Customer Reviews

Ice Trap: A Novel of Psychological Suspense

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Kitty Sewell makes her debut with "Ice Trap," a novel of suspense that opens in 2006. Dr. Dafydd Woodruff is married to Isabel, an intense woman who is longing to have a child. They are both in their forties, and their fertility specialist tries everything before he reluctantly admits defeat. Isabel is bitterly disappointed; her desperation to conceive is adversely affecting the couple's relationship. "He'd tried to tell her that something vital had been lost, that he now felt too old to be a father--but Isabel was unwavering in her determination to press on."

Next, Sewell takes us back in to 1992, when Dafydd fled to a frozen wasteland called Moose Creek (population just over 4000) in the Northwest Territories. It was "a godforsaken outpost to which no sane human being, least of all a doctor, would ever dream of going voluntarily." He retreated there after having made a serious medical error that left him shaken and remorseful. Sewell describes the offbeat men and women whom Dafydd encountered. One of them was Sheila Hailey, an arrogant nurse who mocked and criticized Dafydd at every opportunity.

"Ice Trap" has an intriguing premise and an original setting. Sewell expertly describes the challenges of staying alive in an Arctic town where the inhabitants must do battle with a forbidding climate that can bring about frostbite or even death. In Moose Creek, people drink too much, smoke heavily, and enter into sexual relationships with abandon, not worrying too much about the consequences of their rash behavior. The residents of this inhospitable place include Native Americans, blue collar workers, and misfits who cannot function in society.

When he later puts down roots in Wales, Dafydd hopes that he has left Moose Creek behind him forever. Unfortunately, the past and the present collide when Sheila sends him a letter in which she claims that he is the father of her thirteen-year-old twins. Dafydd is incredulous and outraged at this ridiculous allegation, but Isabel is all too prepared to believe the worst. This crisis will put a strain on Dafydd's already shaky marriage. He decides that he must return to Moose Creek to confront Sheila and meet the children whom she claims are his. This journey will force him to face some unpleasant truths about the past and make a number of hard decisions about the future.

Katie Sewell is an imaginative writer who has a gift for effectively depicting setting and capturing mood. She portrays Dafydd as an impulsive and often foolhardy individual who is redeemed by his capacity to love. However, many of the other characters lack depth and Sewell loses control of her plot in the second half of the book. She throws in far too many melodramatic and improbable elements that rob "Ice Trap" of its impact and believability. Still, this is a promising effort and it will be interesting to see where Sewell goes from here.

Ice Trap never quite got off the ground, so to speak, for me. The basic idea (from the dust cover) that Dafydd Woodruff has children back in northern Canada that he's sure he didn't father sounds appealing. That DNA tests show the children are his provides complications that should yield an interesting mystery that you look forward to seeing solved--rather like the classic locked-room murders that John Dickson Carr and other writers are famous for. You know the murder occurred, and you know that you're going to enjoy seeing how it was done. So Ice Trap is like that, or should be like that.

After the first 40 or so pages I realized that I wasn't enjoying the book as much as I should. The characters weren't as believable as I would have liked, and how they responded to situations left me a bit uncomfortable. There are flashbacks to Woodruff's life at Moose Creek in Canada in 1992. The Canadian scenes are helpful to the book--in terms of a sense of place--they are well done. But the people seem unrealistic in ways. Later, Woodruff returns to Moose Creek to try to unravel the mystery. One of the twins insists he's her father, the other twin--a boy--insists that Woodruff is not his father. It seems a bit off-kilter, and it doesn't feel right. I found that I was curious about how the mystery would be solved, but not excited by it.

In retrospect, I think that having twins added unnecesary complications to the plot. I kept thinking about monozygotic/dizygotic identical/fraternal twins and DNA. If you have a male and a female (as in Ice Trap) the twins must be fraternal/dizygotic, and the chance of both having exactly the same DNA is negligible. I cannot recall anything being said in the book about whether there are two different DNA profiles, or whether Woodruff ever thinks about this. Having just one child rather than twins would have tightened things up considerably. There are also other potential holes in the plot--things that Woodruff should have looked at. If towards the end of the book as the veils begin to lift you look back at what happened earlier, some of the plot elements don't seem to make as much sense as they should have. So there are some good pieces here, but there are also some that are unsatisfying.

THis book was a page turner from beginning to end. The dialogue was realistic and the characters were fascinatingly flawed. I loved the use of the arctic setting as well.

I cannot wait for Blood Print, the next thriller due out by this author!

