Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Stormwatch #2

Deep Freeze

Rate this book
The storm sweeps in like a thief in the night...

Winter storm Holly is the worst in eighty years bringing high winds, subzero temperatures and snowfall better measured in feet than in inches. The weather paralyzes everything in its path, but, in this storm, weather isn't the only threat.

Emma Miller, a probationary security consultant posing as a reporter, is stranded at Portal International Airport in the worst storm in eighty years. She’s reassigned to protect a top-secret High Containment Lab in the international airport that houses the deadliest bio-contaminate diseases on the planet. A lab under attack by international terrorists who want those pathogens to sell on the black-market.

Dr. Gregory Mason Martin is a bio-containment specialist who runs the top-secret lab, and he knows Emma well. They grew up together, went to school together, and she’s always fascinated him, but she has a long-standing habit of going through men like water, so he’s kept his distance. He doesn’t dare to trust her or her abilities.

Now, all these years later, they must work together to protect the lab and stop the terrorists from obtaining the pathogens. And they must protect the pathogens from Holly, the deadly storm barreling mercilessly toward them. If those pathogens are stolen, the world will be held hostage, and worse, if mishandled, the country could be facing the worst pandemic in history. A pandemic that in short order could wipe out not just cities and states, but the entire nation.

Both are willing to risk their lives. Both are reluctant to risk their hearts. Yet events prove neither of them is who they were thought to be. And a fierce battle against terrorists and the storm proves challenging but no match for the challenges chambered in their human hearts.

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2019

1367 people are currently reading
221 people want to read

About the author

Vicki Hinze

102 books329 followers
Vicki is the USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of nearly 40 novels, 4 nonfiction books and hundreds of articles. She's recognized as an author and as an educator by Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. For seven years, she was a columnist for Social-In Global Network; before then, a radio-talk show host for Everyday Woman.

The former VP for International Thriller Writers, consultant to the RWA Board of Directors, and a consultant to multiple other writing organizations. She's a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Novelists, Inc., ALLi, and Southern Independent Booksellers Assn.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
331 (37%)
4 stars
300 (34%)
3 stars
180 (20%)
2 stars
42 (4%)
1 star
20 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
Profile Image for Linda Strong.
3,878 reviews1,708 followers
December 16, 2019
3.5 STARS


Emma Miller is a rookie security consultant posing as a reporter. She's being assigned to protect a top secret High Contaminant Lab that's housed at an international airport. Kind of strange place to have a lab full of biological warfare diseases stored ... 4 floors below the actual airport.

It's even more dangerous now with a huge winter storm bearing down on them. But weather isn't the only problem ... Emma's security company has reason to believe that this lab is being targeted by terrorists.

Dr. Gregory Mason Martin is the specialist who runs the lab ... and he and Emma have a history. They grew up together and although she rather fancied him, he kept his distance.

Book Blurb: Now, all these years later, they must work together to protect the lab and stop the terrorists from obtaining the pathogens. And they must protect the pathogens from Holly, the deadly storm barreling mercilessly toward them. If those pathogens are stolen, the world will be held hostage, and worse, if mishandled, the country could be facing the worst pandemic in history. A pandemic that in short order could wipe out not just cities and states, but the entire nation.

Lots of excitement here ... especially with a super big snowstorm and over 5000 people stranded at the airport temporarily. Between the storm and terrorists, Emma and Gregory find themselves working together to save everyone.

The characters are finely drawn, but credibility is stretched with having this kind of lab under an airport, filled with diseases that could wipe out the world. But it is an entertaining read, nonetheless.

