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Cover of Snow
Jenny Milchman’s Cover of Snow is a remarkable debut, a gripping tale of suspense in the tradition of Gillian Flynn, Chris Bohjalian, and Nancy Pickard.
Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered: Her husband, Brendan, has committed suicide.
The first few hours following Nora’s devastating discovery pass for her in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Then, a disturbing awareness slowly settles in: Brendan left no note and gave no indication that he was contemplating taking his own life. Why would a rock-solid police officer with unwavering affection for his wife, job, and quaint hometown suddenly choose to end it all? Having spent a lifetime avoiding hard truths, Nora must now start facing them.
Unraveling her late husband’s final days, Nora searches for an explanation—but finds a bewildering resistance from Brendan’s best friend and partner, his fellow police officers, and his brittle mother. It quickly becomes clear to Nora that she is asking questions no one wants to answer. For beneath the soft cover of snow lies a powerful conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep its presence unknown . . . and its darkest secrets hidden.
Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong. When her fog of sleep clears, she finds her world is suddenly, irretrievably shattered: Her husband, Brendan, has committed suicide.
The first few hours following Nora’s devastating discovery pass for her in a blur of numbness and disbelief. Then, a disturbing awareness slowly settles in: Brendan left no note and gave no indication that he was contemplating taking his own life. Why would a rock-solid police officer with unwavering affection for his wife, job, and quaint hometown suddenly choose to end it all? Having spent a lifetime avoiding hard truths, Nora must now start facing them.
Unraveling her late husband’s final days, Nora searches for an explanation—but finds a bewildering resistance from Brendan’s best friend and partner, his fellow police officers, and his brittle mother. It quickly becomes clear to Nora that she is asking questions no one wants to answer. For beneath the soft cover of snow lies a powerful conspiracy that will stop at nothing to keep its presence unknown . . . and its darkest secrets hidden.
331 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
1315 people are currently reading
5107 people want to read
About the author
Jenny Milchman
17 books625 followersJenny Milchman is the USA Today bestselling author of three novels, as well as the forthcoming Wicked River. Her books have won the Mary Higgins Clark and Silver Falchion awards, been praised by the New York Times, San Francisco Review of Books, the AP, and many other publications.
Jenny has given over five hundred workshops and talks on the writing and publishing process. She sits on the board of directors of International Thriller Writers, is a member of the Sisters in Crime speakers bureau, and founded Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which is celebrated annually in all fifty states and on five continents.
Jenny has given over five hundred workshops and talks on the writing and publishing process. She sits on the board of directors of International Thriller Writers, is a member of the Sisters in Crime speakers bureau, and founded Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which is celebrated annually in all fifty states and on five continents.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,125 reviews
December 20, 2023
When Nora Hamilton awakes one snowy morning to find her police officer husband, Brendan, hanging from a rope from an apparent suicide, her whole world is shattered. Slowly, Nora tries to piece together what could have driven her otherwise happy husband to do such a thing. But when she starts asking questions, a lot of people in the cozy Adirondack Mountain town want her to stop. And a few are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to keep the dark secrets hidden away – even as far as murder.
Cover of Snow is the debut novel for Jenny Milchman. Unfortunately, it is a debut that lacks in a number of ways. For starters, the writing is clunky, with sentences that pitter out in mid-thought, passages that seem to go nowhere, nonsensical dialog and a rampant use of metaphors and clichés. Also, Milchman bounces back and forth between first and third person freely, undermining any sense of cohesion to the storytelling. I understand that I’m reading an early review copy of the book, but this frankly felt more like a first draft rather than something the publisher should be sending out for critical review.
The characters in Cover of Snow were one-dimensional across the board. Nora comes across as clueless and incapable of following through on anything, much less investigating her husband’s death. Everything she “discovers” is actually handed to her by others. She just seems to be wondering around aimlessly bumping into scenes. Nora is an unsympathetic character in spite of her loss. Worse, her adversaries are caricatures, with no reasonable motivation to do the things that they are doing, and even less reason to see her bumbling actions as any kind of threat.
Ultimately, nothing in the plot of Cover of Snow makes a bit of sense. There is chapter after chapter of people running around doing things, but never in the entire book do we get an idea of what is driving any of the action. They are just mile-markers along a road to nowhere, with a conclusion that feels hollow. There really isn’t a story here. It is a collection of cobbled together scenes that are as lifeless as the façade of an empty Hollywood movie set.
Cover of Snow manages to combine emotionless writing, poor editing, a non-existent plot and cardboard characters all in one cold stew. It really makes me wonder if the authors who wrote the cover blurbs read some other book that I didn’t get. This is one to not waste your time with.
Cover of Snow is the debut novel for Jenny Milchman. Unfortunately, it is a debut that lacks in a number of ways. For starters, the writing is clunky, with sentences that pitter out in mid-thought, passages that seem to go nowhere, nonsensical dialog and a rampant use of metaphors and clichés. Also, Milchman bounces back and forth between first and third person freely, undermining any sense of cohesion to the storytelling. I understand that I’m reading an early review copy of the book, but this frankly felt more like a first draft rather than something the publisher should be sending out for critical review.
The characters in Cover of Snow were one-dimensional across the board. Nora comes across as clueless and incapable of following through on anything, much less investigating her husband’s death. Everything she “discovers” is actually handed to her by others. She just seems to be wondering around aimlessly bumping into scenes. Nora is an unsympathetic character in spite of her loss. Worse, her adversaries are caricatures, with no reasonable motivation to do the things that they are doing, and even less reason to see her bumbling actions as any kind of threat.
Ultimately, nothing in the plot of Cover of Snow makes a bit of sense. There is chapter after chapter of people running around doing things, but never in the entire book do we get an idea of what is driving any of the action. They are just mile-markers along a road to nowhere, with a conclusion that feels hollow. There really isn’t a story here. It is a collection of cobbled together scenes that are as lifeless as the façade of an empty Hollywood movie set.
Cover of Snow manages to combine emotionless writing, poor editing, a non-existent plot and cardboard characters all in one cold stew. It really makes me wonder if the authors who wrote the cover blurbs read some other book that I didn’t get. This is one to not waste your time with.
March 29, 2016
My car crunched over the combination of salt, pebbles, and grit that served as a parking lot. I avoided the gas pump, pulling into a space a fair distance from the row of gray cop cars. Their shadowy forms made my red car look like the afterimage of some alien sun.
Nora wakes up to a cold bed one morning, dazed and wondering where her husband is, he's missing on a workday and after a night of great sex. Only to find that he's hanged himself upstairs. This isn't a spoiler, it's Chapter One. The book is about her trying to find out why on earth he would have done such a thing, since she'd had no inkling that he was depressed or sad or upset.
I have mixed feelings about this. Let's break it down.
PROS:
1.) The writing is beautiful. I really liked the way Milchman turns a phrase.
The world was quiet and calm, snow falling in a gentle cascade. My car slid through it like a body between blankets, whispery, rustly, still.
What about
There was nothing sharp or askew or unfitting between them. They anticipated each other's gestures, knowing when to pause for each other and make room; there was no bristle or resistance, the cautious curbing of anger that comes at the beginning. You looked at the two and expected to see wrinkles forming in response to each other's laughter, and life. It was as if all the rough surfaces had already been buffed away, leaving only burnished metal behind, and yet, how could that have happened? How had they been together long enough to bypass all of the sticky grittiness of newbies?
Here's a good one:
I had never been given a glimpse of my sister in the company of a man. The ones she had known, briefly, furtively, she'd kept sequestered away, in a late night corner of her life into which our relationship didn't extend.
In a late night corner of her life?!!? That's wonderful.
Relief flowed through me, thick and creamy as soup. Cream of tomato, I hope!
Tears filled my mouth with the stinging water of oceans. I was going under, diving, drowning.
And:
Outrage filled me, hot and lethal as smoke.
...
2.) The Mourning
Milchman was really good at capturing grief and mourning.
I thought things were as bad as they could get, that the worst had happened. But that was the thing about the worst, wasn't it? You never quite got there. The worst was a horizon, moving farther and farther away as you approached it.
How awkward it is for other people to approach you, how you want to scream when the fiftieth person says, "I'm sorry for your loss," all the horrible platitudes people trot out, how you end up with 30 cassoroles, etc.
Some people were so uncaring and harsh to Nora right after the death that I wanted to tear their hair out! Ugh.
...
3.) I think the mystery wrapped up nicely, I thought the end explanation for everything was good and shocking.
...
4.) The wintry environment and ambiance. Wow. This book is VERY WINTER. You will be shivering just reading it. A great book to cool down in summer when you can't afford air conditioning. Or, on the other hand, a wonderful book to enjoy in winter when you are safe and warm indoors with a hot cuppa tea.
Very vivid and realistic and described atmosphere of the Adirondack mountains... I mean, it's like you are THERE, trapped in a beautiful but deadly winter wonderland.
....
5.) Realistic sister-sister relationship.
...
6.) I like Nora's job: renovating houses. I think it gives her a unique skill set for someone who is snooping around and I also liked that it was not a traditionally 'girly' job, but very hands-on and labor intensive and carpenter-y.
...
7.) Amazing representation and treatment of fat people. Fat people in this book are fully-formed human beings who are NOT caricatures, and Milchman never makes any rude, snide, or judgmental comments about the characters that are fat. Why am I even mentioning this? Because it's &$%#ing rare and deserves recognition. Great job here. Extra points.
...
8.) There is a black Labrador named Weekend. Cute name for a dog and a wonderful dog character!
...
CONS:
Sigh.
1.) Bad mystery writing.
This is an actual scene in the book.
This was personally the most upsetting plot point to me because it was SO moronic and SO obvious. You could see it coming a mile away.
...
2.) A lot (not ALL) of the things that Milchman obviously believes will be shocking or a surprise were neither shocking nor surprising to me.
At the very end of the book when we find out I called it at 35%.
The fact that I called it from page 63.
When
I knew ON PAGE ONE that it was super-obvious.
...
3.) Another bad mystery writing contrivance:
Such bullshit.
...
4.) There's another scene where an
I mean, it didn't make a lick of sense and my credulity was beyond the breaking point. Come on. Ridiculous.
...
5.) Some things the author does (besides the above examples) make NO sense. I mean, none. For instance, when
...
6.)
...
7.) The ending of the book (not the mystery reveal, because that's good) leaves you with a lot of loose ends and feeling very unsatisfied. What happened to this character? What happened to that character? We don't know. Milchman doesn't wrap things up for us. A lot is still up in the air.
...
8.) There are SO MANY times when Nora is stupid or completely spineless that it was making me nuts. Not just a few times, TONS OF TIMES. Now. I wouldn't call Nora TSTL (too stupid to live) because she had her good moments. Sometimes she made great choices and sometimes when she made bad choices, I could understand her reasoning perfectly from Milchman's descriptions.
