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Chill factor

Sandra Brown

680 pages

A claustrophobic, snowbound thriller where biting cold outside is matched only by the simmering, dangerous heat inside.

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What it feels like

Reading this book feels like being trapped in a snow globe that someone is violently shaking. The atmosphere is immediately claustrophobic, wrapping you in the biting cold of a mountain blizzard while dialing up the internal heat through masterful forced proximity. It is a quintessential romantic suspense experience, balancing the creeping dread of a serial killer mystery with the electric, unpredictable tension of being isolated with a stranger who might be a savior or a monster. The pacing is relentless, driven by the ticking clock of the storm and the mounting paranoia of the protagonist. It will absolutely devour the weekend of any reader who loves their thrillers laced with heavy suspicion, steamy romance, and the inescapable feeling of being snowed in with danger.

Mood
  • claustrophobic
  • chilling
  • steamy
  • tense
  • isolated
Tone
  • suspenseful
  • dramatic
  • urgent
  • gritty
Pace
propulsive
Themes
forced proximity · trust and betrayal · survival in isolation · escaping the past · the mask of a killer
The writing
Direct and sensory-driven, focusing heavily on the biting cold of the environment and the simmering heat of interpersonal tension.
The arc
Begins in a state of anxious transition and builds through escalating paranoia and intense attraction, culminating in a breathless, high-stakes resolution.
Who it's for
Readers who crave the perfect blend of a locked-room thriller and steamy romance, especially those who love the 'snowed in with a dangerous stranger' trope.
Content notes
  • serial murder
  • kidnapping
  • violence
  • controlling ex-spouse
  • car accident

About the book

Suspense abounds in this gripping new thriller from author Sandra Brown, in which a successful magazine editor is trapped in her remote cabin with a man believed to be a serial killer.

Cleary, North Carolina, is a sleepy mountain town -- the kind of place where criminal activity is usually limited to parking violations. Not so, lately. Four women have disappeared from Cleary over the past two years. And there's always a blue ribbon left near the spot where each of the women was last seen. There are no bodies, no other clues, and no suspicion as to who their abductor might be. And now, another woman has disappeared without a trace.

It is to this backdrop that Lilly Martin returns to close the sale of her mountain cabin, marking the end of her turbulent eight-year marriage to Dutch Burton, Cleary's chief of police. Dutch's reluctance to let her go isn't Lilly's only obstacle. As she's trying to outrun a snowstorm, her car skids on the icy road and strikes a man who emerges from the woods on foot. She recognizes the injured man as Ben Tierney, whom she'd met the previous summer. They're forced to wait out the storm in the cabin, but as the hours of their confinement mount, Lilly begins to wonder if the greatest danger to her safety isn't the blizzard outside, but the mysterious man right beside her.

Is Ben Tierney the feared abductor? Or is he who he claims to be...her rescuer from harm and from the tragedy that haunts her?

The compelling characters, sexual tension, and stunning plot twists in Sandra Brown's Chill Factor combine to create a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Description from Open Library.

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