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A chance for a new start...
Phoenix Police Detective Niall Malone accepts a job to head up a task force hunting down a serial killer in another state.
When at last he reports on the job, after spending some time in a Phoenix hospital, he walks smack into a wall of bigoted feelings toward his outsider status.
The defilement of a proud symbol...
The killer's main target points to Medical Examiner, Dr. Shyla Clifford. She receives gruesome, butchered pieces of the bodies to identify, usually frozen. The butcher leaves a unique marker on each body part that has everyone in law enforcement and the military deeply disturbed as chaos and the murders reign.
A doctor marked for death!
Shyla Clifford finds herself fighting to keep her family safe and maintain her new career now that she's retired from the Navy. When pieces of her loved ones keep showing up on her doorstep, among other places, she suffers the kind of fear few ever experience.
A detective assigned to head up the task force appears to make little progress in the case as people continue to disappear. Shyla's desperation and anguish grows to the point her professionalism suffers and she struggles to hold fast to her very sanity. Now it's up to her to find the key to the grisly murders; the race is on to find it before everyone in her family is brutally murdered....
And before she becomes the only one left to run for her life.
Night Freeze
by
Lee Emory
ISBN: 978-1-932695-76-2
Rated [R]
Some graphic violence
THRILLER
REVIEWS
Electronic Book
Version
Print Book
$13.50 Tradesize Paperback
"Lee Emory creates a rich and chilling atmosphere of suspense in her
taut thriller, Night Freeze. You won't want to miss the complex
characters and compelling plot!"
---Denise A. Agnew, author of PRIMORDIAL
Reviewed by Dawn M. Ekinia
Armchair Reviews
Niall Malone had been a U.S. Marine, and now is a detective who takes a job in Kansas City to lead a task force to hunt down a serial killer. He is confronted with many obstacles along the way due to his being an outsider, and met with many mixed feelings as the new man on the force. However, Malone had an accident that left him disabled. Upon reaching his new job, he slowly felt frustration, aggravation and reservations from his new boss.
Dr. Shyla Clifford is an up-and-coming medical examiner who sees nothing but bright skies ahead of her when she retires from the Navy to strive to become chief ME of a local hospital. Nothing but long hours and hard days are ahead of her when one day, gruesome packages of body parts start to arrive at her home. Little by little members of her family and friends start to go missing. And along with the missing loved ones, comes the fear and terror of each package left for her.
Shyla soon meets with Detective Malone, who is working his new team, hoping to make progress, however this mysterious but chilling scene leaves him angered and under the his boss’s microscope. Mixed with emotions from the loss of his son, he is faced with the challenges and tribulations of a madman that is branding each body part that is sent to the doctor with a U.S. Marines insignia.
I find myself turning each page of descriptions in chilling details about how the mind of madman works. Night Freeze moves smoothly and quickly as the mystery of whom the next victim will be–and if the killer will ever be found. The author’s scenes were so thorough; nothing is left to the reader’s imagination.
Night Freeze put me on the edge of my seat with a suspense thriller that I could view through the eyes of a serial killer related to the scared and frantic life of Dr. Shyla Clifford. You will find yourself gripping the pages as the killer dodges whatever security each victim had and pulls them away for prize.
Can Shyla and Malone capture a killer before he snuffs out what is left of Shyla’s family?
Armchair Interviews says: This is a good suspense.
There's a serial killer loose in Kansas City and Detective Niall Malone, formerly of the Phoenix PD takes on the job of finding the sicko. The killer likes to murder women, freeze their bodies and leave parts lying around to taunt police. Body parts of people she knows keep showing up on Medical Examiner Shyla Clifford's Doorstep. She starts to wonder if she knows the killer and who he's really after.
Night Freeze is a bloodcurdling tale of vengeance and murder with a chilling look into a killer's twisted mind. It's entertaining, scary and almost impossible to put down.
---Victoria Kennedy
Midwest Book Reviews
Fascinating Authors Review
The perpetrator is strong, cunning, obviously deranged, and provides the picture of characters portrayed in such stories as The Texas Chain Saw Murders, and similar tales.
Emory has set forth a story that moves along at a fine pace and holds the reader’s rapt attention. It should provide excellent entertainment, especially for the many persons who today seem to be intrigued by the actions of drugged, demented, or otherwise deranged individuals.
Book Revue
By
John H. Manhold
Amazon.com rating.
