Coventry, Mass., was expecting a snowstorm, but nothing like the one that blows through the opening pages of Christopher Golden's Snowblind. The novel begins with small-town residents managing their relationships, jobs and businesses, readying for the possibility of power outages and blocked roads. Just as readers are drawn into the lives of the diverse sympathetic characters, though, they're ripped away from us--and something more terrifying (and more cognizant) than ice and wind is involved.
Fast forward a dozen years. The survivors of the first storm--men and women still mourning their loved ones--are faced with a disturbingly similar weather pattern headed their way. Coventry is still haunted by the unexplained deaths, and now the lost townspeople are coming back to try to warn the survivors of the returning danger. Families will have to pull together quickly to avoid a second tragedy.
A fast-paced, thoroughly engrossing supernatural thriller, Snowblind employs likable, multifaceted characters linked by their small-town connections and a tragic past. Golden's writing is suspenseful and action-driven; it's not ornate, but he still takes time to develop stories about characters' relationships and backgrounds that will engage readers. The terror evoked is visceral and real and, along with a fairy-tale element and realistic backdrop, grips readers from the very first pages. Snowblind is a tale of trauma, individual responsibility and, ultimately, redemption. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia