Let me take a moment and tell you how I came to read The Girl in the Ice. You see, each year for Chanukah I buy Chris Kindle books from Amazon. They’re good because even if he’s away from home, I can easily “deliver” them to him each night. It takes some work though finding books for Chris. He’s a prolific reader, so finding things he hasn’t read, on subjects he’s interested challenges me. I like that challenge though, firmly believing the gift as much the thought as the gift itself. Last year, Chris decided to reciprocate.
The problem with that scenario, Chris lacks a bit of the thought necessary. Oh sure, Chris knows I like mysteries but I don’t think he realizes there are different types of mysteries. There are thrillers, suspense, cozies, police procedurals, Who Done its and more. I tend to like cozies, Who Done its, soft-boiled, with the occassional forensic mystery thrown in. I do, on occassion, read police procedurals, but not too often because I find them violent and gory.
So Chris bought me a bunch of mysteries last year, not the type I normally read, and The Girl in the Ice was among them.
The Girl in the Ice is the first in the DCI Erika Foster series by Robert Bryndza. In it, Erika returns to the force after experiencing a traumatic event while on the job (don’t worry, it doesn’t take long to find out what happened in her past) and she’s immediately thrown into a case-mid process of a missing young woman. Unfortunately, we quickly realize the girl isn’t missing but dead. We also learn her father is a wealthly member of parliment, so the issues only compound.
The Girl in the Ice – My Thoughts
Other than the violent beginning, and what I feel was a wasted chapter on the discovery of the girl’s body, the story intrigued me. Plus, I liked the author’s use of short chapters which made the story read quickly, keeping a good pace. And most of the time, I liked DCI Erika Foster too.
On the other hand though, I found many if not most of the characters cliche. The rich obnoxious father, the other DCI who immediately resented Erika and worked to undermine her, even her boss and the blocks he put in her way felt cliche. More so, the one thing that drives me crazy about main characters, when they don’t learn from their mistakes, occurs here right from the get-go. Erika consistently and constantly runs headlong into situations she should know better to avoid.
That said, I’m not sorry I spent a few hours reading this book. And I will probably give the second book in the series, The Night Stalker, a go. Afterall, even Stephanie Plum took four books to hit her stride, so maybe these issues will correct later on too. Besides, it’s currently only $3.99 at Amazon (oh and this one, only 99 cents!).