I'd meant to do some pre posting this week, just in case mornings like this dawned and I realized I hadn't put anything up. Which is not to say that never happens, or that I haven't finished the current read yet. But in this case I do have some titles ready for posts and simply neglected to write them. Shame on me. And since winter is still hanging on over here, forcing me to keep the heater running and teasing us with two hours of sun and the rest of the day with cloud cover and a threat of snow, how about a blizzard book? Seriously. I'm not kidding.
Jake and Zoe Bennett are on a much needed ski vacation in the French Pyreneess. Zoe has news and it's been a while since they were able to just get away. Eager to beat the crowds, they get an early start on the slopes and find themselves buried under a sudden avalanche. Luckily, they are able to dig their way out with just minor injuries. When they trek back to town, however, they discover that everyone has gone. Did they all evacuate under the threat of more avalanche activity? Soon, Jake and Zoe must start to face the possibility that they didn't survive their ordeal at all. What if they both died and this is what comes next?
Whoa? I mean, what?! They're dead? Joyce doesn't hide this fact from the reader. A truly stubborn person like myself will try to figure out what's really going on, but in honesty, this is one case where it's pretty fairly laid out for you if you just pay attention.
It's a little bit sad, a little bit scary, a little bit odd, and it's a dense little read for such a short book (262 pages), but I loved it. I really did. Joyce has been nominated for multiple British Fantasy Awards and has won five by my count. He's also been nominated for World Fantasy Awards and won with 2002's The Facts of Life.
I have a confession to make. This is my first Graham Joyce title, but it's not the only one I own. I have a copy of Smoking Poppy waiting very patiently in the TBR stack. Joyce doesn't have much of a presence here in the States, but his peers love him. Stephen King, Jonathan Lethem, Charles De Lint, Peter Straub, Isabelle Allende... they all sing his praises. And yet, why isn't he a household name here? Good question. Something that should be remedied, fellow readers.
4 comments:
I love books like this. And...I'm not familiar with this author. Thanks for sharing and I'm off to look him up!
It's a good one Kay. I'm going to have to bump his other up the TBR stack now and try to track down some of the other titles as well.
This book sounds fascinating! Adding it to my list!
Off to look this one up. Thanks for the cranium's up. I love books like this, kind of how Koontz used to write.
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