Deep Freeze by Lisa Jackson

Lisa Jackson has long been on my TBR list. Deep Freeze left me feeling as though I was out in it. Shivering. With the chills. This woman is seriously twisted. I loved it! Think Mariah Stewart, only even way more twisted and macabre. The romance also plays a bit more heavily in this than in a Stewart, which I liked, but I believe that, while a very integral part of the book, it definitely takes a back seat to the suspense/thriller component.

Blurb (courtesy of lisajackson.com): Jenna Hughes has had it with her seemingly frivolous Hollywood lifestyle. The tragedy of her sister's death on the set of Jenna's last movie still haunts her, her marriage has fallen apart, and her spoiled teenagers are giving her nothing but grief. Determined to start fresh in a more peaceful area she packs up her reluctant children and moves to a quiet existence on the shores of the Columbia River . . . or so she thinks.

What she doesn't realize is that terror is lurking in the raw wilderness. The peaceful winter becomes deadly with the worst blizzard in over a hundred years. As the temperatures plunge below freezing, Jenna's biggest fan, an obsessive maniac, has tracked her to the rambling log house in the Pacific Northwest. Women start to disappear and soon Jenna realizes that the bizarre abductions and killings are happening because of her. She's at the vortex of a twisted murderer's horrifying scheme and no one can help her, not even Shane Carter, the sexy, irreverent local Sheriff. She's on her own, trapped in a blinding snow storm and no matter what she does, the killer keeps getting closer to her and her daughters.

Let me begin by saying that it is very difficult for an author to deceive me on the whodunnit. Jackson masterfully does it in this book. The only clues she gives are the color of his eyes (ice blue) and the fact that he is fairly buff and runs around naked in the snow (paraphrasing here, people, LOL!). So, every man in the book that is described with blue eyes (and there are a few) had me wondering, "Is this the one?". Usually I can, at a minimum, narrow it down to two possibles. Hu-uh. Not a clue. Everyone seemed suspect to me.

I enjoyed the romance (despite the fact that the hero had a moustache - hate 'em *g*). The first interaction we see is when Jenna is pulled over by the sheriff and given a ticket for a busted tail light. He so doesn't want to be impressed, but, expecting a prima donna moviestar, finds himself drawn to her "normalcy".

I liked that Jenna was portrayed as nothing more than a single mother trying to get her life back together post-divorce. She has to deal with an absentee ex-husband and father, and her daughters, an angry defiant teenage girl and a shy, introverted preteen. Just like so many of us deal with. OK, that's all she had to deal with until someone starts to stalk her, yada yada yada.

For the most part, I enjoyed the supporting characters, the townspeople, Jenna's friends. I liked that there was a sense of history and friendship and connectedness and caring among them. And, yes, nosiness, too. Very small town. And who knew that waterfalls freeze and then you can climb them?! So cool!

This book could have become cliched stalker/thriller, but Lisa Jackson's macabre sense of danger and suspense makes it unique and scary and thrilling all at the same time. This is definitely a suspense/thriller first, romance second, but if that is up your alley like it is mine, definitely get this book! I'm off to get Fatal Burn, the second in this 2-book series.

Oh, and if you visit her web site, yes, she is definitely twisted. Love the series page... Majorly creepy!