by Paige Shelton (Author) 

a Book Review by Jackie Houchin

 THIN ICE is a suspensful, psycological thriller set in a very small, inaccessable town in Alaska. This is the first in the series by Paige Shelton, and in my opinion, it is a winner.  It is a book that causes your heart to race, makes you look over your shoulder at the slightest of noises, and – if you were so inclined – to bite on your nails.

It’s the story of a thriller-writer with the pen name of Elizabeth Fairchild. She has recently experienced a terrfying abduction by a sociopath, and barely escaped with her life, getting horrible head injuries in the process that required brain surgery.  This has left her with severe pain at times, a loss of memory about the details of her ordeal (which she learns little by little though the book), and a abject fear of the man (who has not been aprehended) finding her again. Before healing had taken place, she left the hospital and escaped to the tiny, unknown town of Benedict, Alaska. From the hospital office phone she was able to get plane tickets and rent a room at the Benedict House just before she fled. She took only her typwriter, laptop, a few clothes in a backpack and a couple burner phones. Only the investigating policewoman on her case knows where she is and how to contact her.

Wondering why she recieved such a chilly reception there, she soon discovered that the room she reserved was not in a quaint old hotel, but in a half-way house for felons. Three women currently lived there with their “keeper” and all assumed she was one too.

That is the set up, and reading the book puts you right into her shoes (boots), as she meets people (decent and felonious) and earns friendships, including the local Police Chief, and the Willy Nelson look-alike librarian. After the few residents learn she is NOT an “inmate” but a renter at the Benedict House they gradually warm to her.  She begins to settle in, and even takes over the weekly newspaper.

And then there is a murder.

I totally loved this book and read right through long sections, unable to put it down. And in the final 8 chapters my eyes were glued to the pages! Talk about fear!  And now I have ordered the next in the series.

FIVE STARS

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