Detective Sarah Lansing and Ryker Harris of Florida's Reunion Heights Police Department investigate the death of Vance Miller, a famed mountain climber. Miller is found frozen in a meat locker, and the detectives quickly have plenty of suspects to choose from. Miller’s shaky finances and willingness to cut corners on his climbing expeditions have left a long list of people who aren’t exactly upset that he’s dead. As Sara and Ryker get closer to the shocking truth behind Miler’s killing, they discover his death is linked to several other cold cases around the country. What the killer does when they start to close in shocks them both, kicking off a race against time that takes the duo halfway around the world in the pursuit of justice.
Although REVENGE ON ICE: Sara/Ryker Mysteries Book 2 would have benefited from better proofreading, Linda LeBlanc writes with verve. Ryker and Sara are classically mis-matched partners who harbor deep affection for each other. Their banter is snappy and often very funny, especially in the early going. But as the story moves on, the constant zingers become a little wearying. Sometimes they don’t even match the overall tone of the story—as in later scenes, when someone’s life is on the line and yet the two detectives can’t resist lobbing cheerful bon mots at each other.
LeBlanc leverages her real-life experience in mountain climbing (including deep knowledge of Nepal and Everest) to great effect, using Sara as her fictional stand-in. Sara’s intimate knowledge of climbing culture and practice feels organic, working well to clue in the reader without resorting to clunky exposition.
The mystery is intriguing, with a well-thought-out resolution that's genuinely surprising without being a cheat. There’s also a nicely handled red herring, but the novel would be stronger if it ended with the mystery solved. Instead, LeBlanc makes a surprising swerve into a last act that feels like it’s taken from a different story. While much of that material is inventive and fun to read, it feels out of sync with the first two-thirds of the book and pivots off an emotional beat involving a character introduced late in the story that doesn’t feel entirely earned.
Still, for fans of breezy mysteries involving colorful characters and interesting subcultures, there’s much to enjoy in REVENGE ON ICE.
While REVENGE ON ICE: Sara/Ryker Mysteries Book 2 has too much banter and a miscalculated ending, Linda LeBlanc's promising mystery and speedy pacing draw the reader in.
~ Jeff Somers for IndieReader