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Book Review of Chill Factor

Chill Factor
Chill Factor
Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Romance
Book Type: Paperback
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Five women have disappeared without a trace and local police chief Dutch Burton is doing all he can but he is distracted since his wife Lilly Martin has just divorced him. Upon clearing out their winter cabin just before a blizzard hits, Dutch leaves in frustration thinking Lilly is right behind him on the road. Unfortunately Lilly has fallen asleep and when she awakens, the storm has been going strong for hours and the roads are precarious, to say the least. When someone jumps out in front of her car, she hits the man and crashes into a tree, disabling the vehicle. Lilly helps the man back to the cabin to wait out the storm.

You know from the beginning who the serial kidnapper (killer?) is and when he gets hit by a car in the second by Lilly, you have roughly 360 pages of suspense. Is he going to rape her, torture her, kill her or all three? To make matters worse, Ben is a very attractive and charismatic man. Is Lilly going to fall in love before he does her in? And the best thing is that they aren't strangers. Lilly and Ben met on a kayaking adventure the previous summer and flirted up a storm before Lilly revealed that she was married. Ben was rather upset at being fooled. Hmmm. Is Lilly now stranded with no help in sight with a potential murderer?

Small town Cleary, NC is just like all small towns...everybody knows everybodies business, secrets run deep and when one is exposed, the entire town is effected. Cleary, NC is no different. Brother and sister, Marilou and William Ritt have always lived together though he treats her more like a wife (cook, clean, etc) than a sister. For some strange reason, she accepts this and puts up with it without a fuss. Hmmm, what's going on here? Wes Hamer and his son Scott are another strange pair. Wes is the high school football coach and he pushes Scott almost past his endurance and Scott at 19 allows this. Why? Wes also treats his wive like shit and she puts up with it without complaint. What is up with these people? And of course, let's not forget the FBI has arrived and steadily withhold evidence from the police. It sounds like a cluster mess in the making and believe me it is. This is one book that winds you up to let you fall into false conclusions again and again. Very well written with just the right amount of tension, suspense and anger. Excellent!