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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Review: The Boy in the Snow by M. J. McGrath

Author: M. J. McGrath
Publisher: Viking adult (Penguin Group)
Date of publication: November 2012

In The Boy in the Snow, half-Inuit Edie Kiglatuk finds herself in Alaska with Sergeant Derek Palliser, helping her ex-husband Sammy in his bid to win the famous Iditarod dog sled race. The race takes a grim turn when Edie stumbles upon the body of a baby left out in the forest. The state troopers are keen to pin the death on the Dark Believers—a sinister offshoot of a Russian Orthodox sect—but Edie’s instincts tell her otherwise. Her investigations take her into a world of corrupt politics, religious intolerance, greed, and sex trafficking. But just as she begins to get some answers, Edie finds herself confronted by a painful secret from her past.

The Boy in the Snow is the sequel to White Heat which came out last year.  I was looking forward to this book.  Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy it.  In truth, it was pretty dull.  I listened to the audio-book and I'm surprised I even finished it.  There was too much going on in the book and too many characters to keep track of to easily follow the book.   I don't remember having this issue with the first one. One thing that got annoying was the main characters constantly being referred to by their full names.   

The mystery wasn't very exciting.  With the Iditarod in the background, I was expecting something related to that.  Instead it just seemed to be used as an excuse to have Edie and Derek in Alaska.  Maybe it was the main characters?  Edie was so depressing that I didn't care what happened to her or anyone else. I was hoping to see more of the relationship between Edie and Derek develop, but it basically fizzled.  

If there is a third book, I may read it.  But, unless it is a significant improvement, I'll probably stop with the series.


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