Many thanks to the author / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley for the digital copy of this Romantic Suspense. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Profile Image for Sarah.
969 reviews8 followers
November 27, 2019
Thank you Debra Webb for the ARC of Deep Freeze by Vicki Hinze that I read and reviewed by my own choice.
Deep Freeze is the second stand alone novella in the Stormwatch series that includes novellas by some of the best authors out there. This novella is about an undercover threat assessment agent who is working with an old crush trying to stop a threat against a biochemical lab located under an airport that is at a standstill due to a freak winter snowstorm.
I enjoyed how Emma and Mason worked together and how they dealt with the past to get through the challenge they were facing. It was fun to see how Mason’s views about Emma changed and how things worked out. This was a very good and a very fast read.
Deep Freeze gets five out of five stars from me.
Profile Image for Lynn.
1,599 reviews12 followers
September 1, 2023
Emma Miller has been assigned to protect a lab filled with dangerous pathogens located in Portal Airport. Unfortunately, the airport is experiencing the strongest winter storm in the history of Colorado. Emma's contact is a man who has held her interest since she was a child, Dr. Gregory Mason Martin. Despite their past differences, they must work together to stop international terrorists from attacking the lab and making off with dangerous contaminants with no antidotes.

Deep Freeze is a well constructed novella but not nearly long enough to develop such an intricate suspense plot and a second chance romance. First of all, what would the thought process be for building a pathogen research lab in an airport? Also, details about the main characters are very sketchy and inadequate, leaving this reader wondering why they are together since their emotions are also lacking. Most of the suspense in the story doesn't even involve the protagonists, and the action seems haphazard and mostly off page. In addition, the big storm that seems to be the main problem at the beginning of the book, really has nothing to do with the majority of the narrative. Overall, Deep Freeze needs many more pages in order for it to feel like a complete story.
Profile Image for Jo Ann Reinhold.
424 reviews44 followers
December 5, 2019
Winter storm Holly means business as it bears down on Colorado, and travelers are stranded all over the state including Portal International Airport. Unbeknownst to these weary, trapped travelers, a top-secret High Containment Lab containing some of the deadliest pathogens known to man is right below their feet! And worse, there is credible evidence that an attack on the lab is imminent!Emma Miller, a probationary security consultant who has been grounded in Portal on her way home from her last assignment but now is redirected to handle this emergency.  She is totally qualified but the person in charge just happens to be the one man that has always doubted her.
Dr. Gregory Mason Martin is a bio-containment specialist who runs the top-secret lab and knows Emma well.  They grew up together and went to school together but in his mind, her "flighty" nature leaves him doubting her abilities to stop the threat and keep the lab safe from the terrorists determined to breach security and the lab to get their hands on the deadly secrets within.With threats coming at them from all sides and lives on the line, Emma and "Mason" might just learn a few things about each other and themselves as they fight to keep everyone safe from both nature and the greed of men willing to set off a pandemic of epic proportion for the love of money.Fast and action-packed, book two in this amazing series is a must-read.
2,063 reviews25 followers
December 13, 2019
Emma is an undercover agent for a secret security company. She is stranded at the airport by a snow storm when she gets a new assignment. There is a secret bio lab under the airport that has some very dangerous pathogens. Rumors indicate a possible attack on the lab. The man running the lab is Dr Mason Martin, a man she has loved for years.

This is the second book in the Stormwatch series, but it can be read as a stand alone. It is full of danger, romance and suspense that will hook you from the first page. Thank you to author for an advanced readers copy.
Profile Image for Jypsy .
1,524 reviews72 followers
January 20, 2020
Thank you NetGalley for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Deep Freeze
By: Vicki Hinze