BUT SERIOUSLY, a lot of times I was screaming at the book, "HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!?!!"
Yeah, I can't even with this.
...
9.) Sometimes Milchman just makes no sense.
To a lot of people this discovery wouldn't have been such a hammer blow. Most couples had an unspoken rule: anything that happened before the two of them didn't count. But Brendan and I weren't like that. Rather than the free pass of that-was-before-our-time, Brendan and I had a rule of firsts. We were each other's firsts. We'd done this and that for the first time together. Said I love you. Met the family. Gone on vacation.
Or so I'd thought. Been led to believe.
What? I don't understand what Milchman is saying here. Was Brendan LYING to her about first times? If so, what is a 'rule of firsts?' I mean, you are either someone's first or not. How can you have a rule about that? This is very confusing and badly written.
...
10.) A man with skin the color of tobacco came into my room.
Please, if you are going to make a character, just say the character is white/Asian/Latino/black/Indian or whatever. DON'T compare their skin to chocolate, tobacco, milk, snow, cinnamon, cafe au lait, coffee, or whatever. It makes me very angry. Cut this shit out. P.S. You can add descriptors to a character later, if you still feel the need. But if you are introducing a character and I have no idea what ethnicity or race he/she is because you've chosen to comment on their 'unique dusky skin' but NOT reveal what the fuck you are talking about, I will be furious.
Or just don't bring up skin color. That's also fine. Plenty of authors do that.
...
11.) [They] could steal my things, destroy my house, and ruin my burgeoning career.
But if they messed with my dead husband's box, I was going to figure out whoever had taken it, and I was going to hunt that person down and kill him.
Oh, please. Don't try to make Nora suddenly badass in the middle of the book, when she is clearly the opposite of a badass for the other 99% of it. This was just dropped in the middle of the book. I was completely unconvinced. It was laughable. I was laughing. Don't try to turn your non-threatening character into someone who makes statements like this, and then immediately go back to non-threatening as if this never happened. So sad. I'm not buying this for one second.
...
....
...
...
Tl;dr - Well, now looking back on that, it seems overall pretty terrible, doesn't it? It's not. I really enjoyed the writing (A LOT) and I did think the end-answer to the mystery was great and really clicked. Unfortunately, Milchman makes mistakes. First of all, she relies heavily on poor mystery cliches that are ridiculous and predictable. Second of all, she's made her MC pretty dumb. Thirdly, she leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and some passages of her writing left me confused and frustrated.
I read this twice, I just shut the book and read it a second time, because I figured if I knew what was coming perhaps the book overall would make more sense, but it didn't.
Nora wakes up to a cold bed one morning, dazed and wondering where her husband is, he's missing on a workday and after a night of great sex. Only to find that he's hanged himself upstairs. This isn't a spoiler, it's Chapter One. The book is about her trying to find out why on earth he would have done such a thing, since she'd had no inkling that he was depressed or sad or upset.
I have mixed feelings about this. Let's break it down.
PROS:
1.) The writing is beautiful. I really liked the way Milchman turns a phrase.
The world was quiet and calm, snow falling in a gentle cascade. My car slid through it like a body between blankets, whispery, rustly, still.
What about
There was nothing sharp or askew or unfitting between them. They anticipated each other's gestures, knowing when to pause for each other and make room; there was no bristle or resistance, the cautious curbing of anger that comes at the beginning. You looked at the two and expected to see wrinkles forming in response to each other's laughter, and life. It was as if all the rough surfaces had already been buffed away, leaving only burnished metal behind, and yet, how could that have happened? How had they been together long enough to bypass all of the sticky grittiness of newbies?
Here's a good one:
I had never been given a glimpse of my sister in the company of a man. The ones she had known, briefly, furtively, she'd kept sequestered away, in a late night corner of her life into which our relationship didn't extend.
In a late night corner of her life?!!? That's wonderful.
Relief flowed through me, thick and creamy as soup. Cream of tomato, I hope!
Tears filled my mouth with the stinging water of oceans. I was going under, diving, drowning.
And:
Outrage filled me, hot and lethal as smoke.
...
2.) The Mourning
Milchman was really good at capturing grief and mourning.
I thought things were as bad as they could get, that the worst had happened. But that was the thing about the worst, wasn't it? You never quite got there. The worst was a horizon, moving farther and farther away as you approached it.
How awkward it is for other people to approach you, how you want to scream when the fiftieth person says, "I'm sorry for your loss," all the horrible platitudes people trot out, how you end up with 30 cassoroles, etc.
Some people were so uncaring and harsh to Nora right after the death that I wanted to tear their hair out! Ugh.
...
3.) I think the mystery wrapped up nicely, I thought the end explanation for everything was good and shocking.
...
4.) The wintry environment and ambiance. Wow. This book is VERY WINTER. You will be shivering just reading it. A great book to cool down in summer when you can't afford air conditioning. Or, on the other hand, a wonderful book to enjoy in winter when you are safe and warm indoors with a hot cuppa tea.
Very vivid and realistic and described atmosphere of the Adirondack mountains... I mean, it's like you are THERE, trapped in a beautiful but deadly winter wonderland.
....
5.) Realistic sister-sister relationship.
...
6.) I like Nora's job: renovating houses. I think it gives her a unique skill set for someone who is snooping around and I also liked that it was not a traditionally 'girly' job, but very hands-on and labor intensive and carpenter-y.
...
7.) Amazing representation and treatment of fat people. Fat people in this book are fully-formed human beings who are NOT caricatures, and Milchman never makes any rude, snide, or judgmental comments about the characters that are fat. Why am I even mentioning this? Because it's &$%#ing rare and deserves recognition. Great job here. Extra points.
...
8.) There is a black Labrador named Weekend. Cute name for a dog and a wonderful dog character!
...
CONS:
Sigh.
1.) Bad mystery writing.
This is an actual scene in the book.
This was personally the most upsetting plot point to me because it was SO moronic and SO obvious. You could see it coming a mile away.
...
2.) A lot (not ALL) of the things that Milchman obviously believes will be shocking or a surprise were neither shocking nor surprising to me.
At the very end of the book when we find out I called it at 35%.
The fact that I called it from page 63.
When
I knew ON PAGE ONE that it was super-obvious.
...
3.) Another bad mystery writing contrivance:
Such bullshit.
...
4.) There's another scene where an
I mean, it didn't make a lick of sense and my credulity was beyond the breaking point. Come on. Ridiculous.
...
5.) Some things the author does (besides the above examples) make NO sense. I mean, none. For instance, when
...
6.)
...
7.) The ending of the book (not the mystery reveal, because that's good) leaves you with a lot of loose ends and feeling very unsatisfied. What happened to this character? What happened to that character? We don't know. Milchman doesn't wrap things up for us. A lot is still up in the air.
...
8.) There are SO MANY times when Nora is stupid or completely spineless that it was making me nuts. Not just a few times, TONS OF TIMES. Now. I wouldn't call Nora TSTL (too stupid to live) because she had her good moments. Sometimes she made great choices and sometimes when she made bad choices, I could understand her reasoning perfectly from Milchman's descriptions.
BUT SERIOUSLY, a lot of times I was screaming at the book, "HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!?!!"
Yeah, I can't even with this.
...
9.) Sometimes Milchman just makes no sense.
To a lot of people this discovery wouldn't have been such a hammer blow. Most couples had an unspoken rule: anything that happened before the two of them didn't count. But Brendan and I weren't like that. Rather than the free pass of that-was-before-our-time, Brendan and I had a rule of firsts. We were each other's firsts. We'd done this and that for the first time together. Said I love you. Met the family. Gone on vacation.
Or so I'd thought. Been led to believe.
What? I don't understand what Milchman is saying here. Was Brendan LYING to her about first times? If so, what is a 'rule of firsts?' I mean, you are either someone's first or not. How can you have a rule about that? This is very confusing and badly written.
...
10.) A man with skin the color of tobacco came into my room.
Please, if you are going to make a character, just say the character is white/Asian/Latino/black/Indian or whatever. DON'T compare their skin to chocolate, tobacco, milk, snow, cinnamon, cafe au lait, coffee, or whatever. It makes me very angry. Cut this shit out. P.S. You can add descriptors to a character later, if you still feel the need. But if you are introducing a character and I have no idea what ethnicity or race he/she is because you've chosen to comment on their 'unique dusky skin' but NOT reveal what the fuck you are talking about, I will be furious.
Or just don't bring up skin color. That's also fine. Plenty of authors do that.
...
11.) [They] could steal my things, destroy my house, and ruin my burgeoning career.
But if they messed with my dead husband's box, I was going to figure out whoever had taken it, and I was going to hunt that person down and kill him.
Oh, please. Don't try to make Nora suddenly badass in the middle of the book, when she is clearly the opposite of a badass for the other 99% of it. This was just dropped in the middle of the book. I was completely unconvinced. It was laughable. I was laughing. Don't try to turn your non-threatening character into someone who makes statements like this, and then immediately go back to non-threatening as if this never happened. So sad. I'm not buying this for one second.
...
....
...
...
Tl;dr - Well, now looking back on that, it seems overall pretty terrible, doesn't it? It's not. I really enjoyed the writing (A LOT) and I did think the end-answer to the mystery was great and really clicked. Unfortunately, Milchman makes mistakes. First of all, she relies heavily on poor mystery cliches that are ridiculous and predictable. Second of all, she's made her MC pretty dumb. Thirdly, she leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and some passages of her writing left me confused and frustrated.
I read this twice, I just shut the book and read it a second time, because I figured if I knew what was coming perhaps the book overall would make more sense, but it didn't.
January 25, 2013
I very much wanted to like Cover of Snow. I really did, and so despite my doubts continuing to mount as I read more and more, I persevered to the end, to the bitter end. The more I read, the more of a chore reading this book became. It started out so promisingly and ended so disappointingly.
This is a debut novel, and it certainly shows. As I read, I kept wondering: are there no editors at Ballantine Books? Cover of Snow as it is published now is a diamond--well, maybe a turquoise--in the rough. A good editor could have turned this novel from the literary dreck that it is into a mediocre thriller. Jenny Milchman, the author, had some good ideas in this novel, but they just aren't fully and properly developed, and they are completely unpolished. Where were the editors to help this young writer?
The prose is prickly and bumpy, like driving at high speeds over a series of speed bumps: it jostles and jerks the reader in many different directions. It makes the reader dizzy. The protagonist, Nora, is constantly suddenly changing direction and running off here or there or chasing some strange new tangent abruptly--that is, when she's not drinking tea. My god! Nora drinks a lot of tea in this novel, which is fine, but do we really need to hear all about her tea-drinking?
