Thursday, August 27, 2020

The Deep Deep Snow

Title: The Deep Deep Snow
Author: Brian Freeman
Published: January 14, 2020, Blackstone Publishing
Format: Kindle Edition, 307 pages
Genre: Police Procedural

This book has been sitting in my pile for a while, and I’m not sure why I kept putting it off since I have always loved Brian Freeman --but for some reason, it wasn’t calling to me. That was a big mistake. When I finally picked it up to get a little idea of what was to come, I found that I could not put it down. The author has a way of letting you think that you have it figured out, then there is a twist, not a totally out of the blue twist, just a nudge into a new direction and a new mindset, and you set off with a whole new set of what-ifs.

Shelby Lake is a firm believer in premonition, abandoned as an infant on the doorstep of the local sheriff, where she would have frozen to death if it wasn’t for the snowy owl that had landed on the boat and ruined his fishing plans and forcing him to returned home. Her arrival in Nowhere, Minnesota, is a bit of a mystery, but one that she doesn’t dwell on. She has enough going on with her father’s slow descent into Alzheimer’s and the sudden disappearance of young Jeremiah Sloan.

Told in a then and now format, this is a story of secrets. It appears that everyone has one, and now it is up to Shelby to unravel a disappearance by putting all the pieces together, while gently prodding her father and helping him to ease into a life full of unknowns. Aware of forewarnings, and as the pieces fall together, Shelby faces the daunting task of bringing everyone’s truths to light, which will leave the reader a little shattered and a family made whole again.

From what I can tell, this book is a stand-alone, but several jumping-off points could be the beginning of a new series for Mr. Freeman. Shelby Lake is a fascinating character that is deeply flawed and tends to put others first --even if they don’t necessarily want it, or ask. She is a watcher of signs and will take care of those that she loves, though one day, they won’t remember her.

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