*REVIEW* 🌟🌟🌟
I'm always drawn to crazy disaster or end of the world survival stories. Deep Freeze immediately caught my attention, and I had high hopes for the story. It's unfortunate that it wasn't quite what I hoped it would be. A massive storm and tons of people trapped in an airport is a realistic scenario, but everything else-not so much. I just couldn't make myself believe it. My suspension of disbelief was not working with this story. It has entertaining moments, and the writing is fine. If you can buy into the storyline, as I'm certain many readers can, you will love this story. It wasn't for me, though.
1,137 reviews3 followers
August 15, 2021
Fast paced suspense just didn't live up to the hype in my opinion.
Profile Image for Lori.
360 reviews12 followers
December 15, 2019
Book two of the Stormwatch Series by Vicki Hinze. As the worst blizzard in 80 years, Holly, bears down on Portal Colorado, Emma Miller wonders how she can get home. Emma learns this closed airport with thousands of stranded travelers is her next assignment for her undercover job as a security specialist, in training, for the Silencers Agency. Unbelievably the airport sits on top, literally, on top of a High containment lab. Adding the impossible situation of protecting this supposedly highly “secret” bio- contamination lab alone, against an imminent terrorist attack, the man she must work with, the head of the lab, is Dr. Gregory Mason Martin. A man she’s known for many years. The man no other man could live up to. The man who had no interest in Emma but stole her heart. As hard as she tried she couldn’t find any other man, and she went through a lot, who could keep her interest. Together they must defend the lab. He has never even fired a weapon and they must stop the inconceivable theft of one of the worst pathogens in existence. He doesn’t know of her special skills and she’s not allowed to tell him as she works to eliminate those bent on stealing what could destroy mankind. All the while a storm rages and thousands of people are oblivious to the dangers that lay below them. Fast paced read as Holly wrecks havoc on the area.
Profile Image for Nikki Brooks.
3,551 reviews52 followers
December 15, 2019
Emma works under a deep-cover as a reporter for a covert agency. She is really a newbie security specialist. Her bosses aren't exactly happy with her - not only do her looks garner interest wherever she goes, but her writing is being lauded. Not exactly flying under the radar!

With Storm Holly on her way Emma is diverted to bring extra security to a hidden lab under Portal International Airport. She was a bit overwhelmed when she realises the guy in charge is her childhood friend and unrequited crush! Mason still can't understand why his call for aid to HQ has landed him a reporter. Especially one with such flighty tendencies as Emma. God knows he lusted after her but he wasn't willing to be another flavour of the week in the buffet!

As the storm intensifies Mason, Emma and the other inhabitants of the lab and Airport are going to face a major challenge when someone goes after the viruses in the lab.

Oh wow. What a great read. I loved little Jacob and Olivia. Olivia is going to be handful when she gets older! I was a bit overawed by the lab under the airport. How on earth did that get past the planners???? I could have slapped Emma and Mason occasionally for being pig-headed and cowardly when they should have taken a big dose of courage and went for what they wanted!
Profile Image for Joan.
4,346 reviews122 followers
January 5, 2020
The book is the second in a series of six stand alone novels in the STORMWATCH series. Each is written by a different author and this is the only one of the series I have read.

I found the plot to be a little unrealistic. That thousands of people would be stranded in an airport during an intense winter storm is reasonable. That there would be a secret High Containment lab containing deadly pathogens under the airport is the unrealistic part. Hinze spends some time trying to convince us why it is there but I just cannot see it.

The action and suspense is minimal. Terrorist do attack but the suspense is rather lack luster. The only suspense in the plot was really whether two people who knew each other in their teen years will rekindle the flame. I found it odd and disconcerting that Mason (bio-containment specialist) and Emma (security consultant) would be pleasantly chatting away when there is supposed to be a real concern over more terrorists invading the dangerous lab.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book through NetGalley. My comments are an independent and honest review.
Profile Image for Maureen ~Bitch Can Write A Book.
1,491 reviews36 followers
December 19, 2019
I received an ARC from Debra Webb for honest review...

Winter storm Holly is barreling towards a top secret high containment lab, hidden at Portal International Airport. Emma Miller is a security specialist on probation...posing as a reporter she must assess the situation and keep the chatter about an upcoming breach from becoming a reality.

Dr. Gregory Mason Martin is in charge of this facility, expecting a security specialist is not to happy to see Emma Miller...one, how is a reporter going to keep them safe and two, the past is deeply clouding his judgement. Because he thinks he knows Emma...but does he really?

In a race against time as a colleague of the Drs child becomes ill during an attack. Both Emma and Gregory must put away the past and fight to save them all. Before a deadly pathogen can wipe them all out.