*******SOME SPOILERS BELOW*********
And Nora, though she's supposed to be a normal woman grieving the death of her husband, is just weird--really weird. She seems to have no social skills at all, constantly behaving oddly. On one occasion, Nora is nervous and her palms start sweating, so she wipes her sweaty palms on the pants of a woman she has just met: who does that in real life? When her house burns to the ground, she barely reacts at all: she doesn't even tell her own parents; she doesn't go to the burned down house to try to sift for anything that might have survived the fire; she doesn't worry about where she's going to stay. She acts completely unlike any normal human being. Later, after her house has burned, her purse and almost all her remaining personal items (her money, personal identification, etc.) are stolen, and this doesn't seem to bother her at all. She just borrows some money from aunt and seems unconcerned about recovering her driver's license and everything else she's lost.
There are also huge problems with the plot. The local police force is, almost to a man, completely corrupt. But even their crimes don't always make sense. Why, for instance, does Officer Club Mitchell (yes, his name is Club) kill Greggy? There is no good reason for him to shoot the teenager in cold blood. None. Milchman provides him with no motive. Yet the murder of Greggy is the key event on which the entire plot turns: Greggy's murder is the reason that Nora's husband, Brendan, kills himself. So, it would have been nice if we had been provided with some reason that Club killed Greggy.
Club also murdered Aunt Jean. Why did he murder Aunt Jean? Honestly, we don't know. The corrupt chief of police, Vern, was afraid that Jean might tell Nora about a dark secret from Vern's past; however, Vern never told Club about this secret (at least not that we readers are aware of), and Vern was actually in love with Jean, definitely did not want Jean to be killed, and was, in fact, quite upset that she had been killed. There was no reason for Club to have murdered Aunt Jean. The ostensible reason given in the novel is that Aunt Jean was going tell Nora about Jean and Vern's secret, but Club knew nothing about this secret or, if he had known about Jean and Vern's secret, Club had no way of knowing about the possibility that Jean might be inclined to tell Nora about it. Aunt Jean's murder is completely baffling.
Officer Tim Lurcquer wants to end the corruption on the police force, so he goes to a local reporter, Ned. Now, Tim is afraid that the corrupt officers will find out about his efforts to expose them, so he wants to be sure that they don't know he is contacting Ned, which makes sense. However, rather than just calling Ned and talking to him on the telephone--the easiest way to get Ned the information he will need to break a big story--Tim arranges to meet clandestinely with Ned. Why would he risk being seen with Ned when he could have just talked to him on the telephone? The phones aren't bugged; this isn't a spy novel! It makes no sense.
The novel also features an autistic man named Dugger, who helps Nora. Apparently, Dugger has recorded (both audio and video recordings) and taken pictures of a number of horrendous events that have occurred in the town where Nora lives. He just happens to be around when terrible things occur. A prime example: Club's murder of Greggy takes place in a rural area following a police chase late at night. Dugger is on the scene in this rural area following the chase himself on foot and recording it with a night-vision camera--yes, a night-vision camera! What was this autistic man doing out in the middle of nowhere such that he just chanced to be around and to have a night-vision camera when this murder occurred? It's so unbelievable that it just boggles the mind.
Finally, Nora realizes that the key to Brendan's death has something to do with a bar 20 miles away. How does she realize this? Among Brendan's effects, she finds a memento from this bar, and then later she sees, in her mother-in-law's home, a picture of a boy with T-shirt sporting the name of the bar. These two clues alone, somehow, some mysterious way, point Nora to the tiny town 20 miles away where this bar is located. Nora does find vital information in this town, but there is no logic to this town being a legitimate clue; it makes no narrative sense at all.
There are numerous other problems with this novel: Nora's mother-in-law hates her for no apparent reason; the deep dark secret that Vern wants to hide is that, when he was a teenager, he didn't properly mark an ice-fishing hole, and so Brendan's younger brother falls into it and dies: it's not a murder or anything intentionally malicious--just an accident, but the novel presents it as a grotesque crime that Vern will do almost anything to keep from coming to light; at one point, Nora goes to an important meeting with Ned but then runs into a tertiary character, Mrs. Cooper, and immediately follows Mrs. Cooper, a complete stranger to Nora, into the woods (although, initially, they were in the middle of a town, apparently there were some woods handy for them to turn off into); she doesn't tell Ned, "Hey, I need to talk to this lady, but I'll be back to talk to you in an hour," or anything like that: she just abandons Ned and follows Mrs. Cooper into the woods.
The novel presents one nonsequitur after another. It's jaggged and rough. The characters are not remotely realistic; moreover, other than Dugger, they aren't even likable. Necessary motives are wholly lacking. The dialogue is atrocious, all too obviously contrived and artificial; there is no polish to it, no sense that we are listening to actual human beings speak to each other.
I know this review probably sounds pretty negative. Okay, it is pretty negative, but I atually think that Milchman had a good story idea. I think that, with the proper editorial guidance, this could have been a much, much better novel. As it stands, however, it's really awful. I think Milchman could grow into being a good thriller writer, but she needs some definite editorial help.
This is a debut novel, and it certainly shows. As I read, I kept wondering: are there no editors at Ballantine Books? Cover of Snow as it is published now is a diamond--well, maybe a turquoise--in the rough. A good editor could have turned this novel from the literary dreck that it is into a mediocre thriller. Jenny Milchman, the author, had some good ideas in this novel, but they just aren't fully and properly developed, and they are completely unpolished. Where were the editors to help this young writer?
The prose is prickly and bumpy, like driving at high speeds over a series of speed bumps: it jostles and jerks the reader in many different directions. It makes the reader dizzy. The protagonist, Nora, is constantly suddenly changing direction and running off here or there or chasing some strange new tangent abruptly--that is, when she's not drinking tea. My god! Nora drinks a lot of tea in this novel, which is fine, but do we really need to hear all about her tea-drinking?
*******SOME SPOILERS BELOW*********
And Nora, though she's supposed to be a normal woman grieving the death of her husband, is just weird--really weird. She seems to have no social skills at all, constantly behaving oddly. On one occasion, Nora is nervous and her palms start sweating, so she wipes her sweaty palms on the pants of a woman she has just met: who does that in real life? When her house burns to the ground, she barely reacts at all: she doesn't even tell her own parents; she doesn't go to the burned down house to try to sift for anything that might have survived the fire; she doesn't worry about where she's going to stay. She acts completely unlike any normal human being. Later, after her house has burned, her purse and almost all her remaining personal items (her money, personal identification, etc.) are stolen, and this doesn't seem to bother her at all. She just borrows some money from aunt and seems unconcerned about recovering her driver's license and everything else she's lost.
There are also huge problems with the plot. The local police force is, almost to a man, completely corrupt. But even their crimes don't always make sense. Why, for instance, does Officer Club Mitchell (yes, his name is Club) kill Greggy? There is no good reason for him to shoot the teenager in cold blood. None. Milchman provides him with no motive. Yet the murder of Greggy is the key event on which the entire plot turns: Greggy's murder is the reason that Nora's husband, Brendan, kills himself. So, it would have been nice if we had been provided with some reason that Club killed Greggy.
Club also murdered Aunt Jean. Why did he murder Aunt Jean? Honestly, we don't know. The corrupt chief of police, Vern, was afraid that Jean might tell Nora about a dark secret from Vern's past; however, Vern never told Club about this secret (at least not that we readers are aware of), and Vern was actually in love with Jean, definitely did not want Jean to be killed, and was, in fact, quite upset that she had been killed. There was no reason for Club to have murdered Aunt Jean. The ostensible reason given in the novel is that Aunt Jean was going tell Nora about Jean and Vern's secret, but Club knew nothing about this secret or, if he had known about Jean and Vern's secret, Club had no way of knowing about the possibility that Jean might be inclined to tell Nora about it. Aunt Jean's murder is completely baffling.
Officer Tim Lurcquer wants to end the corruption on the police force, so he goes to a local reporter, Ned. Now, Tim is afraid that the corrupt officers will find out about his efforts to expose them, so he wants to be sure that they don't know he is contacting Ned, which makes sense. However, rather than just calling Ned and talking to him on the telephone--the easiest way to get Ned the information he will need to break a big story--Tim arranges to meet clandestinely with Ned. Why would he risk being seen with Ned when he could have just talked to him on the telephone? The phones aren't bugged; this isn't a spy novel! It makes no sense.
The novel also features an autistic man named Dugger, who helps Nora. Apparently, Dugger has recorded (both audio and video recordings) and taken pictures of a number of horrendous events that have occurred in the town where Nora lives. He just happens to be around when terrible things occur. A prime example: Club's murder of Greggy takes place in a rural area following a police chase late at night. Dugger is on the scene in this rural area following the chase himself on foot and recording it with a night-vision camera--yes, a night-vision camera! What was this autistic man doing out in the middle of nowhere such that he just chanced to be around and to have a night-vision camera when this murder occurred? It's so unbelievable that it just boggles the mind.
Finally, Nora realizes that the key to Brendan's death has something to do with a bar 20 miles away. How does she realize this? Among Brendan's effects, she finds a memento from this bar, and then later she sees, in her mother-in-law's home, a picture of a boy with T-shirt sporting the name of the bar. These two clues alone, somehow, some mysterious way, point Nora to the tiny town 20 miles away where this bar is located. Nora does find vital information in this town, but there is no logic to this town being a legitimate clue; it makes no narrative sense at all.
There are numerous other problems with this novel: Nora's mother-in-law hates her for no apparent reason; the deep dark secret that Vern wants to hide is that, when he was a teenager, he didn't properly mark an ice-fishing hole, and so Brendan's younger brother falls into it and dies: it's not a murder or anything intentionally malicious--just an accident, but the novel presents it as a grotesque crime that Vern will do almost anything to keep from coming to light; at one point, Nora goes to an important meeting with Ned but then runs into a tertiary character, Mrs. Cooper, and immediately follows Mrs. Cooper, a complete stranger to Nora, into the woods (although, initially, they were in the middle of a town, apparently there were some woods handy for them to turn off into); she doesn't tell Ned, "Hey, I need to talk to this lady, but I'll be back to talk to you in an hour," or anything like that: she just abandons Ned and follows Mrs. Cooper into the woods.
The novel presents one nonsequitur after another. It's jaggged and rough. The characters are not remotely realistic; moreover, other than Dugger, they aren't even likable. Necessary motives are wholly lacking. The dialogue is atrocious, all too obviously contrived and artificial; there is no polish to it, no sense that we are listening to actual human beings speak to each other.
I know this review probably sounds pretty negative. Okay, it is pretty negative, but I atually think that Milchman had a good story idea. I think that, with the proper editorial guidance, this could have been a much, much better novel. As it stands, however, it's really awful. I think Milchman could grow into being a good thriller writer, but she needs some definite editorial help.
January 30, 2013
Some of the writing in this book shows that the author may have a good story inside of her yet, but this particular book isn’t it.
