Frozen Fire (Hardcover)

by Tim Bowler (Author)
Key Phrases: dark blue raincoat, man with the ponytail, weird boy, Raven's Fell, Stonewell Park, Thorn Cottage (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—"I'm sorry, little Dusty. Good-bye, little Dusty." These words, spoken by a stranger on a cell phone, are the same ones uttered by the British teen's brother before he disappeared. The boy on the phone claims he has overdosed and is dying. Dusty walks out into the snow to find him and enters into a supernatural puzzle beyond her imagination. She follows his snowy footprints to a place where they inexplicably vanish, but not long afterward, she learns he has not died. She soon finds herself pursued by vigilantes who are also looking for this boy. They claim he has abnormally snow-white skin and hair and is responsible for a number of reprehensible crimes. Dusty, convinced that he knows something about her brother, refuses to give him up to the mob before he reveals his secrets. Dusty is a bitter tomboy with many disagreeable characteristics, yet readers will find themselves rooting for her. The rest of the characters are flat. The mystery is creepy and compelling, and readers will want to know more. Unfortunately, that which is revealed is surface level, and the deeper mystery remains unsolved. Copious pages of dialogue thrust the story forward and will appeal to many readers; however, interpreting what has happened will take more effort than most teens will be willing to expend.—Heather M. Campbell, formerly at Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In this atmospheric, British supernatural thriller, a stranger comes to town. Fifteen-year-old Dusty first hears his voice on the telephone, and she is startled by his words—last said to her in similar language by her long-missing older brother, Josh. As snow falls on the remote English countryside where Dusty lives, she searches for the mysterious boy, and the closer she comes to him (and he to her), the more danger surrounds her. Bowler’s writing chills, both in the way the author heightens the tension, chapter by terrifying chapter, and through his descriptions of the relentless snow beating down, brightening and frightening—the frozen fire of the title. Sometimes the descriptions burden the story, because readers will be anxious to get back to the compelling interplay between Dusty and the boy. Both spectral and powerful, the boy sends messages (by phone, in person, even through the snow) that propel Dusty forward, always hoping the boy will lead her to Josh. The tension doesn’t wane until the last possible moment. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Philomel (June 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399250530
• ISBN-13: 978-0399250538
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #414,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tim, this is getting very annoying., July 3, 2007

By	The No Evil Killer "Know No Evil" (Everywhere, Anywhere, Nowhere) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Frozen Fire (Paperback)

Having enjoyed some of Tim Bowler's earlier work I am always interested when he brings out a new book. He's the kind of writer who never insults a child's intelligence by writing them as weak, clueless characters. This really appeals to me. But, as with his previous novel Apocalypse, Frozen Fire strings you along with an erratic mystery that could never really make any complete sense and then offers no explanation at the end.

I know books don't always need everything explained but this is TWICE now that Bowler has done this and I am not sure I want to be fooled a third time. I think he should stick stories based in reality than reaching for these fantastical twists that add up to nothing.

The story has a young girl in snowy rural England meet a mysterious ghost-like boy who has magical powers. Many people are out to kill him for apparent past crimes but Dusty, still distressed from the loss of her older brother, becomes somewhat fascinated by him and her world fades away into some etheral, dreamlike state as suspicions build and lynch mobs form.

And then...none of it adds up!

'Oh, use your imagination!'

No. That's what YOU'RE supposed to do Mr. Bowler.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's addicting, it's haunting; it's what you've always wanted from a paranormal mystery., September 10, 2008

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Tim Bowler
Philomel Books (2008)
ISBN 9780399250538
Reviewed by Neha Kashmiri (age 14) for Reader Views (9/08)

"I'm dying"

When Dusty picks up the phone to hear an unfamiliar voice saying those words her life changes forever. On the other end is a boy who has taken an overdose. When he continues to speak, he says things that he couldn't possibly know. That's when Dusty knows that the boy knew, or knows, Josh. Josh is Dusty's brother who disappeared a year ago. He tore apart his family, leaving his mother to have a nervous breakdown and disappear as well.

Dusty finds herself sucked into the foreign world of the strange boy who knew her unlisted number and her cell phone number. She meant to keep but the boy a secret but finds that he can't be kept hidden. He shows up everywhere in town and everyone spots him. Stories start to circulate. The boy is completely the color of snow. He can knock down people without touching them. It seems all people are obsessed with him, even Dusty, herself. Soon strange men come to town claiming that the boy committed an evil crime. The police find out about Dusty's connection to the boy. Dusty is accused of hiding the boy and her life becomes dangerous. All through this Dusty hunts for the boy to find his connection to Josh.

Who is the strange boy? Is he an angel? Or is he a demon?

From the two words on the first page the book becomes like a drug. It's addicting, it's haunting; it's what you've always wanted from a paranormal mystery. Tim Bowler is a genius with suspense and leaving you satisfied, but hanging at the end. "Frozen Fire" is one of those books that haunt you long after you've read the last page.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tidy endings are for murder mysteries, July 17, 2008

By	Travis Forsyth Sherman (St. Petersburg, Fl United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ooooweee, put a pot of coffee on and order take-out, because this nonstop read will keep you turning pages late into the night. Bowler's evocative images and the desperate search of her characters for answers engage the reader from the first sentence: "I'm dying," said the voice. Dusty clutched the phone. She had no idea who this was. A boy about her age, by the sound of -- fifteen, sixteen, maybe a bit older."  "Is anyone there?" he muttered.  His voice was slurred and angry.

Dusty is a risk-taking old girl whose brother Josh's disappearance two years earlier shattered her family. She has a few close friends, and her father is just beginning to pull himself together after her mother walked out and he lost his job. Obsessed with the elusive caller's knowledge of her brother, Dusty pursues the phantom-like figure throughout the book, trying to find out more about him at the same time as she tries to protect him from the world around.

As the action heats up, as the hints of crime and death grow stronger, the very atmosphere of the tale grows colder, icy cold. The ending gives the lie to Franklin's, "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." The nature of death and life, "It's all one," is questioned in Frozen Fire. The eerie openness of the ending is one of the book's strength.