Horrible things are happening in Whistler in the days leading up to the 2010 Olympics. The first murder occurs when a snowboarder is on an early morning run.

Pulling himself into a tuck as he approached the lip, Boomer saw his shadow vanish over the cliff face. Then his board soared into the bright blue yonder, his feet sliced off cleanly above the ankles. Propelled as far as momentum could carry it, his headless body spewed blood across the powder. He, however, lagged behind, hanging in midair until gravity yanked his severed head face down into red snow.

...from page 3

From there, it's pretty much a bloodbath, with the third appearance of Slade's most notorious psychopath, Mephisto.

There was plenty of action, along with some nice twists. The body count was VERY high with some gruesome murders, some creative murders, and some surprising murders. I loved that none of the characters were safe and I wasn't even close to figuring out the ending. I also liked the simplicity of the cover art.

There were a couple of things I didn't like. First, I didn't think the sound effects were necessary. My imagination was good enough without having them literally spelled out. Every time I read "brrrrrt" I felt like I was being told the story by a 12-year-old boy.

Second, I understand that when an author uses characters from previous books, it's necessary to give some background, to give the characters depth and to explain how things that have happened in the past relate to this story. But in this book, I felt that too much information was given, too much detail. It's ok to tell me that a character lost an ear to the bad guy but don't tell me exactly how it happened. It takes away the incentive to read the previous books.

Overall, an entertaining book. Those who like their thrillers bloody won't be disappointed.

Reviewed by Lynn Bornath on 27 February 2010 from the trade paperback version.

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