Nora Hamilton, 35, wakes up one morning to find out her husband hasn’t woken her up AND he hasn’t made her coffee! Oh, and incidentally he killed himself the night before. No, it wasn’t because he was tired of waiting on his wife, but the real reason (which we don’t discover until the end) wasn’t a much better explanation.
After Nora’s gruesome discovery, the rest of the book consists of her efforts to find out what drove her husband Brendan to kill himself. Maybe it was his creepy and evil mother, who seems to have escaped from a Grade D horror movie. Or maybe it was his fellow police officers, most of whom obviously spent their previous life in Hitler’s S.S. Or maybe it was because Nora was married to this guy, but obviously knew absolutely nothing about him or his family or his past or his present. (This could be because Nora is totally self-absorbed, or because she is totally clueless. Both are true.)
In short, most of the plot is just nonsensical. Some of the characters are inconsistent, if not schizophrenic (presumably at least in a few cases so we can be mislead by red herrings). Others, like the main protagonists are pretty much unknowns. Why should we care about them? How can we judge the bizarre things they do to be believable if we don’t know who these people really are and what might motivate them?
Discussion: So, you may be asking, why did I keep reading this book? Well, there were a couple of reasons. One is that I really wanted to like it and thought that if I just reading, it would get better. (We might label this The Red Wine Principle – i.e., sometimes if you let a wine breathe, or aerate, the flavor improves.) The second reason is that some parts showed promise. (This would be the You Go Girl Principle – rooting for the just-starting-out author!)
Nora Hamilton, 35, wakes up one morning to find out her husband hasn’t woken her up AND he hasn’t made her coffee! Oh, and incidentally he killed himself the night before. No, it wasn’t because he was tired of waiting on his wife, but the real reason (which we don’t discover until the end) wasn’t a much better explanation.
After Nora’s gruesome discovery, the rest of the book consists of her efforts to find out what drove her husband Brendan to kill himself. Maybe it was his creepy and evil mother, who seems to have escaped from a Grade D horror movie. Or maybe it was his fellow police officers, most of whom obviously spent their previous life in Hitler’s S.S. Or maybe it was because Nora was married to this guy, but obviously knew absolutely nothing about him or his family or his past or his present. (This could be because Nora is totally self-absorbed, or because she is totally clueless. Both are true.)
In short, most of the plot is just nonsensical. Some of the characters are inconsistent, if not schizophrenic (presumably at least in a few cases so we can be mislead by red herrings). Others, like the main protagonists are pretty much unknowns. Why should we care about them? How can we judge the bizarre things they do to be believable if we don’t know who these people really are and what might motivate them?
Discussion: So, you may be asking, why did I keep reading this book? Well, there were a couple of reasons. One is that I really wanted to like it and thought that if I just reading, it would get better. (We might label this The Red Wine Principle – i.e., sometimes if you let a wine breathe, or aerate, the flavor improves.) The second reason is that some parts showed promise. (This would be the You Go Girl Principle – rooting for the just-starting-out author!)
August 23, 2022
Book Blog | Bookstagram
Me, listening to this audiobook:
Nora wakes up one snowy morning to find her police officer husband has hanged himself. But she refuses to believe he would have ever taken his own life, especially after the night of great sex they just had. So Nora sets out to uncover what actually happened to the love of her life, but what she finds is that her small Adirondack town is full of cagey people who all seem to have a secret to hide.
The main character, Nora, drove me bananas. At one point she has sweaty palms and wipes her hands on someone else's pants. All other characters were one-dimensional and the mystery really fucking drags.
Milcham relies so heavily on genre clichés, matched with a weird amateur sleuth lead, that I had a very hard time with this.
There are a couple of good things, like the writing itself is okay - Milcham has a way with prose to create setting and atmosphere. And the overall mystery came together in the end, though there were secondary questions left unanswered.
But it just wasn't for me.
⭐⭐ | 2 stars
Me, listening to this audiobook:
Nora wakes up one snowy morning to find her police officer husband has hanged himself. But she refuses to believe he would have ever taken his own life, especially after the night of great sex they just had. So Nora sets out to uncover what actually happened to the love of her life, but what she finds is that her small Adirondack town is full of cagey people who all seem to have a secret to hide.
The main character, Nora, drove me bananas. At one point she has sweaty palms and wipes her hands on someone else's pants. All other characters were one-dimensional and the mystery really fucking drags.
Milcham relies so heavily on genre clichés, matched with a weird amateur sleuth lead, that I had a very hard time with this.
There are a couple of good things, like the writing itself is okay - Milcham has a way with prose to create setting and atmosphere. And the overall mystery came together in the end, though there were secondary questions left unanswered.
But it just wasn't for me.
⭐⭐ | 2 stars
August 4, 2020
2 stars rounded to a half
Cover of Snow sounded good from the prose, but didn't hold my attention it had the same stagnate pace with a little suspense but my mind was wandering constantly, put it this way your husband has been found hanging in the servants quarters & you find him there, but it takes forever to find out who did it & why?
All I can say is there were lies & secrets galore that family were hiding it was just too long winded.-
Cover of Snow sounded good from the prose, but didn't hold my attention it had the same stagnate pace with a little suspense but my mind was wandering constantly, put it this way your husband has been found hanging in the servants quarters & you find him there, but it takes forever to find out who did it & why?
All I can say is there were lies & secrets galore that family were hiding it was just too long winded.-
January 19, 2013
Just short of five stars
What a page turner! This is one of those books you decide to read a few pages in before falling asleep and several hours later you’re still reading until sleep attacks. It’s frigid, set in an upstate New York small town winter. Everyone knows everyone else. Many people grew up in the small town of Wedeskyull where it’s set though Nora only moves there after she marries her college sweetheart Brendan, a policeman in this village. Nora has just started her business restoring old houses in the area. The couple is very much in love though childless. Then tragedy strikes. Nora is left on her own to find answers which she’s determined to do despite discouragement by her mother-in-law and the townspeople. They close ranks on her but another outsider is willing to help but is he truly on her side or is he menacing? She doesn’t know who to trust because the deeper she digs the more layers of interconnected mysteries she finds. She begins to question everything she thinks she knows about people she thought she knew intimately.
The reason I don’t rate this as a five star book is that the denouement was a bit too pat and one or two of the plot elements threatened to veer off into loony toon land or seemed too convenient to be believable. Overall the book was still unputdownable however.
What a page turner! This is one of those books you decide to read a few pages in before falling asleep and several hours later you’re still reading until sleep attacks. It’s frigid, set in an upstate New York small town winter. Everyone knows everyone else. Many people grew up in the small town of Wedeskyull where it’s set though Nora only moves there after she marries her college sweetheart Brendan, a policeman in this village. Nora has just started her business restoring old houses in the area. The couple is very much in love though childless. Then tragedy strikes. Nora is left on her own to find answers which she’s determined to do despite discouragement by her mother-in-law and the townspeople. They close ranks on her but another outsider is willing to help but is he truly on her side or is he menacing? She doesn’t know who to trust because the deeper she digs the more layers of interconnected mysteries she finds. She begins to question everything she thinks she knows about people she thought she knew intimately.
The reason I don’t rate this as a five star book is that the denouement was a bit too pat and one or two of the plot elements threatened to veer off into loony toon land or seemed too convenient to be believable. Overall the book was still unputdownable however.
January 13, 2013
I wanted to like this book because it had an interesting premise but it never lived up to its promise. I have tried to put my finger on it and I think that the characters are not fully developed. You never really root for Nora because there's really no reason to get in her corner.
Nora's husband commits suicide and she tries to find out why. It's a natural reaction. She discovers he got a sleeping pill the week before so she knows he planned the deed. His mother is openly antagonistic towards her and her dead son. The police try to cover up secrets. She discovers her husband kept a big secret from her. She makes "friends" with a news reporter. An autustic man assists her. Ho hum.
The best part of the book for me was the description of the weather. I have never lived in a cold climate with lots of snow and having to scrape my car windows in order to drive. The idea of looking out and seeing nothing but white is horrifying to me. The climate conditions were the best part of the book which tells you all you need to know.
When the mystery is revealed at long last, I yawned. Instead of a bang it ended with a whimper. I really don't recommend this book unless you are interested in snow.
Nora's husband commits suicide and she tries to find out why. It's a natural reaction. She discovers he got a sleeping pill the week before so she knows he planned the deed. His mother is openly antagonistic towards her and her dead son. The police try to cover up secrets. She discovers her husband kept a big secret from her. She makes "friends" with a news reporter. An autustic man assists her. Ho hum.
The best part of the book for me was the description of the weather. I have never lived in a cold climate with lots of snow and having to scrape my car windows in order to drive. The idea of looking out and seeing nothing but white is horrifying to me. The climate conditions were the best part of the book which tells you all you need to know.
When the mystery is revealed at long last, I yawned. Instead of a bang it ended with a whimper. I really don't recommend this book unless you are interested in snow.
November 6, 2014
I can't do it. This book makes no sense what so ever.
December 31, 2013
This book was the most hideous exercise in thriller writing I have ever bore witness to. The writing was very stilted and clipped, the descriptions felt crude and abrupt, and it just was extremely amateurish overall. The mystery wasn't enticing, the characters felt like cartoonish versions of actual people, and there were tons of convenience to go around - and not in a forgivable way.
I was so bored midway through it that I just skimmed lazily over its latter half, and even skimming took such herculean effort I started to wonder if Cover Of Snow was even made to be read. Chapters were three pages long with switching POVs that didn't really work at trying to make me wonder about the plot, and even the aforementioned small chapters were sectioned with disconnected scenes that failed to create any connectiom between me and the plot.
This is only Ms. Milchman's debut novel, but judging from this atrocious mess, I don't think I will like any of her future ones.
I was so bored midway through it that I just skimmed lazily over its latter half, and even skimming took such herculean effort I started to wonder if Cover Of Snow was even made to be read. Chapters were three pages long with switching POVs that didn't really work at trying to make me wonder about the plot, and even the aforementioned small chapters were sectioned with disconnected scenes that failed to create any connectiom between me and the plot.
This is only Ms. Milchman's debut novel, but judging from this atrocious mess, I don't think I will like any of her future ones.
September 28, 2024
The frozen landscape in a remote small town of the Adirondack Mountains sets the tone for Jenny Milchman’s chilling debut novel, Cover Of Snow. A typical morning quickly turns into an unspeakable tragedy that fills the reader with growing unease and unrelenting suspense as the disturbing plot unfolds.
The backdrop of the ever present icy cold snow laden landscape adds mounting tension that is as equally forbidding as the characters themselves. It's with heart pounding ferocity that the pages flew by in anticipation and fear of what is to come.
