ARC Review: Frost by Sam Neumann

“This was a slow moving thriller that I still can’t decide if I liked or not.”
~ Under the Covers

Sam Neumann is a new author to me and there are a couple of reasons why I picked this book up. Firstly it snagged by attention with it’s beautiful and slightly gothic cover. Secondly, it tapped into the part of my psyche that can’t get enough of true crime with its inclusion of the character Arnold Dooley a man who it is widely believed killed his wife, however, there wasn’t enough evidence to convict. Sound familiar?

Amy Frost is our main protagonist; she is a washed out former comedian with a drinking problem who now works in the town diner as a waitress. By serving Dooley and listening to his protestation of innocence she starts a cascade of events more dangerous and closer to home than she can imagine.

It took me a while to warm up to this book. The main reason for this was that Amy is a hard person to like. She’s bitter and self-destructive, it’s not a pleasant experience living insider her head. But, as the story progresses and she starts questioning Dooley’s story it does get more engaging. There are some truly creepy moments in this book and I did enjoy the atmosphere that Neumann created. Was Amy getting paranoid, somehow infected and tricked by Arnold Dooley? Or was someone really out to get her?

However, I found the pace of the book very slow until you hit about 70% and then it speeds up. I am not a fan of books that do this, I prefer the build up to be steady throughout the book, rather than slow and then a burst of excitement toward the end. I believe this book would have been far better if some of the thriller elements were more evenly distributed through the book. As for the story I still can’t decide if I like the conclusion, to me it seemed too farfetched when a more ‘pedestrian’ explanation would have been psychologically more interesting. I don’t want to say more and give spoilers!

This was a slow moving thriller that I still can’t decide if I liked or not. It was intriguing in some places but overall I am not sure it’s a thriller I would recommend.

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[about-author author=”Sam Neumann”]