ICE COLD by Tess Gerritsen

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

(Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles, #8)
Tess Gerritsen's newest Rizzoli and Isles book is suspense fiction that could easily be a stand alone novel. Maura Isles lives a self-complicating lifestyle, quickly noted by her conflicting relationship with Father Daniel Brophy. This hidden relationship seems to be hidden only to herself, as almost all of her colleagues have knowledge of it.
The story begins with her attending a somewhat mediocre medical conference in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. It seems that part of her purpose for going is to clear her head and heart, so she might sort out the many conflicts influencing her life. At the conference she meets an old colleague and his friends that persuade her to take a devil-may-care mini vacation to a ski-resort. She almost forces herself to see an attraction with her friend Doug to test the waters of her current relationship.
All the free-spirited intentions come to a screeching halt when the group falls prey to an unexpected blizzard and wrong turns while traveling up the mountain road. The plot then takes a well deserved twist into the hands of some reclusive cult activity.
The novel makes a much needed detour from the relationship foray of the first part of the story.
To say more would include spoilers...
Ice Cold delivers a believable time line of events, weather conditions, and possibilities for the gruesome. It is a quick read, which in my opinion was crunched into a much too compressed ending… which is why I gave it three stars. It was an easy four stars (or more) if not for the "avalanche" of events at the end.
Very well worth the time, with a high entertainment value!
Buy it, read it.  (***)