Beneath the Frost

Sienna Dusk Suspense Thriller

by Taylor Stark

When a thawing mountainside reveals a gruesome secret, Aspen cop Sienna Dusk is thrust into a high-stakes investigation where the elite play by their own rules. As Sienna edges closer to unmasking a devious killer, she realizes that, in this deadly game of cat and mouse, she herself might be the target…

BENEATH THE FROST (A Sienna Dusk Suspense Thriller—Book 1) is the first novel in a new series by mystery and suspense author Taylor Stark.

Immersive and intense, the Sienna Dusk series takes you through a gripping journey with a complex and anguished female protagonist at its heart. This crime thriller offers an unrelenting blend of suspense and action, with a rapid-fire pace that will draw you into the mystery and keep you eagerly turning pages well past bedtime. Fans of Melinda Leigh, Kendra Elliot, and Lisa Regan are sure to fall in love.

Future books in the series are also available!

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Ebooks, Amazon, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2024

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐
Genre ~ police procedural
Series ~ Sienna Dusk
Setting ~ Colorado
Publication date ~ April 30, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 183 (p+ 25 chapters)
Audio length ~ 5 hours 21 minutes
Narrator ~ Vivienne (synthesized voice)
POV ~ dual 3rd
Featuring ~ dead bodies, serial killer, small town

Sienna is new on the force and brought right into an investigation of a serial killer.

I do enjoy when we get the perspective of the killer. It was more of a telling and not really showing the murders as they're not graphic at all.

Run of the mill cozy mystery with a lead detective that has a missing brother. Nothing new, nothing exciting really. I did like how well her and partner, Alex, worked together. Some words you here over and over again and this time it was "understood." Obviously this is quite a common word but every time they got a phone call they said it and I had enough. Cacophony too.

I like the cover and title as they're both fitting.

Got this one as a hoopla bonus borrow, so I probably won't continue on with the series unless #2 is available as a bonus next month.

Narration notes:
As good as a synthesized voice can be.

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[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was too melodramatic for me

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent crime/thriller/mystery.

[Graeme Hodgson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found his book to be most frustrating! What with Sieana doing all the chasing, catching and then realizing her mistakes with her puppet partner following her every lead and just being there it calm her and rescue her when she falls into the hands of supposed perpetrators. I ploughed through the book, not believing that the incidents would repeat themselves over and over, what 4 times and then a miraculous saving of a victim, and capture of the murderer by whom? using her skiying abilities to catch him while her partner trudged through the everlasting snow to catch up to her while she had already handcuffed the murderer, again!!!!! Another most frustrating aspect is the presence of a missing sibling in what seems to be in all the police and fbi stories now. Is there not one policeman/women or fbi agent who does not these days have a missing sibling in an attempt to have the next story?

[Jill Bowman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a free borrow - and worth every penny. I kept listening because my new month of borrows hadn’t begun yet.
The policing was unlike anything in real life (beat cop insisting on questioning local real estate mogul without her boss being aware - and with no actual evidence) and the same cop deciding on the fly that 2 probable murders with the same MO needs to be announced to everyone in Aspen (rich ski resort, in season) that there’s a serial killer on the loose.
She should have been reprimanded and on phone duty - not tracking down the killer.

But wait - we’re told repeatedly that she’s an Olympic skier, so I guess all is forgiven.
I won’t be reading this series. 😂

[Darren Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struggled to get through the first half of the book but the second half was a bit more exciting. Too much waffling about the smaller details in every scenario and an over use of the word 'belied'.

[Citygent234 · Rating 1 out of 5]

total garbage

Hilariously dreadful .cliche after ridiculous cliche .the book reads like a child telling you about their first day at infant school .i thought the author was self published until i saw the list of books she has written. She really should be embarrassed at writing such tripe

[Bruce Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

No thanks.

Can't get thru a page without referring to her previous skiing experience, or his previous military background. Too much self-doubts and what ifs.

Chasing fake and artificial suspects. And she didn't actually achieve ANYTHING - barring to luckily stumble onto the killer in the darkness in the remote mountains. With puppet partner just shadowing.

Skip it.

[Josephine Pizzimenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I do enjoy reading this style of book. What is not enjoyable is the fact that every lead character, in particular FBI agents, has a missing sibling. Surely that is not a prerequisite of joining? This, apart from that is a good tale.

[Cidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sienna Dusk is a police officer who skiis. She lives in Aspen and that's a snowy mountainous area in America. A tourist who is showing off his skiing skills to his girlfriend stumbles in the snow when he hits a body underneath the ice whose hand is now waving in the air. Well not waving actually but it's now poking through the ice. Sienna and Alex who's the medical officer with the police force arrive and begin a murdery enquiry. Trouble is that from there on several bodies of girls begin to be discovered buried in the ice and all in areas where the local wealthy but not so good ne'erdowell owns land. So begins the enquiry into multiple deaths of women.

