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A Bitter Frost

A ghost-hunting tale that should keep readers guessing until the final page; suspenseful and genre-bending.

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A series of unsettling home invasions pushes a 42-year-old woman to the brink of insanity in this debut paranormal thriller.

Laurel Frost seems to have it all. Her husband, Cameron, is a high-powered defense attorney. And as a couple, they want for nothing: sports cars, a membership at a swanky country club, and a 5,000-square-foot McMansion in the country. But for the past several months, whenever Laurel leaves her home, she returns to find items out of place. In recent weeks, the mysterious intruder has turned bolder, sneaking into the couple’s bedroom in the still of the night. But no matter how many new security cameras, locks, and alarm systems are installed, the trespasser continues to elude detection, leading the police and Laurel’s own family to question her mental health. With the phantom intruder’s visits becoming increasingly violent, Laurel must take matters into her own hands before she loses her sanity and her marriage (“This had become something personal between she and the intruder, and she was going to handle it herself, her way”). This novel plays the field, providing equal parts psychological thriller, murder mystery, and paranormal fiction in one slim volume. Whether building dramatic tension or planting seeds of doubt, Schulden proves to be a more-than-able narrator. Twists and turns—including a grisly string of murders, a personal tragedy, and the introduction of a team of ghost hunters—keep this tale chugging along. But while the moving targets make for an engaging read, the book suffers from a few bumpy transitions. And instead of sprinkling her characters’ back stories throughout the text, the author tends to dole out exposition in chunks. Nonetheless, this novel—though somewhat unpolished—does not disappoint. Mystery aficionados will still find plenty of reasons to dig into Schulden’s multilayered plot.

A ghost-hunting tale that should keep readers guessing until the final page; suspenseful and genre-bending.

Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-615-74572-5

Page Count: 440

Publisher: Three Little Ladies Publishing

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2016

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MAGIC HOUR

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

Pub Date: June 15, 1951

ISBN: 0316769177

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951

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