Walking on Thin Ice centers on Rachel Drucker, a rookie traffic reporter trying to get her big break by investigating the unsolved kidnapping and presumed murder of Julia Brown. The case is significant to Rachel because it was a case that her detective father was never able to solve and it plagued him up until his death.
The book opens with a scene from the day little Julia was kidnapped and I was immediately hooked. I wanted to know what happened to her.
I connected with Rachel’s drive and passion. Her voice and personality were well developed. Burns writes the scenes between Rachel and her father in a way that the reader is able to feel her emotions. His deft use of pacing helps convey Rachel’s mental state at various points in the story.
I also appreciated the awake/asleep story structure used throughout most of the book. Using lucid dreaming to solve a cold case is a unique twist in a classic murder mystery/thriller story that I haven’t encountered before. It worked for me. We have all been in Rachel’s shoes, trying to decipher what is real after a particularly vivid dream.
This mystery/thriller kept me guessing until the very end. This is a great debut book and I hope we will see more novels from Burns.
Walking on Thin Ice is available on Amazon in digital and paperback formats.
Note: I was a beta reader for an earlier draft of this book.
Thanks for reviewing Walking on Thin Ice – I always like hearing about debut novels. I think debuts tend to be excellent. Happy Holidays!
I love hearing about first books by authors, and it’s so kind of you to promote an author’s book to other readers. I like the idea of this one, thanks for sharing x
I’m so glad you found it helpful! Thanks for reading.