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Alibi On Ice
by Ben Small
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Durban House (2005-05-25)
ISBN: 1930754728
EAN: 9781930754720
Dewy Decimal #: 813
Paperback: 359 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 2005-05-30
SKU: N0688
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
What can go wrong with the perfect murder? Not much, if you are Emery Boyd, a savvy Seattle trial lawyer well schooled in the criminal mind. Boyd s got a formula for ridding himself of enemies: Don t be seen; have an alibi, and put the body on the mountain. The formula has worked before. But this time there is a problem. Mount Rainier has its own rules. And John Whitney is its Chief Guide. Whitney knows mountaineering, and he knows Emery Boyd. But Whitney is about to fall in love. An undercover cop, a determined beauty who is looking into the Boyd alibi. And so begins a life-and-death battle for the heart, mind and testimony of John Whitney, a campaign which will rage on the treacherous slopes of Mount Rainier. Mother Nature is a Queen in this match between good and evil. She is subtle and harsh. And she's got secrets...
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Customer Reviews
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C. Reynolds
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-05-28
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I don't think I can add to what has been said about Alibi on Ice, other than I was captivated. I haven't enjoyed reading a story like this for a long while. The tension made me shiver as if I was actually on the mountain. Just a very well put together story that kept me asking for more.
Do yourself a favor and buy this book, you won't be disappointed.
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A worthy read
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-09-21
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I grabbed this book while on vacation out in the Northwest. I had spent some time on Mt. Ranier hiking, and thoroughly enjoyed following Mr. Small's murderer up and down the treacherous trails of that mountain.
It's a good suspense thriller, that transports you to Mt. Ranier, it's ice caves and glaciers. Its characters are well done, and its ending a surprise.
A very satisfying read.
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Strap on your climbing gear and grab your magnifying glass for this one!
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-06-09
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ben Small is a lawyer, and ALIBI ON ICE is about lawyers, corrupt and murdered lawyers. But the action in this taut police procedural doesn't take place in a courtroom. It occurs on Washington's towering Mount Ranier. And a particular strength of the story is Small's use (in the tradition of Dame Agatha) of the setting not just as backdrop but as a character itself, forcing the human actors to confront the mountain's crevasses, snowfields, glaciers and avalanches as sharply as they confront one another.
The antagonist, Emery Boyd, is a studly but sociopathic climber who uses the mountain to kill and hide the evidence as indifferently as he uses women for sexual gratification and to get information about the police probe into the disappearance of his law firm partner, Herman Klein. Boyd's alibi seems iron-clad, or rather ice-clad: he was seen on the mountain at the time of the murders.
Amy Galler, a female homicide detective from Seattle, goes to the mountain under cover, determined to continue the investigation and confront Boyd. But an unexpected meeting with another climber -- ironically, Boyd's best mountaineering buddy -- leads her into romance, vulnerability and danger.
Small slowly spins up the tension into a craggy climax, moving the characters around like chessmen with ice axes. And the climbing details make it clear that Small has spent more than a few hours on the mountain himself. The ending is terrific: satisfying but completely unexpected. I never saw it coming.
This is an excellent first novel, and I look forward to Small's next one.
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trying out the "thriller" genre!
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-06-03
5 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
One of the threads I like to talk about to readers is not to pay too much
attention to labels. I mention that labels are a marketing advice and most
books cannot be so definitively described and if the reader reads only the
books that are labeled the type of book they usually enjoy, they will miss
some great stories. I, of course, have my own favorite "types" of stories
(I'm an avowed anglophile--you know what I usually read) and the "thriller"
genre has not been high on my TBR list.
Mea culpa. I recently picked up Ben F. Small's suspense thriller ALIBI ON
ICE and was immediately caught up by the depth of characterization, the fun
of learning about something new to my experience (in this case, mountain
climbing!) and the mesmerizing settings that I assumed (never
assume...) would be absent in an action-oriented book. All of which shows
how narrow-minded I've been all these zillion years!
This was a most entertaining and enjoyable read. The most fascinating
quality of ALIBI ON ICE to me is that the reader knows right off who the bad
guy is, and, believe me, this guy is BAD. Rarely do I yelp out loud from
surprise, but I did while reading the first chapter! The excitement comes
from determining how this truly unpleasant character will be caught and
caught he gets in an amazing climax. I also love stories that take me new
places and I'm relatively confidant that if marooned on an icy mountain, I
have learned enough to get myself safely home, if only in my own mind and if
only on my backside.
So don't waste time the way I did, try something new!
Kit Sloane
The Margot O'Banion & Max Skull Mystery Series
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Action Filled Debut
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-05-10
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you like action thrillers, this should be a pleaser. Snowy, treacherous Mount Rainier is a major character in ALIBI ON ICE, Ben Small's debut novel. You'll find colorful landscapes as you trudge up the mountain with veteran climbers, learning firsthand what it's like to be there. Emery Boyd, the villain, whom you meet on page one, is as despicable as they come. After murdering a federal judge to keep him from revealing a blackmail plot, Boyd finds it necessary (and enjoyable) to keep eliminating those who get too close to the truth.
The story is filled with interesting, believable characters. They include Detective Amy Galler, who suspects Boyd is a murderer, and Emery's long-time mountain climbing partner, John Whitney. The plot hangs around the disappearance of a partner in Boyd's Seattle law firm, Herman Klein, who was hired to settle the dead judge's estate. Boyd has what looks like a foolproof alibi, being lost in a snowstorm on Mount Rainier at the time of Klein's apparent murder. But Amy Galler follows her suspicions, attempting to enlist Whitney in an effort to break his friend's alibi. Things go from bad to worse, and it appears Boyd has engineered another triumph.
There's also a well-drawn, sleazy newspaper reporter who succeeds in generally gumming up the works. You'll have to read the book to get the rest of the story. And the ending has a neat twist. According to his website, Ben Small has another thriller in the works. If it's as good as this one, you won't want to miss it, either.
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