It started off well but I got a little bored as it went through. It just wasn't holding my interest enough really. I've probably read too many of this type of book at the moment.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sienna Dusk is a former competitive skier who’ no an Aspen police officer. Sienna and her partner are n the trail of a killer who kidnapped women then ties them up and buries them in the snow on a cross country track. They butt heads with the boss with their methods and especially draw his wrath when Sienna wants to close the tracks. Te partners skill sets complement each other and they work well together. Sienna’s athletic conditioning helps during the climactic chase through the woods in the deep snow but her partner assists in the big rescue effort.

[Jenny Lynn Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read by this author and it was a good one.

This book started off a little iffy. It seemed like it was just repeating how the fmc needed to find the killer and how her brother had gone missing without a trace.

But about halfway through the book it starts picking up and with every arrest you think this is really it!! This is the killer. But nope, keep looking.

It keeps you on your toes and wondering who the killer is and why they keep doing it.

[Don Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but solid

(2 1/2). A pretty good debut for a series. Sienna Dusk is very likable, and she fits perfectly in the Aspen location this story provides. The plot is fairly convoluted and over the top, but what else did I expect from something this short. Good action, a tiny bit of development on a couple of side characters, and a couple of pretty good twists and turns. I am in a benign reviewing mood today so I am going to mark it up to 3 stars. OK stuff.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very melodramatic take on m police procedural books. Throw in a side of, "I am woman, hear me roar!" and add a personal touch that her brother was kidnapped just when she was selected for the US Olympics freestyle and racing teams, and her regret at leaving his case to the cops (who never solved it), and you have a novel that casts a new meaning to the word "trite." I for one was glad to see the end of this book and I won't be reading any more by this author.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beneath the Frost

I liked the nonstop action of the Aspen police led by Sienna trying to find a serial killer. He takes women from the area who are well known and he puts the bound and drugged women in shallow graves so they freeze to death before they are found. I recommend this book for those who love a mystery with high suspense. This is my voluntary and honest review.

[C. Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a literary perspective, really only worthy of two stars - I gave an extra one because there was no blasphemy. The story itself was, to me, pedantic and I wondered how often I had to be reminded that one of the main characters had a military background!
As usual, what is marketed as a "series" is, in fact a "serial". However, I will not be rushing to get hold of the next episode!

[A. · Rating 1 out of 5]

DO NOT RECOMMEND! I can usually read ANYTHING but I couldn't finish this book. The writing was so floridly bad and cliched that it was very off-putting and I checked out 20 pages in. I really disliked the writing style so much that I wasn't invested in the mystery. Maybe this author has produced better books than this but I won't be looking for them. 👎🏽

[Lauren Hedrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars because it was a free audiobook. But how many fucking times was “sentinel” used throughout this book?! I rolled my eyes every time after the fourth occurrence. Same with “muscle memory”.
And the AI narration sucks — make sure you listen to your own books so the *** isn’t actually spoken aloud.

[Yvette · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was ok.
If you're a skier, the location and chases probably add to the reading experience, but for me they didn't add to the story.
A number of clichés: the burden of responsibility on the shoulders of Sienna while her boss only worries about the politics and the influence of a serial killer on Aspen's finance and 'beau monde'.

[Keesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good effort, kept me entertained and I liked the main character. Never actually read a book (or listened to one) that kept revealing new suspects continuously like this til the right one. Took off a star for that. Loved the snow/ski scenes and Aspen as the setting. I would read more by this author.

[Garrett Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super story extremely well told with great characters.

Sienna and her partner have a difficult time finding the real killer with so many suspects that did bad things but not the murders.

[Gayla Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

not good

I am so tired of mysteries that have no mystery. The murderer just appears out if no where suddenly. No clues. And each chapter is the same. Dead victim, research computer, go to interview suspect, the chase them. Nope wrong guy. Over and over again.

[Reem Eisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand the need for the main character to shine but the repetition in describing her reserve and guilt are too much. Also, the way she gets convinced every time they have a suspect that it is the killer is a bit annoying!! it wasnt what expected.

[Nadia O'Reilly]

Audiobook

[Kevin Cannon (Monty's Book Reviews) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the free audio version on Kobo and whilst it filled a few hours it was nothing special. Formulaic characters and plot but at least it was free

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok

[Bec Parker · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so cringy. “ fREezE pOLicE”🙃

[Heather Bair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another synthetic voice in the audiobook. Makes some weird pronounced words and ...

[Marcey Mitcham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this book but I made myself finish. I probably won’t read this author again. It really felt like the first book she’d written and did no research. Very unrealistic for me.

[Melissa Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoopla bonus borrow -- all this book really made me want to do is go skiing really bad. Sadly - by the end - I could really care less who the killer was.