As the story develops Milchman expertly paints a paranoid thriller fraught with sinister underpinnings reminiscent of The Firm by John Grisham, with a strong emotional core that just keeps building to the ultimate climax of the book! A complex novel while confusing at times…well worth the read! Be prepared to be chilled to the bone and be careful who you trust! I will be looking forward to her next book!
The backdrop of the ever present icy cold snow laden landscape adds mounting tension that is as equally forbidding as the characters themselves. It's with heart pounding ferocity that the pages flew by in anticipation and fear of what is to come.
As the story develops Milchman expertly paints a paranoid thriller fraught with sinister underpinnings reminiscent of The Firm by John Grisham, with a strong emotional core that just keeps building to the ultimate climax of the book! A complex novel while confusing at times…well worth the read! Be prepared to be chilled to the bone and be careful who you trust! I will be looking forward to her next book!
June 3, 2020
Lots of snow, ice and nasty happenings in this mid-winter scenario. Crimes? Numerous. One goes back 25 years but the suicide of a town police officer is the opening crux.
Good read. It was 3.5 stars but I rounded it up for the amount of car / snow/ housing in winter reality and action. This would make an above average film. There are numerous back road snow deep chases and rush or not car emergencies. Although it was far from perfect- my case interest and "eyes" of both Nora and Ned made it more than a 3 star. For this genre especially- it was above average.
Could all of these interchanges of people and their hierarchy mix of decades be believable? Yes, not easily but surely it could. There was a bogged down period from about 50 to 70% that I found dragged. And I also found it hard to believe that without a purse, wallet, money, or phone- that amount of time and shelter could be accomplished. But hey, it's her home town.
Dugger was a terrific characterization. Without him, the book would have been a 3 for sure. There were too many murders to envision not more questions being asked all around. And in the end there were some quite gratuitous added that I thought were just silly overkill. Greggy slant was too convoluted, in particular. But regardless, I liked the novel as a whole more than most other reviewers.
Even though all Nora could ever come up with to eat (regardless of where she was)was a generic sandwich (never even designating the type), soup, or some candy bars with tea? I guess Jenny Milchman doesn't know how to write food. I guessed Nora's position / physical state before the 50% point. Not at all the murderer prime or the ultimate authority saver at all. That's unusual- as I usually get one or both before the last sequences. The ratings for this also rather shock me. So many 1 or 2 stars? Do they want foul language, erotica extremes, or "eyes" that are more highly dysfunctional? Her writing is also just not that bad at all, some of it is quite regional. And a few of her characters came alive. Dugger did. Gil did. The "taste" now is just far less cozy in terms of language?
Great geographic placements and weather- that was done top notch for a debut. I would definitely read another of hers.
Good read. It was 3.5 stars but I rounded it up for the amount of car / snow/ housing in winter reality and action. This would make an above average film. There are numerous back road snow deep chases and rush or not car emergencies. Although it was far from perfect- my case interest and "eyes" of both Nora and Ned made it more than a 3 star. For this genre especially- it was above average.
Could all of these interchanges of people and their hierarchy mix of decades be believable? Yes, not easily but surely it could. There was a bogged down period from about 50 to 70% that I found dragged. And I also found it hard to believe that without a purse, wallet, money, or phone- that amount of time and shelter could be accomplished. But hey, it's her home town.
Dugger was a terrific characterization. Without him, the book would have been a 3 for sure. There were too many murders to envision not more questions being asked all around. And in the end there were some quite gratuitous added that I thought were just silly overkill. Greggy slant was too convoluted, in particular. But regardless, I liked the novel as a whole more than most other reviewers.
Even though all Nora could ever come up with to eat (regardless of where she was)was a generic sandwich (never even designating the type), soup, or some candy bars with tea? I guess Jenny Milchman doesn't know how to write food. I guessed Nora's position / physical state before the 50% point. Not at all the murderer prime or the ultimate authority saver at all. That's unusual- as I usually get one or both before the last sequences. The ratings for this also rather shock me. So many 1 or 2 stars? Do they want foul language, erotica extremes, or "eyes" that are more highly dysfunctional? Her writing is also just not that bad at all, some of it is quite regional. And a few of her characters came alive. Dugger did. Gil did. The "taste" now is just far less cozy in terms of language?
Great geographic placements and weather- that was done top notch for a debut. I would definitely read another of hers.
November 30, 2012
A woman wakes up to discover that her husband has committed suicide. Having no clue that he had been unhappy, she starts investigating what might have been troubling him, and uncovers secrets in the small Adirondack town.
It was tough to get past the first few chapters. As Nora wakes up, she is immediately afraid that something is very wrong because her husband is not in bed beside her. But surely that happens fairly often in normal life... especially if hubby is a police officer who may be awoken in the middle of the night to attend to emergencies. So why the immediate dread? Then after discovery of the body, a clue (age of rope) is discovered in a way that is just "forced". It was hard to keep reading at this point.
It does get better. As the pace picks up, its easier to forgive the ham-handed clues and irrational character actions. There are multiple secrets to be uncovered, and I didn't see all of them coming.
Disclosure: I received a free pre-release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It was tough to get past the first few chapters. As Nora wakes up, she is immediately afraid that something is very wrong because her husband is not in bed beside her. But surely that happens fairly often in normal life... especially if hubby is a police officer who may be awoken in the middle of the night to attend to emergencies. So why the immediate dread? Then after discovery of the body, a clue (age of rope) is discovered in a way that is just "forced". It was hard to keep reading at this point.
It does get better. As the pace picks up, its easier to forgive the ham-handed clues and irrational character actions. There are multiple secrets to be uncovered, and I didn't see all of them coming.
Disclosure: I received a free pre-release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 27, 2013
Finally I finished this book. You know that feeling you get, when you are reading a crap book and you get to the last couple of pages and you are so excited, cause you know you won't have to read anymore about this silly story or these stupid characters. That's how I feel .... times 10.
Things I thought upon finishing:
God this character likes tea, why do I have to hear about it so freaking much.
I hated everyone in this story. All of them! Not one real redeemable person. Teggi the most!
So all that coverup was for "that" ( i will refer to the ending as "that" so i don't ruin anything for anyone who is actually enjoying this story).
How many people got killed or killed themselves for "that"?
Its the Perfect inane plot for the next lifetime movie. Tori spelling or Alyssa Milano can play Nora. They would have to due their hair chestnut. Ugh.
I gave it one star because it was quick and easy to read. But if I wasn't reading for book club I wouldn't have finished it.
Things I thought upon finishing:
God this character likes tea, why do I have to hear about it so freaking much.
I hated everyone in this story. All of them! Not one real redeemable person. Teggi the most!
So all that coverup was for "that" ( i will refer to the ending as "that" so i don't ruin anything for anyone who is actually enjoying this story).
How many people got killed or killed themselves for "that"?
Its the Perfect inane plot for the next lifetime movie. Tori spelling or Alyssa Milano can play Nora. They would have to due their hair chestnut. Ugh.
I gave it one star because it was quick and easy to read. But if I wasn't reading for book club I wouldn't have finished it.
May 22, 2015
Nora Hamilton wakes up one morning to find that her husband has hung himself. This is especially surprising to her because just the night before they were getting busy with each other and everything seemed fine. Apparently a lot more was going on with Brendan than he let on to his wife.
The first hundred pages had me hooked. Was Brendan murdered or did he commit suicide and if so why? After that the plot wore thin and it ran out of gas for me. Nora spent too much time dilly dallying all over the place without advancing the plot. The pacing was not very good.
This novel is a little reminiscent of a Louise Penny mystery. Both authors chose small, icy towns with an omnipresent police force for their settings. Also in both books the townspeople know a lot more than they are willing to say. The main difference is a Penny novel has a more developed, intriguing mystery to anchor it. In Milchman's book everyone in the town knows what's going on except for clueless Nora. The only one who is willing to talk is Dugger who is autistic and he only speaks in gibberish rhymes.
The most unforgivable thing for me in this book was the lazy writing. A major character tells Nora that they will tell her everything .......tomorrow! You know they are never going to see another sunrise, come on give me a break! Really? It made me lose respect for the novel. Also troubling was the tie up at the end of the novel that was resolved so fast that plot points were not adequately addressed. I still do not have any idea why Brendan chose to end his previous relationship. The problem is once you have read Gone Girl which is so wickedly and brilliantly plotted, other novels in this genre fail to live up to the expectations.
I got this off the She Reads thriller list. Usually their suggestions are stellar but I could have passed on this. For more on this book click here. http://www.shereads.org/2013/02/some-...
The first hundred pages had me hooked. Was Brendan murdered or did he commit suicide and if so why? After that the plot wore thin and it ran out of gas for me. Nora spent too much time dilly dallying all over the place without advancing the plot. The pacing was not very good.
This novel is a little reminiscent of a Louise Penny mystery. Both authors chose small, icy towns with an omnipresent police force for their settings. Also in both books the townspeople know a lot more than they are willing to say. The main difference is a Penny novel has a more developed, intriguing mystery to anchor it. In Milchman's book everyone in the town knows what's going on except for clueless Nora. The only one who is willing to talk is Dugger who is autistic and he only speaks in gibberish rhymes.
The most unforgivable thing for me in this book was the lazy writing. A major character tells Nora that they will tell her everything .......tomorrow! You know they are never going to see another sunrise, come on give me a break! Really? It made me lose respect for the novel. Also troubling was the tie up at the end of the novel that was resolved so fast that plot points were not adequately addressed. I still do not have any idea why Brendan chose to end his previous relationship. The problem is once you have read Gone Girl which is so wickedly and brilliantly plotted, other novels in this genre fail to live up to the expectations.
I got this off the She Reads thriller list. Usually their suggestions are stellar but I could have passed on this. For more on this book click here. http://www.shereads.org/2013/02/some-...
October 1, 2017
Nora Hamilton wakes up one morning and finds her husband dead from an apparent suicide. He was a police officer in the small town they live in and Nora can't help but ask the question of why her husband would take his own life when he had appeared to be happy.
I found Cover of Snow compelling even though I had some issues with it. The writing took getting used to at first. In the beginning, I didn't care for the way the characters broke off their sentences while talking to each other. This primarily happened between Nora and her family and I think it was supposed to illustrate the state of Nora's mind after losing her husband. She was having a hard time putting sentences together, but it was annoying to read. This stopped later on and I enjoyed the writing a lot more.
The problems I had with the overall story were plot threads that were never tied up, and things that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. Also conclusions were jumped to a couple of times that were far-fetched or too easily reached, and the fact that Dugger, the autistic man had everything so conveniently on film or recorded was too much of a coincidence to be believable. How was he there for all of that and no one noticed? The only conclusion I came to was maybe he was there because the police used him as their tracker. It was mentioned several times in the book that he was a good tracker, but never explained. Did they mean he was helping the police track suspects? I also couldn't figure out why the recording of the childbirth was included in the book. As far as I could tell it served no purpose.