Got intriqued of the book after reading a review of it in our local newspaper by a local college professor. Being of Scadinavian origin ( as is the author), I felt immediate connection.
The work environment in a remote hospital, where most of the employees come from outside, and stay a short time, is also familiar to me after doing that kind of contract in a foreign country as an emergency room RN.
The author crabs your attention from the first chapter, and keeps it to the end. Most of the action described is plausible, and the mystery part is unique as well. I will look for this author's books in the future, and my copy of "Ice Trap" is on the way to Alaska, where a relative is on a 3 yr contract as a physican on a remote island.

Despite seeing a number of critical reader's reviews about Ice Trap here on Amazon (and many very good ones too) I ordered it, because a friend recommended the novel to me with unbridled enthusiasm.
I can truly say that it's one of the most interesting novels I've read in a long time. It's marketed as a thriller, and I have a feeling that it's here the problem lies for both the author and her readers. The American market thinks of thrillers in terms of bloodshed, domestic violence, pedophilia and gruesome murders. Along comes the ubiquitous police detective/ investigative journalist/ forensic pathologist to cleverly sniff out the truth. The reader buys a thriller expecting to be thrilled to the point of the ridiculous on every page.
Well, Ice Trap is not about that. It's a totally different kind of thriller, where the characters are complex, most of them neither good nor bad, but real, and the setting draws you in so that you literally live in the cold harsh climate of Moose Creek. The suspense is subtle but insistent and the plot twists are truly ingenious.
I looked up the authors website and saw that Ice Trap has won prices and has been short-listed for a couple of prestigious awards in Europe. I can see why. Can't wait for Bloodprint, her next one!

I thoroughly enjoyed Kitty Sewell's first novel Ice Trap. I had been browsing in Barnes and Nobles and came across the "usual suspects" ie: books written by the same authors with nothing new and fresh except variations on a theme. I was really looking for something new and I found it! Ice Trap had all the elements of adventure, mystery and a diverse character population to satisfy this readers thirst for a new and interesting backdrop sprinkled with characters that don't conform to what we usually expect them to given their education and social standing.
This first novel is the true "expat" experience. It represents people no longer constrained by their own usual cultural and social mores and who fall into the extreme lower parts of themselves.
It was also interesting to taste a culture that few have ever read or witnessed. This was a really fun book to read and it begs for a sequel
Mark S.

I randomly picked this book up at the library, and found myself engrossed from the very start. I was very intrigued to find out how the paternity issue would resolve itself. However, I have to admit that I never found much to like about any of the characters in the novel. The main character was so incredibly naive, bordering on just downright stupid at times, that it made it hard to believe. That being said, I read straight through it and stayed up way too late on a work night to finish it.

A remarkably well written book by a first time novelist. Kitty Sewell manages to capture ones imagination and maintain a hold on it throughout this thoroughly engrossing and engaging book.It is both a chilling and compelling work of fiction, dealing with themes of betrayal and guardred secrets from the past, that spans two continents. There is a great disparity in both time and place between the lives that Dr.Dafydd Woodruff leads in Wales and the Northern Terrotories town of Moose Creek, and he learns the hard way that their are consequences for every action. I found it interesting that the existence of twins is so central to this novel as perhaps the author subconciously intended them to be a metaphor for the two different lives led by the main character. A good first novel and I for one am looking forward to Ms Sewells next offering.

The information I had read regarding this book made me anxious to get it. I am a 'bookaholic' and read constantly. Of all the books in my library, this has been the most boring. It will not stay in my library because I will not read it again. It was just too unrealistic. Dafydd operated out of emotion without thinking things through. He was extremely shallow.

What the author lacks in vocabulary she tried to make up for with senseless profanity. There were no committed relationships at all in the book, just a bunch of user losers. There were too many loose ends and too many meaningless words that took the reader to a dead end.

There was absolutely nothing suspenseful in the book and that is unfortunate because the concept is a good one. I will remember this author's name because I don't want to waste any more money on her writings. I am sure she is a nice lady, but she needs a new hobby.

The book's style may seem a little different. I think that you have to remember it is written by a swedish author who lives in Europe and some phrases and terms may translate a little differently than we are used to, but it shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of this wonderful suspense novel. The book is an excellent psychological thriller. You got very involved in the main character's plight. You can't wait to find out how, he says he never had sexual relations with the woman accusing him of being the father of her twins and then to have the DNA tests say he is the father. The book alternates between the present and the past. You just get caught up in the present and then you are taken to the past and you get equally caught up in that time period. And so it continues back and forth. It kept it fresh and exciting.