A WICKED SNOW is New York Times Bestselling author Gregg Olsen’s riveting fiction debut that shows his great agility in the field of writing. If anything this fictionalized drama was even better than his other offering in that while reading like a true crime novel he was able to incorporate the thoughts and introspection of the people involved giving it an intense feeling of truth. As with his other books, Gregg Olsen specializes in notorious women, having previously researched some horrific crimes and he uses this knowledge to create truly believable characters.

The story is set twenty years after Hannah Griffin, now a CSI investigator, escaped the notorious Christmas Eve house fire that claimed her family and turned up almost two dozen other bodies buried in their yard; though the case remains unsolved, Hannah’s mother, Claire Logan, is the de facto prime suspect.  Since those events, Hannah, a devoted wife and mother, has tried to forget the horrors of that night and build a new life in
Santa Louisa, California, with her husband, Ethan Griffin, and their daughter, Amber. Then one day, her world is turned upside down, as she is hurtled back into the past when she receives a box with the shoes of her dead brothers, some artifacts from the long-ago trial that convicted a hapless handyman as the arsonist, and a phone message with the words: “Your mother called”.  Besieged by fear Hannah reunites with Special Agent Jeff Bauer (the agent who worked the case twenty years ago), and they begin an investigation to find out if Claire is still alive and if so to bring her to justice. Throughout Hannah and Agent Bauer are very believable and as the story progresses, each develops in realistic ways to the stresses of the case.

Within the book, the author weaves in a couple of subplots that amplify the potentially catastrophic consequences of maternal deficiency that includes several red herrings, and courtroom dramas that Olsen handles with assurance and flair. Overall, it is a book with two stories the first being the one of Hannah trying to piece together her shattered past and the second her investigation to determine if her mother is still alive or if she did in fact perish in the fire twenty years ago. A Wicked Snow offers dark, heavy atmospheric suspense that will suck you into the story showing once again what a superb author Gregg Olsen is. Definitely, a top-notch thriller with plots twists and the portrayal of police procedures that will take you on a roller coaster ride of suspense and intrigue that will keep you up late into the night.

[tags]A Wicked Snow, Gregg Olsen, suspense, police procedural, murder, serial killer, fiction, mystery, debut fiction, thriller,women serial killers[/tags]