I enjoyed this mostly despite the problems I had with it and I found it hard to put down. What I did like about the book was the relationship between Nora and her sister and the way the author described the surroundings and made you feel like you were there in the cold, winter weather right along with Nora.
There is one thing that I was hoping for that didn't happen.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
I found Cover of Snow compelling even though I had some issues with it. The writing took getting used to at first. In the beginning, I didn't care for the way the characters broke off their sentences while talking to each other. This primarily happened between Nora and her family and I think it was supposed to illustrate the state of Nora's mind after losing her husband. She was having a hard time putting sentences together, but it was annoying to read. This stopped later on and I enjoyed the writing a lot more.
The problems I had with the overall story were plot threads that were never tied up, and things that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. Also conclusions were jumped to a couple of times that were far-fetched or too easily reached, and the fact that Dugger, the autistic man had everything so conveniently on film or recorded was too much of a coincidence to be believable. How was he there for all of that and no one noticed? The only conclusion I came to was maybe he was there because the police used him as their tracker. It was mentioned several times in the book that he was a good tracker, but never explained. Did they mean he was helping the police track suspects? I also couldn't figure out why the recording of the childbirth was included in the book. As far as I could tell it served no purpose.
I enjoyed this mostly despite the problems I had with it and I found it hard to put down. What I did like about the book was the relationship between Nora and her sister and the way the author described the surroundings and made you feel like you were there in the cold, winter weather right along with Nora.
There is one thing that I was hoping for that didn't happen.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
November 26, 2012
Interesting idea for the storyline, and there is quite a bit of suspense but the story tended to wander in other directions at key times. The first part of the novel was somewhat choppy and seemed to jump in many different directions. Still I am sure some of this was hopefully fixed with some judicious editing before publication. Loved the title and cover and I will read this authors next work because I feel she has a great deal of potential and I liked the bare bones of the story. ARC from publisher.
January 9, 2013
This book was a train wreck, yet I couldn't put it down. The writing is laughably bad, with nonsensical dialog and loosely linked events. I got this for review and am trying to figure out if I can write it up without totally trashing it. But the fact that I finished it says something since I normally don't finish books I can't stand.
March 18, 2013
I was psyched when I read the comparisons between Milchman and Bohjalian and Flynn. What book, last year, was better than Gone Girl? Wow, whoever wrote that was sorely mistaken.
This book took the reader on a very erratic journey, one with a lot of side trips that made no sense when they happened and ended up never making sense at all. Despite the fact that it took 10 years to write, it was a disjointed story, with what would appear to be plot twists but what, in reality, were just more ways to annoy and confuse the reader.
I'm going to put some spoilers here. Ned and Nora? Really? And, can we really believe she was pregnant at the end? Yes, that's a positive way to end the book. But, how plausible is it, considering the stress and anxiety (and being beaten up!) that transpired? And, whatever happened to the Coopers? And Dugger? And why didn't Nora even care that her house BURNED TO THE GROUND? Or that all her earthly possessions, including her ID, were stolen? Oh, wait, she still had the flannel box that held ALL OF THE SECRETS. What was the significance of the recordings Dugger gave to Nora? And, how did he always end up at the scenes of all of these "crimes" without anyone noticing him but with the right recording equipment? How did people (and dogs) just keep disappearing from before her eyes? What was Ned's purpose? And, really, a Stonelickers bumper sticker and a photo were the kickers here?
If I didn't have to read this for book club, I don't know that I would have finished it.
This book took the reader on a very erratic journey, one with a lot of side trips that made no sense when they happened and ended up never making sense at all. Despite the fact that it took 10 years to write, it was a disjointed story, with what would appear to be plot twists but what, in reality, were just more ways to annoy and confuse the reader.
I'm going to put some spoilers here. Ned and Nora? Really? And, can we really believe she was pregnant at the end? Yes, that's a positive way to end the book. But, how plausible is it, considering the stress and anxiety (and being beaten up!) that transpired? And, whatever happened to the Coopers? And Dugger? And why didn't Nora even care that her house BURNED TO THE GROUND? Or that all her earthly possessions, including her ID, were stolen? Oh, wait, she still had the flannel box that held ALL OF THE SECRETS. What was the significance of the recordings Dugger gave to Nora? And, how did he always end up at the scenes of all of these "crimes" without anyone noticing him but with the right recording equipment? How did people (and dogs) just keep disappearing from before her eyes? What was Ned's purpose? And, really, a Stonelickers bumper sticker and a photo were the kickers here?
If I didn't have to read this for book club, I don't know that I would have finished it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2017
More accurately this book would be rated as 3.5 if that were possible in the Goodreads rating system.
Looking through other reviews (which I honestly do not usually do BEFORE writing my own feeling) I was shocked to see how many truly hated this book and were very unkind to the author. While this book certainly had a few faults I think it was a very well put together debut effort. I wonder if a few people who rated it so poorly were turned off at the vernacular and speech patterns used in the writing. I had a bit of trouble getting my mind wrapped around it at first. Obviously the author employs a different vernacular than I'm used to. I can only assume that the phrasing and slang is typical for those living in and around the Adirondack mountains where the story is set.
I also saw many comments saying the main character did not act like a grieving widow would or should. To that I'm baffled. I thought the character's action were spot on if you take into account the characterization this author built within the story for the wife. Did she act the way "most" women who have just lost their husbands might? Probably not, I'll admit. But bottom line, I ask is there really a "right" way to go about life after finding your husband hanging from the rafters?
Unfortunately, I do have to agree with what I observed as the third biggest complaint. In my opinion there did seem to be a lot of jumping around in the story, an unexplained non-linear format that was very distracting.
Final thought: I will someday pick up another book by Jenny Milchman and give it a try.
Looking through other reviews (which I honestly do not usually do BEFORE writing my own feeling) I was shocked to see how many truly hated this book and were very unkind to the author. While this book certainly had a few faults I think it was a very well put together debut effort. I wonder if a few people who rated it so poorly were turned off at the vernacular and speech patterns used in the writing. I had a bit of trouble getting my mind wrapped around it at first. Obviously the author employs a different vernacular than I'm used to. I can only assume that the phrasing and slang is typical for those living in and around the Adirondack mountains where the story is set.
I also saw many comments saying the main character did not act like a grieving widow would or should. To that I'm baffled. I thought the character's action were spot on if you take into account the characterization this author built within the story for the wife. Did she act the way "most" women who have just lost their husbands might? Probably not, I'll admit. But bottom line, I ask is there really a "right" way to go about life after finding your husband hanging from the rafters?
Unfortunately, I do have to agree with what I observed as the third biggest complaint. In my opinion there did seem to be a lot of jumping around in the story, an unexplained non-linear format that was very distracting.
Final thought: I will someday pick up another book by Jenny Milchman and give it a try.
February 8, 2018
I just finished Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman.
It was so much better than I anticipated. I had read negative reviews.
It had twists and turns. Some of them were predictable, some were not.
At first, I wasn't a fan of the author's writing style. Then, it smoothed out. All was good.
I will be reading more from Jenny Milchman. 📚
July 21, 2023
کتاب جنایی سرگرم کنندهای بود، اینکه در فضای سرد زمستان می گذشت برای من جذاب تر بود، ولی همون المانهای جنایی داره و اگر فیلم هالیوودی زیاد دیده باشید تمام خصوصیات اونم همراهش هست، مثل مردهای قوی هیکل، شخصیت ضعیف ولی تاثیر گذار، فضاهای کاملا آشنا، خبرنگار کنجکاو و ...
* تو شهرکتاب پاسداران در حال گشت و گذار بودم چشمم به کتاب خورد، قیمتش قدیم بود( مفت😄) درجا خریدم.
* تو شهرکتاب پاسداران در حال گشت و گذار بودم چشمم به کتاب خورد، قیمتش قدیم بود( مفت😄) درجا خریدم.
May 22, 2013
I randomly came across this book browsing the online library content, and boy am I glad that I did! This debut novel by Jenny Milchman was such a jewel to find!
I listened to this on audio and the narrator did such a great job reading the story from Nora's point-of-view! I felt like I was literally listening to Nora tell her story! It normally takes me a good while to get into an audio book, if I ever can at all, but not only was I able to "get into" this book, it captured me from the very beginning and held and maintained my attention throughout the entire story!
I thought that the story flowed nicely and that Milchman did a wonderful job of telling her story, through Nora's eyes. She was thorough with her characters, creating a wide variety of great characters, which gave the book plenty of flare and flavor! The story provided plenty of mystery and "who dun it?" and kept me reading to the very end, delivering a good, solid ending.
Overall, I think that Jenny Milchman certainly has a bright future writing many more books to come and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!
I listened to this on audio and the narrator did such a great job reading the story from Nora's point-of-view! I felt like I was literally listening to Nora tell her story! It normally takes me a good while to get into an audio book, if I ever can at all, but not only was I able to "get into" this book, it captured me from the very beginning and held and maintained my attention throughout the entire story!
I thought that the story flowed nicely and that Milchman did a wonderful job of telling her story, through Nora's eyes. She was thorough with her characters, creating a wide variety of great characters, which gave the book plenty of flare and flavor! The story provided plenty of mystery and "who dun it?" and kept me reading to the very end, delivering a good, solid ending.
Overall, I think that Jenny Milchman certainly has a bright future writing many more books to come and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!
October 15, 2018
On a roll in the snow. First I didn't like Broken Ice, and now Cover of Snow. These things happen when the weather turns and I have to adjust to turning on the furnace. If you like to be in the dark, wondering what skeleton is going to jump out at you next...this book might be for you.
It starts out with the harsh reality of a cop husband having hanged himself whilst his wife slept a drugged sleep. But even that fact is held back a bit as everything is revealed with slowly paced discoveries.
If you are going to live in the Adirondacks in the winter, maybe you deserve dark secrets. I'll take the big city.
You guessed it, I am not a thriller gal. Now perhaps I will seek out a Florida book to get warmed up and hope to find one where everything is in the light.
2.5 stars
Library loan
It starts out with the harsh reality of a cop husband having hanged himself whilst his wife slept a drugged sleep. But even that fact is held back a bit as everything is revealed with slowly paced discoveries.
If you are going to live in the Adirondacks in the winter, maybe you deserve dark secrets. I'll take the big city.
You guessed it, I am not a thriller gal. Now perhaps I will seek out a Florida book to get warmed up and hope to find one where everything is in the light.
2.5 stars
Library loan
February 5, 2013
Police procedural and mystery about corruption in a small town up in the Adirondack Mountains in New York.
This is Milchman's first novel. An impressive tale.
My Take
This was excellently written and incredibly depressing. I just cried and cried at the start, the middle, and the end at all the loss. All the stupid, senseless loss.
