Nancy Mehl: Fatal Frost

By Kelly Bridgewater

Mercy Brennan followed in her father's footsteps in a law enforcement career, but she has no interest in any other connection to him. A U.S. Marshal in St. Louis, Missouri, she's assigned to a joint task force with the St. Louis PD that puts her back into contact with her father and in the sights of St. Louis's most powerful gang.

When the gang has reason to believe Mercy has possession of some highly sensitive and incriminating information, her boss assigns Mark St. Laurent--a Deputy U.S. Marshal and Mercy's ex-boyfriend--to get her out of town until they can guarantee her safety.

Initially unaware of the danger she's in and uncomfortable working with Mark, Mercy's frustration escalates when she discovers the extent her boss and Mark have been keeping her in the dark. It isn't until a freak ice storm hits, stranding them at a remote location and out of contact with the district office, that the full severity of their situation becomes clear. As the storm worsens, the forces of nature combine with a deadly enemy closing in to put their lives at imminent risk. Can they survive long enough for help to arrive--if help is even coming at all?

From Amazon

My Review:

When I read a romantic suspense novel, I expect to be taken on a wild and thrilling journey with a hint of romance filtered in the pages. I'm not that familiar with Nancy Mehl's writing, but the cover grabbed my attention and a story with a girl running from something in the dead of night catches my attention. I am an avid reader of mysteries and romantic suspense, so I know what to expect. With harrowing characters, some in the law enforcement agencies, mixed with a touch of romance trying to solve a mystery, Mehl knew what was needed to keep avid fans of the genre interested in the novel.

I had a really hard time with Fatal Frost. The story read like a first draft that needed a bunch of work in order to be ready to be published. For instance, the writing is clear and concise, and I had a easy time following the story, but the setting was not really that described in some places. I had a hard time knowing where the story took place. But in other places, the description clogged the pages.

As for the characters, I had a really hard time getting to know Mercy Brennan and Mark. Mercy has a lot of issues from her past, and Mehl does a good job at allowing me to know what the dark moments are, but the back-story comes pretty early in the story whereas, writers are told to sprinkle the past throughout the story. Don't shove it down the reader's throat within the first fifty pages. The romance between Mercy and Mark is a little awkward at times. I know they had a past, but the romance in the present seemed stilted and forced.

The plot moved really, really slow. There were pages and pages of dialogue that really didn't the move the story forward. In the beginning, I observed Mercy as she had a meal with her father aka Nick. Why Mehl didn't call Nick her father right away to clear up confusion would have been helpful. I kept getting confused as to who Mercy was having a meal with. Was it her father or this man name Nick? The suspense element  reads like every drug cartel novel. Nothing really different.

Familiar to the genre, I had a really hard time getting into Nancy Mehl's introduction to her new Defender of Justice series Fatal Frost. The characters really had no motivation while the writing could use some improvement to capture my attention. If you're a fan of romantic suspense, I recommend staying away from this book and pick up something else.

I received a complimentary copy of Nancy Mehl's Fatal Frost from Bethany House Publishers and the opinions stated are all my own. 

My Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

What makes or breaks a book for you? Have you ever read a book that just bombed in your opinion? Why?