Snowblind by Christopher Golden is a winter-wrapped supernatural tale that I read during the first few days of my summer vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina (while we waited out three consecutive days of rain).
A small town in eastern Massachusetts has some bad luck during blizzards. Twelve years ago, multiple people died mysteriously during a monster storm, and if twelve year old Jake’s account is accurate – the cause of the deaths was ice demons living within the storm that abduct people and steal the warmth of their souls. Pretty cool (no pun intended). Jake should know, he saw his ten year old brother taken by these phantoms right before his eyes and mercilessly killed. Now, present day, with another record breaking blizzard fast approaching, the ice demons appear to be back – along with some other surprises (ghosts of the long dead) – and Jake, along with a huge cast of characters, must come face to face with these creatures again.
The story starts out with great promise. The description of the blizzard and the accompanying eerie incidents were nicely described and the chills – both from the weather-related narrative devices and the attacks of the ice demons on Jake’s brother (and other townsfolk) – set up the novel well. The author certainly had some unique supernatural elements to work with. Unfortunately, Golden cannot sustain this narrative suspense and the midsection of the story loses a lot of momentum. There are quite a few characters, and each one is visited on a cyclical basis to propel the plot. Then they are revisited and revisited, with much of the same emotional reactions or backstory covered repeatedly. Despite this over emphasis on redundant character details, the characters are surprisingly indistinguishable, and I frequently confused their backstories. I found this especially true of the female characters for some reason. The action does pick up quite a bit for the final section of the book, and the pace is reasonably exciting, despite an improbable presence and actions of a ghost, some unrealistic dialogue, and some silly thought processes as the characters are trying to escape the creatures.
So, all in all, an okay read. Snowblind has some creepy happenings, nifty blizzard descriptions, and decent supernatural beings which unfortunately are hampered by some redundant backstory and underdeveloped characters.
A small town in eastern Massachusetts has some bad luck during blizzards. Twelve years ago, multiple people died mysteriously during a monster storm, and if twelve year old Jake’s account is accurate – the cause of the deaths was ice demons living within the storm that abduct people and steal the warmth of their souls. Pretty cool (no pun intended). Jake should know, he saw his ten year old brother taken by these phantoms right before his eyes and mercilessly killed. Now, present day, with another record breaking blizzard fast approaching, the ice demons appear to be back – along with some other surprises (ghosts of the long dead) – and Jake, along with a huge cast of characters, must come face to face with these creatures again.
The story starts out with great promise. The description of the blizzard and the accompanying eerie incidents were nicely described and the chills – both from the weather-related narrative devices and the attacks of the ice demons on Jake’s brother (and other townsfolk) – set up the novel well. The author certainly had some unique supernatural elements to work with. Unfortunately, Golden cannot sustain this narrative suspense and the midsection of the story loses a lot of momentum. There are quite a few characters, and each one is visited on a cyclical basis to propel the plot. Then they are revisited and revisited, with much of the same emotional reactions or backstory covered repeatedly. Despite this over emphasis on redundant character details, the characters are surprisingly indistinguishable, and I frequently confused their backstories. I found this especially true of the female characters for some reason. The action does pick up quite a bit for the final section of the book, and the pace is reasonably exciting, despite an improbable presence and actions of a ghost, some unrealistic dialogue, and some silly thought processes as the characters are trying to escape the creatures.
So, all in all, an okay read. Snowblind has some creepy happenings, nifty blizzard descriptions, and decent supernatural beings which unfortunately are hampered by some redundant backstory and underdeveloped characters.
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