Milchman was amazing at how well she strung this out, how she built the suspense. The reasons behind Brendan's suicide, those initial scenes as Nora goes back in her mind about the night he died. It still makes me cry. All that love and happiness. Gone. And it's only worse at the end.
I wanted to be annoyed with Nora's character for behaving so stupidly, but I kept remembering that she's a normal person. An everyday, average woman who simply happens to be married to a cop. She never intended to be an investigator, and Milchman portrays this very well. Even if I was gnashing my teeth at so many of the dumb things she did. It was completely within character. And...I doubt I would have done so well in real life...
There are a number of conclusions which Milchman leaves you to draw on your own. Fortunately, she provides enough information that I don't feel left hanging. Well, except for Eileen. What is with her and the way she behaves with Nora?
God, going over my notes to write this review, and I can see how Milchman made use of foreshadowing upcoming events. I'll bet Milchman cried while she wrote this!
I don't understand why Nora gets all bent out of shape just because her husband loved someone before he met her. It's not like people live in a vacuum until they meet the one person (hopefully) whom they'll marry.
It's understandable why everything started, but it's that sense of power that corrupts. The delusion of being God with the power of life and death, and then using it to protect the guilty.
The Story
It begins the morning Nora awakens late, wondering where Brendan is. Why he hasn't woken her. He knows she has an appointment that is important to her new fledgling business.
He also knows how, um, strenuous their loving was last night, and she's sure he's letting her sleep a bit later.
If only he'd let her sleep forever...
The Characters
Nora moved to Wedeskyull when she married Brendan. A big city girl moving to a small town. She's coped. She's starting a new business, Phoenix Home Corporation, restoring old homes, and Brendan is very supportive. Teggie is Nora's younger sister. A dancer involved with Gabriel Deacon and his dance company.
Brendan Hamilton was a cop with his own past issues that he's carried for too long, and too wrongly. I'd like to smack his mother around! Eileen is Brendan's mother. Jean is her sister-in-law; Brendan's aunt. His younger brother, Gregory, died when he was two-and-a-half.
Club Mitchell is/was Brendan's partner and has a huge black Lab, Weekend. He's determined not to go the way of his father, Burt Mitchell. Vern Weathers is the police chief in Wedeskyull; he's married to Dorothy. Dave Weathers, Vern's brother, is a cop along with Tim Lurcquer and Gil Landry.
Ned Kramer is a reporter in town with a house in need of restoration. He has his own past to overcome. Donny Brannigan is lying about that prescription. Melanie Cooper has a story to tell; her husband, John, is missing. Liv Peterson is Greggy's grandmother; Kat Peterson is her daughter and Greggy's mother.
Dugger Mackenzie works at Al's Gas & Service and lurks. He's not right in the head, so most people aren't even aware that he's there. And he loved Brendan. Enough, that he will protect his wife.
The Cover
The cover is chilly with its pale turquoise shadows and fuzzy whites creating a lonely backdrop for the bare brown branches dangling just behind the title.
The title is true enough, as everything is hidden under a Cover of Snow.
This is Milchman's first novel. An impressive tale.
My Take
This was excellently written and incredibly depressing. I just cried and cried at the start, the middle, and the end at all the loss. All the stupid, senseless loss.
Milchman was amazing at how well she strung this out, how she built the suspense. The reasons behind Brendan's suicide, those initial scenes as Nora goes back in her mind about the night he died. It still makes me cry. All that love and happiness. Gone. And it's only worse at the end.
I wanted to be annoyed with Nora's character for behaving so stupidly, but I kept remembering that she's a normal person. An everyday, average woman who simply happens to be married to a cop. She never intended to be an investigator, and Milchman portrays this very well. Even if I was gnashing my teeth at so many of the dumb things she did. It was completely within character. And...I doubt I would have done so well in real life...
There are a number of conclusions which Milchman leaves you to draw on your own. Fortunately, she provides enough information that I don't feel left hanging. Well, except for Eileen. What is with her and the way she behaves with Nora?
God, going over my notes to write this review, and I can see how Milchman made use of foreshadowing upcoming events. I'll bet Milchman cried while she wrote this!
I don't understand why Nora gets all bent out of shape just because her husband loved someone before he met her. It's not like people live in a vacuum until they meet the one person (hopefully) whom they'll marry.
It's understandable why everything started, but it's that sense of power that corrupts. The delusion of being God with the power of life and death, and then using it to protect the guilty.
The Story
It begins the morning Nora awakens late, wondering where Brendan is. Why he hasn't woken her. He knows she has an appointment that is important to her new fledgling business.
He also knows how, um, strenuous their loving was last night, and she's sure he's letting her sleep a bit later.
If only he'd let her sleep forever...
The Characters
Nora moved to Wedeskyull when she married Brendan. A big city girl moving to a small town. She's coped. She's starting a new business, Phoenix Home Corporation, restoring old homes, and Brendan is very supportive. Teggie is Nora's younger sister. A dancer involved with Gabriel Deacon and his dance company.
Brendan Hamilton was a cop with his own past issues that he's carried for too long, and too wrongly. I'd like to smack his mother around! Eileen is Brendan's mother. Jean is her sister-in-law; Brendan's aunt. His younger brother, Gregory, died when he was two-and-a-half.
Club Mitchell is/was Brendan's partner and has a huge black Lab, Weekend. He's determined not to go the way of his father, Burt Mitchell. Vern Weathers is the police chief in Wedeskyull; he's married to Dorothy. Dave Weathers, Vern's brother, is a cop along with Tim Lurcquer and Gil Landry.
Ned Kramer is a reporter in town with a house in need of restoration. He has his own past to overcome. Donny Brannigan is lying about that prescription. Melanie Cooper has a story to tell; her husband, John, is missing. Liv Peterson is Greggy's grandmother; Kat Peterson is her daughter and Greggy's mother.
Dugger Mackenzie works at Al's Gas & Service and lurks. He's not right in the head, so most people aren't even aware that he's there. And he loved Brendan. Enough, that he will protect his wife.
The Cover
The cover is chilly with its pale turquoise shadows and fuzzy whites creating a lonely backdrop for the bare brown branches dangling just behind the title.
The title is true enough, as everything is hidden under a Cover of Snow.
January 15, 2013
(3,5/5)
Interestingly, the first thing I wanted to comment on as I sat to write this review was the cover; for once, I feel the cover is a perfect image for what the book contains. Nora and her husband live in a small town, where winter hits in full force every year. The scenes are filled with cold, snow, wind and ice, characters fighting the elements on a daily basis. Soon enough, Nora also realizes she has very few allies; it's on her alone to find the truth and fight for it to finally come out. I don't think this cover could stick to the story more, and if you pick your books based on covers (like I sometimes do), then this one should give you a good idea of what it's about.
On to the story itself! I am not sure what I was expecting when I started Cover of Snow, but it got more complex than I expected. I thought Nora's husband would be revealed to have maybe one or two tame secrets, but it turned out to be much more than that. I would say that Cover of Snow is as much about the town - if not more - than it is about the characters. This was a pleasant surprise, and made the reading less predictable.
Some readers will probably be annoyed by the chapters jumping between first and third person, but I actually liked it. There's only one first person narration, and it's Nora's; the third person narration jumps between different characters, and this is part of what reinforced my feeling of the town itself being at the center of the story. I loved the different perspectives, although I do think some of the chapters were a bit unnecessary. I also thought the writing was choppy in places, but I was so captivated by the mystery, I didn't mind it too much.
I felt for Nora as a character, though I felt I didn't get to really know her through this story. Maybe it is to be expected as she is so weighted down by her grief, but I would have loved to know her a little bit more : I knew what she did for work, what she had hoped for in her life, but not who she was. It's also unfortunate for the poor woman that she was surrounded by so many unlikable or scared characters!
All in all, I enjoyed Cover of Snow. While it didn't bring something extremely new to the mystery genre, it was effective in quickly getting me caught up in the story. I feel this is a strong debut for author Jenny Milchman, and what little faults I found in the book are things that can only be bettered in any forthcoming novels. Meanwhile, Cover of Snow is the perfect book to read on a cold winter night, snuggled under the duvet with a warm cup of cocoa.
Interestingly, the first thing I wanted to comment on as I sat to write this review was the cover; for once, I feel the cover is a perfect image for what the book contains. Nora and her husband live in a small town, where winter hits in full force every year. The scenes are filled with cold, snow, wind and ice, characters fighting the elements on a daily basis. Soon enough, Nora also realizes she has very few allies; it's on her alone to find the truth and fight for it to finally come out. I don't think this cover could stick to the story more, and if you pick your books based on covers (like I sometimes do), then this one should give you a good idea of what it's about.
On to the story itself! I am not sure what I was expecting when I started Cover of Snow, but it got more complex than I expected. I thought Nora's husband would be revealed to have maybe one or two tame secrets, but it turned out to be much more than that. I would say that Cover of Snow is as much about the town - if not more - than it is about the characters. This was a pleasant surprise, and made the reading less predictable.
Some readers will probably be annoyed by the chapters jumping between first and third person, but I actually liked it. There's only one first person narration, and it's Nora's; the third person narration jumps between different characters, and this is part of what reinforced my feeling of the town itself being at the center of the story. I loved the different perspectives, although I do think some of the chapters were a bit unnecessary. I also thought the writing was choppy in places, but I was so captivated by the mystery, I didn't mind it too much.
I felt for Nora as a character, though I felt I didn't get to really know her through this story. Maybe it is to be expected as she is so weighted down by her grief, but I would have loved to know her a little bit more : I knew what she did for work, what she had hoped for in her life, but not who she was. It's also unfortunate for the poor woman that she was surrounded by so many unlikable or scared characters!
All in all, I enjoyed Cover of Snow. While it didn't bring something extremely new to the mystery genre, it was effective in quickly getting me caught up in the story. I feel this is a strong debut for author Jenny Milchman, and what little faults I found in the book are things that can only be bettered in any forthcoming novels. Meanwhile, Cover of Snow is the perfect book to read on a cold winter night, snuggled under the duvet with a warm cup of cocoa.
Read
January 16, 2013 Cover of Snow is Jenny Milchman's debut novel.
Nora Hamilton followed her husband back to the small New York town he grew up in so he could follow in his father's footsteps - serving on the local police force. She's found work as a house restorer and believes they are blissfully happy. Until she wakes up one morning and finds that Brendan has killed himself. Why? What could have driven him to such an act? Nora is determined to find out. But his police force family seem just as determined to 'let things be'. And as Nora digs into the past, the resistance grows.
Milchman has all the right elements in place for a good mystery and her opening premise was great. You can feel the 'but' coming can't you? But, somehow, Cover of Snow just felt wooden, awkward and unbelievable to me.