Fast paced and action packed.
824 reviews12 followers
November 17, 2019
Emma Miller is an undercover agent for a covert govt. agency. She is stranded in the airport by Holly, the storm of the century, when she is notified that she now has to protect a bio-lab, under the airport, from a bio-terrorist group. When she is sent to the director of this lab, she runs into Dr. Mason Martin, a man from her past that she has never forgotten.
Neither trusts the other because, Emma has always felt that Mason never liked her and, Mason has always believed that Emma went through men like 'a buffet.'
This is a fascinating, nail-biting, roller coaster ride of a story that you will LOVE. It will also scare you to your soul!
If I could give it a 10 star, I would!!!
Profile Image for Mojca.
2,132 reviews168 followers
August 13, 2021
Stuck at an airport on her way to an assignment, security specialist Emma Miller is reassigned to protection detail of a HC lab underneath the very airport she's stuck in. She's a one-woman team dealing with a possible terrorist threat trying to steal a weaponized strain of Black Plague, a brutal winter storm...And sharing close quarters with the man that cannot stand her, the very man she's loved since childhood.


An intriguing plot, seemingly taken straight out of a B movie (or maybe made for a B movie) with an underground high containment lab storing all kinds of deadly viruses (some even weaponized), a brutal winter storm, a team of international terrorists, and high tension between hero and heroine who've known each other since childhood.

Still, the story lacked any feel of peril, the tension of now knowing what's behind the corner, and the author definitely dropped the ball on a possible final twist in which one of the main players turned out to be the bad guy. In the end, the international terrorists were dealt with pretty quickly, there was no final twist serving as a final kick into the gut, the good doctor (who, by the way, came in from the left field) turned out to be just the good doctor (albeit coming in from the left field) and the tension between h/H dragged on too long, when a simple convo would've sufficed, while they also lacked serious chemistry.

Decent suspense though.
Profile Image for Lyndi (mibookobsession).
1,563 reviews50 followers
January 9, 2020
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
When a winter storm shuts down a busy airport and strands 5,000 travelers, it becomes a nightmare on its own, but add a secret lab four floors below full of dangerous pathogens, power outages, and thieves breaking in to sell pathogens to the highest bidder, and it becomes a threat to the entire country. Emma, a security consultant for Silencers, Inc, just happens to be one of the stranded passengers. Posing as a reporter, she gets clearance to investigate the lab, discovering an old crush is the head scientist, just in time for the electricity to go out and the thieves to start attacking.
Honestly, the many coincidences in this book are just too wild and far-fetched to believe. The story is full of action and a little romance, but I had a hard time getting past the dangerous pathogen lab in an airport.
Profile Image for Jodi Pomerleau.
627 reviews8 followers
May 8, 2021
This was just plain awful with a great premise. Five thousand passengers stranded by an epic snowstorm in an airport, terrorists, a pathogen containment lab, and it is the recipe for a thrilling ride....except this just fizzled. Emma is able to dispatch with all but one terrorist in a few pages, with little excitement or action. The lone remaining one is also dispatched by John Taylor much later...but in the meantime there is no tension, no scary thoughts of that terrorist getting into the lab. This was more of a romance story as Emma examines her past relationships as she pines for the man she has loved for years who has rejected her. Ugh...even that part was boring and I couldn't wait for the story to finish. There was a lot of checking the tunnels, eating, sitting in the lab, talking to John Taylor but very little action. Thankfully these stories are all written by different authors, so I will give the next one a shot.
Profile Image for Linda George.
680 reviews3 followers
June 4, 2020
Another exciting read in the Stormwatch series. Emma Miller is a probationary security specialist who poses as a reporter. She is stranded at the Portal International Airport in Colorado during winter storm Holly and is contacted to secure and protect a hidden biological storage facility below the airport because a terrorist attack is imminent. The manager of the bio-containment lab is Dr. Gregory Mason Martin, Emma's crush from years ago. The harrowing events of the attack on the lab and the infection of a child onsite have them working together and discovering some truths about each other. This is a page turner through most of the story, but lags just a bit at the end. As a reader I was happy to see Emma and Mason get their happily ever after.
Profile Image for Stacy .
335 reviews2 followers
October 21, 2020
This is book 2 in the thrilling Stormwatch series and I loved it! All the books in the series seem to be based around winter storm, Holly. The first things that caught my eye were the words winter storm and deadly pathogens both of these are key words that for some reason make me immediately want to read the book. What can I say? I'm a weirdo. You have a deadly storm, you have deadly pathogens and you have terrorists so you just know it is going to be a non-st0p thrill ride, Add to that the two main characters that have to work together to save the world while coming to grips with their feelings for each other. You might have suspend belief while reading this book but you will be highly entertained. I really enjoyed this race against time romance!
172 reviews
December 21, 2019
You win some and you lose some. This one I lost. Winter storm closes an airport under which lies a super secret high containment laboratory. The lab is under attack by thieves who want the pathogens (of the nasty anthrax, Ebola, Black Death sort) to sell to the highest bidder. A rookie security officer happens to be stranded in the airport and is drafted to help with the problem only to find that the scientist running the lab is an old boy friend or something. The story then really splits in two - is is a romance or is it a thriller? Falls short on both as far as I'm concerned. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Filippa.
6 reviews
October 13, 2020
First and foremost, please tell me John Taylor appears in another one of your novels (without spoiling too much)?!

