Chance meetings can be just that, meeting someone at a point
of time and never seeing them again. Yet there are also encounters that bring
fast friendships, or possibly even danger.
In Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick, Lauren Huntsman has a
chance encounter that changes her life. No one knows where she has gone, and
her family is horrified. Yet she is not the only young woman to have gone
missing.
Britt Pfeiffer is not worried about some random disappearances.
As her class decides to take their break in Hawaii, Britt talks her friend
Korbie into backpacking with her in the Teton Range. Korbie’s brother Calvin
was Britt’s boyfriend, and suddenly he dropped her with no explanation. Korbie
doesn’t know what happened, but when she agrees to the trek, Calvin also
decides he wants to tag along. Calvin is very experienced in the outdoors,
while Britt has done more rudimentary training. Unsure of how she feels about
this unexpected situation, Britt and Korbie agree to meet him at their
destination.
Wondering if she can figure out what happened to them, and
determined to rekindle their relationship her plans go awry when they get stuck
on their way up the mountains. Knowing that Calvin is on his way, they are not
so much afraid of being on their own, but that they might freeze before he reaches
them. Deciding to take their gear and hike the rest of the way to their
destination, they get lost but stumble on a cabin that appears occupied as they
begin to lose heart. Two young men inhabit the place, and agree to help them
after much discussion. They seem nice and it doesn’t hurt that they are good
looking. That is until the gun comes out. Suddenly they understand the dangers
of the mountain in a new way.
Agreeing to help their captors find their way out of the
woods, Britt knows that Calvin is on his way and will save them. Stumbling upon a body in a hidden trunk in
the room where she is kept, she begins to understand that she and Korbie are in
way over their heads. The descriptions of one of the missing girls’ clothing match
the clothes on the corpse in the trunk. Can they survive long enough for Calvin to
find them?
Fitzpatrick has given us characters that seem quite real,
and the mistakes they make on the way while a bit sophomoric, seems to fit in
with the character and age of the girls. On the surface Calvin seems like the
knight in shining armor, but there is something wrong that you can sense from
the beginning. Yet Britt has stars in her eyes and misses the strangeness that
is noticeable to the reader.
The beauty of the wilderness shows through as well as the
danger of the weather and terrain. To have trust in such a setting of someone
unknown only shows how desperate and afraid the young women were on their own.
Letting down their guard in the most inappropriate situation has put them in
danger.
This work takes you into the darkness of a killers mind, but
the red herrings have you guessing and wondering what is really happening.
There is a chilling secret that slowly peels away, revealing the truth of who
can be trusted.
If you enjoy mystery, suspense and romance you will find
this a great read. The danger and beauty create a haunting mystery that even as
it is revealed stays with you long after the book is done.
Rating 5/5
This book was recevied free for an honest review. All oninions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.
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