The narrative often jumps from one scene to another, leaving me flipping backwards to see if I missed a page. (I hadn't) I never really felt that the characters were real. Although we should feel for Nora after her loss, I didn't. She finds herself in one dangerous situation after another, but I didn't feel the tension or danger I wanted to. The rest of the cast of characters are somewhat clichéd - the omnipotent police chief, the brutal cops, the nosy reporter with a history, the nasty mother in law, the autistic mechanic who speaks in rhyme. A clue or needed information is usually conveniently and clumsily offered up just when needed. Nora's beautiful, happy sister Teggie seems to have been included as a platform for Nora's emotional baggage to be discussed. "You sound just like Dad" Other than that, she really didn't serve a purpose in the story. The reason behind the name Teggie was an odd aside. And the cop named Lurcquer was a bit much as well - all I could think of every time was lurker - and yes he lurks and pops up when needed.
I found it hard to believe that after twenty five years of a police force's tyranny, one plucky house restorer brings it all down. I kept reading as I wanted to see the ending, but found it strangely anti-climatic after so much drama.
Milchman does do a great job with describing her settings. I could feel the cold in upstate New York. I liked the cover art as well.
I picked up Cover of Snow based on the positive cover blurbs of many of my favourite authors - Harlan Coben, Lee Child etc. and the publisher's comparison to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Sadly, it just didn't live up to those expectations for me.
Nora Hamilton followed her husband back to the small New York town he grew up in so he could follow in his father's footsteps - serving on the local police force. She's found work as a house restorer and believes they are blissfully happy. Until she wakes up one morning and finds that Brendan has killed himself. Why? What could have driven him to such an act? Nora is determined to find out. But his police force family seem just as determined to 'let things be'. And as Nora digs into the past, the resistance grows.
Milchman has all the right elements in place for a good mystery and her opening premise was great. You can feel the 'but' coming can't you? But, somehow, Cover of Snow just felt wooden, awkward and unbelievable to me.
The narrative often jumps from one scene to another, leaving me flipping backwards to see if I missed a page. (I hadn't) I never really felt that the characters were real. Although we should feel for Nora after her loss, I didn't. She finds herself in one dangerous situation after another, but I didn't feel the tension or danger I wanted to. The rest of the cast of characters are somewhat clichéd - the omnipotent police chief, the brutal cops, the nosy reporter with a history, the nasty mother in law, the autistic mechanic who speaks in rhyme. A clue or needed information is usually conveniently and clumsily offered up just when needed. Nora's beautiful, happy sister Teggie seems to have been included as a platform for Nora's emotional baggage to be discussed. "You sound just like Dad" Other than that, she really didn't serve a purpose in the story. The reason behind the name Teggie was an odd aside. And the cop named Lurcquer was a bit much as well - all I could think of every time was lurker - and yes he lurks and pops up when needed.
I found it hard to believe that after twenty five years of a police force's tyranny, one plucky house restorer brings it all down. I kept reading as I wanted to see the ending, but found it strangely anti-climatic after so much drama.
Milchman does do a great job with describing her settings. I could feel the cold in upstate New York. I liked the cover art as well.
I picked up Cover of Snow based on the positive cover blurbs of many of my favourite authors - Harlan Coben, Lee Child etc. and the publisher's comparison to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. Sadly, it just didn't live up to those expectations for me.
March 18, 2013
The best thing I can say about Cover of Snow was that it was a quick, easy read. I understood what the author was going for - a tense thriller set in a corrupt, lonely, and isolated small town. There were too many problems with the execution, though, for the reader to ever truly be in suspense.
First, the main character, Nora Hamilton, was completely irritating. She was described as someone who never liked to question or probe too deeply. The death of her husband motivated her to finally ask questions about his life before her and to dig blow the bucolic surface of his hometown (which sounded like the worst, coldest place ever).
I never got a sense of what Nora's relationship with her husband (Brendan) was like or how they could have been happily married when she seemed to know so little about him or his family. Even someone who was terrified of asking questions would probably ask her husband why his mother hates him or the circumstances that led to his younger brother's death. These seem like pretty basic conversations to have with someone before you marry him and move to his terrible hometown.
Yet when Brendan dies, Nora vows that she will finally be the wife he deserves and begins to question everyone and everything. I could get on board with this if Nora's actions made any sense. She frequently shouts things nonsensically, runs from rooms, leaves her personal property unattended, and exposes herself to the elements, which we are constantly told are beyond freezing.
I never got a good sense of who Nora was, so it was difficult to sympathize with her. I know that she prefers tea and likes to eat a lot, but I don't know why she insists on driving recklessly through blizzards directed only by tiny scraps of clues. I also love that she knows there is a manhunt underway to find her, yet when she arrives in a small town she cheerfully introduces herself to the innkeeper using her real name.
Somehow, Nora uncovers the layers of corruption that have led to decades of tragedy, including the loss of her husband. The big "conspiracy" doesn't make much sense to me. It's multilayered and involves lots of (helpfully labeled) photographs, audio recordings and bad people. Luckily, Nora randomly fell in love and discovered a cute new town while searching for clues, so the ending is quick and happy.
First, the main character, Nora Hamilton, was completely irritating. She was described as someone who never liked to question or probe too deeply. The death of her husband motivated her to finally ask questions about his life before her and to dig blow the bucolic surface of his hometown (which sounded like the worst, coldest place ever).
I never got a sense of what Nora's relationship with her husband (Brendan) was like or how they could have been happily married when she seemed to know so little about him or his family. Even someone who was terrified of asking questions would probably ask her husband why his mother hates him or the circumstances that led to his younger brother's death. These seem like pretty basic conversations to have with someone before you marry him and move to his terrible hometown.
Yet when Brendan dies, Nora vows that she will finally be the wife he deserves and begins to question everyone and everything. I could get on board with this if Nora's actions made any sense. She frequently shouts things nonsensically, runs from rooms, leaves her personal property unattended, and exposes herself to the elements, which we are constantly told are beyond freezing.
I never got a good sense of who Nora was, so it was difficult to sympathize with her. I know that she prefers tea and likes to eat a lot, but I don't know why she insists on driving recklessly through blizzards directed only by tiny scraps of clues. I also love that she knows there is a manhunt underway to find her, yet when she arrives in a small town she cheerfully introduces herself to the innkeeper using her real name.
Somehow, Nora uncovers the layers of corruption that have led to decades of tragedy, including the loss of her husband. The big "conspiracy" doesn't make much sense to me. It's multilayered and involves lots of (helpfully labeled) photographs, audio recordings and bad people. Luckily, Nora randomly fell in love and discovered a cute new town while searching for clues, so the ending is quick and happy.
November 20, 2012
Nora Hamilton is a restorer of old houses, in the midst of just starting a new business called Phoenix. Her husband, Brendan, is on the local police department. They have a happy marriage, one that is close and intimate. One morning, after making love the night before, she wakes up feeling drugged and feels like things are not right in the house. For one thing, she overslept and she knows her husband would have wakened her because she had an appointment with a new client. She walks through the house and she finds her husband - he had hanged himself and was dead.
Nora can't believe the things she is finding out. For one, Brendan got a prescription for a sedative a week before his suicide meaning he planned this out and sedated her the night before. She does not believe this is a suicide and so she is determined to find out what happened to him. If it is a suicide she wants to know why. Why would Brendan want to take his life?
Nora is stonewalled at every turn. There are secrets in her small town, ones that she is not supposed to find out. She is determined, however, to prove that her husband did not kill himself. Why, for instance, would he use twenty year-old rope when, as a police officer, he knew all about weapons.
The book is fairly formulaic and simply written. It is a good beach or plane read and I read it in two sittings. It is, as the publisher states, for readers who like Nancy Pickard and Lisa Unger. I am not a particular fan of either of them. The book is eerie and atmospheric at times, but it just didn't do it for me.
Nora can't believe the things she is finding out. For one, Brendan got a prescription for a sedative a week before his suicide meaning he planned this out and sedated her the night before. She does not believe this is a suicide and so she is determined to find out what happened to him. If it is a suicide she wants to know why. Why would Brendan want to take his life?
Nora is stonewalled at every turn. There are secrets in her small town, ones that she is not supposed to find out. She is determined, however, to prove that her husband did not kill himself. Why, for instance, would he use twenty year-old rope when, as a police officer, he knew all about weapons.
The book is fairly formulaic and simply written. It is a good beach or plane read and I read it in two sittings. It is, as the publisher states, for readers who like Nancy Pickard and Lisa Unger. I am not a particular fan of either of them. The book is eerie and atmospheric at times, but it just didn't do it for me.
August 15, 2014
Is Stephen King's "Hearts in Atlantis" or "Under the Dome" a thriller? Many would say no, yet these books still come from the master of fast-paced writing, who knows the slavering beast under the mask of humanity. In this literary/thriller tradition, so, too, comes Jenny Milchman's debut, "Cover of Snow."
Some reviewers have said they didn't have a feel for the main character, Nora, but I felt that Milchman was allowing us to follow her on our own: purposely not connecting the dots for us like a Kindergarten teacher holding the reader's hand, letting the reader reach our own conclusions. As Nora wonders at how little she truly knew her husband, we wonder, ourselves, how well we know Nora.
This is, ultimately, a book about secrets, and a woman who slips beneath the metaphorical ice of realizing how much was withheld from her--not only by her husband, but by the many other friends and family in the town that doesn't cotton to outsiders.
The best books occasionally make us lift our heads from the page and reflect on life. This book does that: whether referencing "something unstoppable" in a mother's loving gaze, or a childless woman putting away old Christmas lights that "had gone dim long ago," Milchman's prose is to be deeply envied: a perfect combination of sparse simplicity and elegance. Interspersed third-person chapters chill the reader and prove the writer's virtuosity.
I feel there's "more where that came from" inside of this marvelous author, and I can't wait to read more.
Some reviewers have said they didn't have a feel for the main character, Nora, but I felt that Milchman was allowing us to follow her on our own: purposely not connecting the dots for us like a Kindergarten teacher holding the reader's hand, letting the reader reach our own conclusions. As Nora wonders at how little she truly knew her husband, we wonder, ourselves, how well we know Nora.
This is, ultimately, a book about secrets, and a woman who slips beneath the metaphorical ice of realizing how much was withheld from her--not only by her husband, but by the many other friends and family in the town that doesn't cotton to outsiders.
The best books occasionally make us lift our heads from the page and reflect on life. This book does that: whether referencing "something unstoppable" in a mother's loving gaze, or a childless woman putting away old Christmas lights that "had gone dim long ago," Milchman's prose is to be deeply envied: a perfect combination of sparse simplicity and elegance. Interspersed third-person chapters chill the reader and prove the writer's virtuosity.
I feel there's "more where that came from" inside of this marvelous author, and I can't wait to read more.
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