MSYTERY/THRILLER
One Icy Night: 30th Anniversary of the ‘94 Delta Ice Storm Edition
W.A. Pepper | Hustle Valley Press
264p, e-book, $4.99, ISBN 978-1-958011-08-9
In this heart-stopping thriller from Pepper
(author of You Will Know Vengeance), 20-yearold Ruth “Rook” Kellum goes from running from the law to running for her life in a historymaking ice storm in the Mississippi Delta. In despair over her Gramma’s heart attack and lack of insurance, Ruth takes the advice of a friend and steals a dying woman’s insurance.
This one bad choice leads to others, eventually bringing her to a small-town bar in Mississippi—alone with the bartender, sheriff, and a guy from town, Riley—as the storm comes in, closing roads. From there, things get increasingly scarier and weirder for Rook, with the source of danger not always clear and Rook regularly relying on her Gramma’s “Sit-Rep” training to assess each situation quickly and help her make it out alive.
Never letting readers stop to breathe, Pepper paces the story relentlessly, never allowing a slow moment. There’s always something happening, usually something shocking, as every character Rook comes into contact with is suspicious in some way, with Pepper leaving readers, like Rook, to wonder who can be trusted. But even as Rook regularly ends up in wild situations, going from one immediately to the next, Pepper keeps the escalating perils down to Earth enough to be believable. Adding to the suspense, each chapter often changes time periods (from “last year” to “then” and to “now”), with each section offering its own urgent mini cliffhangers.
As the title suggests, miserable, cold, icy weather is a constant. Pulling from his own experiences of the real-life Delta Ice Storm in 1994, Pepper conjures a chilly sense of terror, showcasing the real dangers of the storm, from icy roads and pelting ice to tree limbs—and then entire trees—raining down everywhere, smashing into homes and cutting off electricity. One Icy Night’s frightening exploration of the perils of both mother nature and human nature will keep readers quickly turning pages.
Cover: A | Design & typography: A- | Illustrations: – Editing: A- | Marketing copy: A