Posted on November 24th, 2008
by Simon Barrett in Book Reviews, Reviews
This is a book that should come with a warning, something along the lines of:
This is your captain speaking, please make sure you have your seats in the upright position, your tray tables locked, and your seat belts firmly fastened.
Some authors like to bring the reader gently into the story, scene setting, maybe a little character background, not so Lee Emory, her method is to throw the reader at 500mph straight into the plot. For some people this might be a little traumatic, but it certainly is an attention getter. I have strong thoughts about book construction, if you don’t have the reader hooked in the first 50 pages, a significant proportion will stop reading it and find something else. That is certainly not the case with Night Freeze, from the opening phrase you are hooked:
He felt at home with blood all over his white coat and the heavy smell of it in his nostrils.
Now thats what I call an opening! There is no pussy footing around, she just tells it as it is.
So what is Night Freeze all about? The thumbnail sketch is the search for a serial killer, however this killer is no random one, his targets seem well planned and revolve around a Medical Examiner, Dr. Shyla Clifford. His calling card is unique, frozen body parts arriving by various delivery means.
Leading the police effort to find this killer is Detective Niall Malone who has only just moved from Phoenix to Kansas City, and his job is being hampered by his outsider status. Is his investigation being derailed by those working with him and for him? There are leaks to the press that should never have occurred, and those leaks could only have originated within his own task force.
Who is this serial killer with a predilection for butchery? As the body count increases, so does the urgency to find this cold blooded killer. The clues are few and far between, a butchers' meat stamp in the shape of the US Marine logo is almost the only clue. But why would a serial killer be targeting the friends and family or Dr. Shyla Clifford, and is she the intended final victim?
Lee Emory is no rookie author, she knows how to create tension within the pages, interestingly enough though she is not strictly a single genre writer. I know that she has dabbled in Sci Fi, and although I cannot lay my hands on the information, I believe she has a new Sci FI novel in the making.
I certainly enjoyed Night Freeze, yes it is a little gruesome in parts, I am not generally a big fan of gory descriptions, Lee Emory however scores high marks in my book, she doesn’t dwell on the bad stuff, but prefers instead to propel the story forward. It would be easy to get mired in the blood and gore, but the author takes the high road and instead focuses on the story as a whole.
This is one of those books that deserves shelf space in the store, it is well crafted, and certainly a riveting read.
Warning: Do not start this book unless you plan to finish it in one sitting.
Many times in people’s lives, you just need a change. Former Phoenix police detective, Niall Malone is in this position where he accepts a challenge from another state to find a serial killer before more people die. He is also grieving for the death of his son. This tragedy ended his marriage. More significantly is that now, he is terrified and hesitant of becoming close to another person.
This particular serial killer has a longtime grudge against the medical examiner, Dr. Shyla Clifford and wants her to pay the pain she caused by sending him to prison. His revenge is to kill everyone who is important to her. He plans to annihilate all of her friends and family. For his grand finale, he is planning for her to have a slow and tortuous death in front of him.
Part of the suffering for Shyla is the obvious obsession this killer has with her. She searches old files and her is constantly questioning and wondering who could hate her this much. As each friend and family member is killed, the body parts are sent to Shyla with a marine emblem stamped on them. The battle of keeping her family safe and forcing them to realize that they are in dangerous situations is overwhelming. She also attempts to keep a normal life and continues with her job and family responsibilities.
All of this makes this story both realistic and haunting.
This killer is making this extremely personal. What is more difficult for Shyla, is that as she grieves the death of the people in her life, she needs to be more diligent and alert in keeping herself and her family safe. The battle of balancing this within anyone’s life, is crushing.
NIGHT FREEZE literally takes over your thoughts as you read. It is compelling and forceful in that you have to continue reading the story. You cannot put this book down. You are actually frightened if you have to stop and reflect on the characters and their problems.
The pacing is blindingly fast. The characters are flawed and very believable.
The realism is all too possible, but superbly written.
Lee Emory has written many books. NIGHT FREEZE is the first one written by her of this type of mystery, fear, and intensity. She is the owner of her own publishing house, Treble Heart Books, Whooo Doo Mysteries, Sundowners, and MountainView Publishing.
She resides in Arizona with her cats and husband. She is currently writing a science fiction novel, PERDITION.
Again, this book is from a small publisher and might not be available through some large- chain bookstore. This book is definitely an example of “good things coming in small packages.” I like to think that outstanding books come from small publishers.
---Teri Davis
