Publisher: Ballantine
Books
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
Summary: Waking up one
wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New
York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of
sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered: Her
husband, Brendan, has committed suicide.
The first few hours following Nora’s devastating discovery pass for her
in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Then, a disturbing awareness slowly
settles in: Brendan left no note and gave no indication that he was
contemplating taking his own life. Why would a rock-solid police officer with unwavering
affection for his wife, job, and quaint hometown suddenly choose to end it all?
Having spent a lifetime avoiding hard truths, Nora must now start facing them.
Unraveling her late husband’s final days, Nora searches for an
explanation—but finds a bewildering resistance from Brendan’s best friend and
partner, his fellow police officers, and his brittle mother. It quickly becomes
clear to Nora that she is asking questions no one wants to answer. For beneath
the soft cover of snow lies a powerful conspiracy that will stop at nothing to
keep its presence unknown . . . and its darkest secrets hidden.
Review: If first impressions truly make or break your opinion, then you may be
turned off by Jenny Milchman's debut novel, Cover of Snow. As I began
reading, I was attracted to the main premise. The problem, however, lied in the
writing itself. It seemed that Milchman felt it necessary to include detailed
descriptions, similes and analogies in nearly every sentence. Details can be
helpful, but too much of a good thing can be overkill. Add to this the cold,
seemingly two-dimensional characters, and you can begin to understand why this
novel opened with a bitter taste. To use one of the author's devices, reading
the opening of the novel was like fining a bone in the first course of a meal.
Despite this,
the premise of the story is very intriguing. Nora Hamilton wakes up to an
empty bed and immediately knows that something is wrong. Her husband is a
police officer in their small town, and always follows a morning routine. When
she doesn't hear the shower running, and notices that she overslept, she is
certain something terrible has happened. Her world comes crashing down when she
discovers her husband hanging from a light fixture.
With no note
left, and no actions that would have indicated her husband's willingness to
take his own life, Nora struggles to find answers. As she begins to dig into
the last weeks of her husband’s life, she soon realizes how little she really
knew of the man. Even worse, he seems to have been part of a larger conspiracy
that dates back over twenty-five years. Nora soon finds herself in a race to
reveal the truth behind her husband's death before those responsible silence
her as well.
The opening of
this novel just didn't work for me. Writing style aside, I felt zero sympathy
for Nora, whose husband had just committed suicide. Instead of being the
sensitive widow that I expected from the situation, Nora came off as a callous,
unfeeling woman who, despite the efforts of the author to convince me
otherwise, was emotionally unaffected by her husbands death. Therefore, when
she decided to find reasoning behind the suicide, I didn't really care to know
how it occurred.
Fortunately,
there is a silver lining of promise to this novel. After the excruciating first
third, Milchman begins to take a much more direct approach to her writing,
giving this thriller, the pace that it desperately needs. As Nora digs deeper
into her husband's death, we are given the suspense, thrills, and intrigue that
the excellent premise warrants. The ending, while a bit preposterous, really
satisfied, and I was pleased that I continued to read the entire novel. Of
course, the latter half of the book still contained a few cringe worthy
descriptions, but the action and suspense had picked up to a level that made me
disregard the author's shortcomings. While Cover of Snow is no
masterpiece, it does provide enough intrigue to serve as an entertaining
afternoon read. Author Jenny Milchman still has some growing to do, but I'm interested
in seeing what she comes up with next.
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