Sunday Synopsis

Frozen Past by Richard C. Hale
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was an adolescent novel. It's not. The characters were kids, and the writing was very child-like and stagnant. The main characters are supposed to be Jaxon Jennings, a detective, and his ex-wife, an FBI agent. But the 13-14 year old kids are more prominent in the story, and I really didn't care about them. Much of the story is about their "love story" as if a 14 year old knows what love is.

Someone is watching Luke and Eliana. It appears he is trying to scare them and even frame them for a murder. The kids think it would be funny to put a dummy in the pool and see if it freezes and fools anyone, but someone replaces the dummy with a real kid. The stalker contacts Luke and Eliana through Facebook, and claims to know Elaina's father, so there is a whole backstory about her family. And of course the stalker threatens that if they go to the police, they will both die.

When the murdered boy in the pool is found, enter Jaxon Jennings and his partner. They believe they have a lead on the swimming pool murder, albeit in a different state, thus the FBI, and jaxon's ex-wife, become involved. The kids are having more luck finding the murderer than the police are.

It was actually a VERY predictable story. You will know what is going to happen before it happens, and you will be correct. There really are no surprises. It was like watching one of the Friday the 13th movies, minus the music. You're telling the characters, "No, don't go in there! Get out!" But they go in anyway. It was also rather gruesome like a horror movie what with chopping off the heads of both people and animals, among other things.

I also don't appreciate when authors who aren't familiar with teenagers and youth try to write dialogue for them. I don't know any teenager who uses the description "epic" over and over again. The dialogue was disingenuous. I also didn't enjoy the love story between the teenagers, expressing their everlasting love for one another, thinking they can protect each other better than the police. And what kid has better tracking and hacking software than the FBI? Also, I don't know any parent who would allow his or her 13 year old daughter to move in with the boyfriend's family, much less when there is a murderer on the loose.

This book lacked suspense, believability, compelling dialogue, and character motivation. I don't recommend it.

View all my reviews

Subscribe in a reader