Read Three pages

I regret that I cannot base my review on more of the book. As a person who lives in Alaska, I was unable toread more than three pages of the book before realizing there was very little reality to the story. I like good escapist literature as much as the next person, but the small "details" that were supposed to make this story seem accurate were very incorrect. The most glaring one is that most small villages in the Interior (where planes land on frozen rivers) are dry, but suffer from alcoholism as a serious problem in the community. A mayor would never offer a drink to a new person in town just off the float/ski plane. I try not to publish negative reviews, but I feel it is necessary in this case.

Awesome!

Nora outdoes herself again. Just when it seems she has reached her peak and her work is in danger of becoming too predictable, she manages to break new ground, even while wrapping us in the familiar comfort of her prose. This book is a little different, focusing almost exclusively on the thoughts and inner turmoils of hero, and barley scratching the surface of the heroine. Nora has made the hero the focal point of several previous novels, but her other heroines have shown more of themselves than this one, who is so private we barely get a glimpse of who she is.
What we know of Meg Galloway is that she's a tough, intensely private woman who flies bush planes for a living, lives five miles outside a tiny town in the Alaskan interior, alone with two dogs, and callously goes through men like Kleenex. Meg is rather more up front about sex than any other known woman, except perhaps for Sex and the City's Samantha. She's comfortable in that, which is okay, but we could have used more insight to explain why she is this way, since it is a trifle unusual. Similarly, Meg's volatile relationship with her mother is also not deeply explored.
Instead, we are plunged deep into the psyche of our hero, Nate Burke, recent arrival to Lunacy, Alaska, population 504. Nate arrives in Lunacy by way of the Baltimore PD, which he quit after his partner was killed in an alley. Nate is in a deep depression, written sympathetically, but without any obvious heartstring tugs. Instead of trying to make us cry over Nate's sadness, we are shown his efforts to fight it off and move on to better things.
After several weeks of busting up fights and corralling drunks, Nate suddenly has no time to brood on his past when, after having gone missing 16 years before, Meg's father's murdered body is discovered in an ice cave 10,000 feet up a mountain. Another murder occurs in town, fixed to look like a suicide, and Nate believes the same killer is responsible. While going through his daily small town cop routine, Nate singlemindedly pursues his murder investigation, tracking down clues and finding dead ends. Just when it seems the investigation has gone on long enough, a final damning clue lands in his hands and Nate figures it all out.
Although Nate's collar of the murderer is a shade too dramatic, an obvious showdown to give the reader one last page-turning thrill, it plays out okay. This is a good, entertaining rnead filled not only with twisting, turning suspense, it gives a very engaging picture of life in a small town at the foot of the mountains in the Alaska wild. The descriptions of everything from a blizzard to the spring thaw take the reader right there, making one long to take a vacation to the far north. This book definitely gets an A.

Alaskan Atmosphere Adds Appeal

Lunacy, Alaska is the kind of place where the weather turns everything on its head. The sun is either always down . . . or always up. The cold is almost always a presence. A little storm can dump 4 feet of show suddenly. A little jaunt can turn deadly if you aren't cautious.

When the weather isn't providing such extremes, the wild animals are. Don't face down an angry moose or a hungry black bear!

The demographics are also unusual . . . there are a lot more men than woman, which can mean that the women can play the field while the men have to be loyal.

Travel isn't simple. You use snowshoes, land planes on frozen rivers and fly hundreds of miles for ordinary shopping.

Is it any wonder that tempers can get short, disagreements can get out-of-hand, and families find themselves in conflict with one another?

With Alaska as the main character in this book, Ms. Roberts turns what would normally be a pretty average romance/murder mystery story into an intriguing one.

Nate Burke was a good cop . . . so good that it cost him his marriage. Distracted by the loss of his wife, Nate Burke even begins to doubt he can be a good cop again. Running away becomes attractive, and he takes the job as police chief in the small town of Lunacy, Alaska. As soon as he arrives, he realizes that he's out of his depth and may not last the winter.

Two women immediately begin vying for his attention and his attractive body. That's enough to make most men come alive . . . but it's even more significant when they both turn out to be untamed . . . and are mother and daughter.

While he's dealing with the possibility of love, Nate finds himself drawn into solving an old, unsuspected murder . . . while realizing that the killer must still be in Lunacy.

How will it all turn out? You'll spend over 500 interesting pages finding out. At the end, you'll feel rewarded for your effort . . . whether you are a romance or a mystery buff. The book is above average from both perspectives.

I would have graded the book higher but I found that it didn't move quite fast enough for me, and the Nate Burke character was a little too predictable. Meg Callaway, on the other hand, is an original and fascinating heroine whom you will greatly enjoy.