Lake Effect Snow by C. P. Rowlands

Publisher:               Bold Strokes Books

Anyone looking for a book that comes straight off of the front pages of the newspaper or headline news doesn’t need to go any further.  Lake Effect Snow is set in the middle of today’s war on terrorism and its far reaching consequences.  It tells a story that’s chilling in its reality and starts with a scene that will keep the reader hooked until the final pages.

Annie Booker is an international correspondent famous for her reports from the Middle East, but when a good friend is murdered in front of her and then she is wounded in a suicide bombing, Annie is ready to return home to recuperate from her injuries.  Unfortunately, the FBI discovers that her name is on a hit list and she is being hunted by a terror cell in the US.  What Annie wants to do is to disappear on her own and think about why her partner of ten years walked out while she was overseas.  Instead, she finds herself with twenty-four hour protection from a detail headed by senior agent Sarah Moore.  As Sarah tries to keep Annie alive, she discovers that the threat may be more related to a secret from several years ago than recent events in Annie’s life and it takes on frightening proportions when the only way to force the issue appears to be to send Annie right into the midst of the suspects.  Sarah has another problem also.  Despite every regulation in the book, she finds herself being attracted to Annie, who is more than willing to act on that attraction.  Protecting Annie may not be enough to save her life, but it may be more than enough to destroy Sarah’s career.

Rowlands’ writing is fast paced and controlled.  There aren’t any extraneous scenes that detract from the plot, but it does weave in more than one scenario which keeps the reader in suspense trying to determine what exactly the threat to Annie is.  The characters are appealing and presented in a realistic manner.  These are people who could easily exist and who would be interesting to meet.  One particularly interesting part of the plot is the working of the terror cell, how the FBI uncovers it and the picture it all paints of the world we live in.

Lake Effect Snow is a page turner, one of those books the reader hates to put down.  This reviewer highly recommends you give it a try.