How did a man freeze to death in the back of a refrigerated lorry? Did the drivers do it? Hunter Rayne, ex Mountie turned truck driver, investigates. Well observed and well written drama set in the tight blue collar world of long haul trucking. Hunter no longer has police powers so has to rely on his intelligence and knowledge of character to work it out. The second in the series, this is a better book than the first. You really do get a sense of the world these people live in: the bars, truck stops and custom posts. The characters are multi dimensional and interestingly the author is not afraid of creating an unlikable character in the form of Lt 'Cupcake' the abrasive detective who is convinced he's already got his man.
This is the third Hunter Rayne book I've read and it's every bit as good, if not better, than others in the series. Following the discovery of the frozen body of an unidentified man, fellow truckers Ray and Sharon, are arrested for his murder. The recently married couple were hauling a load of frozen meat and it soon becomes clear that the man froze to death locked in their refrigerated truck. Whilst vehemently protesting their innocence, they are obviously hiding something and ex Canadian Mountie Hunter is going to have his work cut out if he is to find anything that will help the hapless pair. All of the characters are so well-rounded. My particular favourite was the ambitious young detective, ruthless in his determination to crack the case and achieve the professional recognition he feels he deserves. He has you disliking him one minute and empathising with him the next. Never a particularly appealing character, his vulnerability comes through and despite his failings, you can't help wanting to know how things work out for him in the end. The contrast between the Canadian rather formal attitudes and the American much more aggressive personalities is so well portrayed. However, some of the references are rather dated and may not be easily recognisable for younger readers. Equally, some of the attitudes may not be as relevant now as they were when the book was written. I think it would also have helped the physical readability of the book if the different sections within the chapters had been split up using a page break of some sort. The story did switch from scene to scene without warning and this was disconcerting at times. Apart from these minor technical points, Ice on the Grapevine is an excellent book in an extremely skilfully written series and I look forward to reading another one soon.
Disappointing. Whilst the story may have some merit, although rather unbelievable in parts, it was obvious the author reckons it necessary to incorporate foul gutter swearing and even worse blasphemy! What enters the heads of authors to steep so low is bothering. Such language isn't necessary to sell books, it rather gives a strong impression of an author unable to draw on the comprehensively large volume of sensible words to convey a story. Thankfully, there are authors who present to their audience a riveting story without the draw of swear words or blasphemy.
This book held my attention throughout. A really exciting story with strong characters. I would have given 5 stars but there was a small problem. The story keeps shifting between characters without any indication. One sentence is character a and the next you suddenly discover it's character b. Confusing and so easy to fix. Just insert something even a line of dots.
One reviewer said it was a slow read. I found it so slow and boring that I eventually locked the airbrakes on and dumped at the next pull-in. Very mixed up plot which was very jumpy and finally lost my interest