Chill Factor

Stephen Lang's breathy baritone adds a deep sense of disquiet as writer Ben Tierney buries a body--next to three other bodies. Is he the serial psycho, "Blue," who's been abducting women? The FBI thinks so. But Lilly Burton knows him simply as a guy she flirted with last summer. Lang keeps things intriguing enough to involve listeners as the plot struggles toward its obvious setup: A car accident and a monstrous blizzard combine to leave Lilly and Ben stranded alone at Lilly's cabin. As the pace picks up, Lang keeps anxiety on the front burner. Apprehension mounts, suspense builds, and the climax holds listeners to the headphones. S.J.H. 2006 Audie Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

June 20, 2005
Lust, jealousy and murder suffuse Brown's crisp thriller (after White Hot
), set in the snowbound mountains of North Carolina. Lilly and Dutch Burton's marriage didn't withstand the loss of their three-year-old daughter, despite their attempt at a fresh start with the purchase of a vacation cabin in bucolic Cleary, N.C., where the novel opens on the divorced couple discussing its sale. Dutch is now Cleary's chief of police, and Lilly is a magazine editor in Atlanta. As she races back to the city to beat a blizzard, her car skids out, striking a hiker emerging from the woods. Turns out he's a man she knows: handsome freelance writer Ben Tierney, whom she met and flirted with the summer before. With no choice but to wait out the storm in the cabin with Ben, who is injured, Lilly calls Dutch, but he can't reach her via the now impassable mountain road. Meanwhile, Cleary is haunted by the case of five missing women—all now feared dead. With Lilly still stranded, Dutch goes ballistic when the FBI arrives in town with evidence that Tierney is the serial killer. The snowy suspense will cool off Brown's fans during the dog days of summer.