I am so intrigued and this is my favorite story so far in this series! The attention to detail is thrilling and it feels like I’m right there with them bracing for the storm. It was a very pleasant read and without having too many presumptions made about it beforehand, I was still continuously impressed with the writing, plotting, and intelligence to make all of this up!


So happy to have found this book, please comment or reply if there is a book about John Taylor or his family’s story I have not come across it yet. Thank you for the read, really appreciate it!





Profile Image for Regina Kiddy.
296 reviews1 follower
March 11, 2020
Emma is a security specialist, but her friends know her as a reporter! When a blizzard grounds her plane in Portal she is reassigned to protect a possible threat to a lab there. The doctor over the lab turns out to be her childhood crush Mason! Can Emma and Mason make new memories while fighting bad guys and something much more deadly then a bad guy? Great read!

I read and reviewed this advanced complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley
Profile Image for Liz Sergent.
1,350 reviews1 follower
May 11, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Emma posing as a reporter gets stranded in a Colorado airport....while there, she gets a call that she needs to protect the bio-lab which is located under the airport from terrorists! Mason, the guy from her past that she always has had a crush on runs the lab.....

This book is intense romantic suspense, a little far fetched but overall it was good.
Profile Image for Barb Hegreberg.
878 reviews14 followers
February 6, 2024
So much fun

What do you get when you combine a crisis that could kill millions of people with a life long friendship that has cooled of?  A Deep Freeze, course.

The fun thing about this series is that each of the six books is written by a different author and were released on six consecutive Thursdays. To make things even more interesting, each book is centered around Winter Storm Holly.

Profile Image for Stephanie.
223 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2024
Holly, a monster of a winter storm, has moved from Montana into Colorado causing planes to stop flying and closing down the Portal International Airport. Emma Miller, a probationary security consultant, enters the airport under the guise of a reporter. Three to four levels below the airport is a government lab with deadly pathogens. Her job is to secure the sight and protect the unaware passengers above her.
A riveting beginning with a too-rapid ending. Too much to pack in this novella.
456 reviews4 followers
December 16, 2019
If you like lots of action, this book definitely delivers! Solid plot line and I literally read late into the night, couldn't put it down. I have read some books by this author years ago and her writing, I think, is even better than I remember. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
1,449 reviews13 followers
March 7, 2020
Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

I became a fan of Hinze with the Seascape Trilogy (OH HOW I LOVE THAT SERIES!!!) but this is far from that series.

In this story there is a secret lab under an airport which is bogged in by a snowstorm. Having thousands of people stranded is bad enough but let's add terrorists and a lab filled with bio-chemicals putting them all in danger.

The writing is great which is not unexpected with Vicki Hinze but, of course, the storyline is completely unrealistic. I mean a major lab under a major airport??? Nope! But then we don’t always read a book for reality do we?

If you are looking for a take you out of your own head suspense this is the one for you.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Ski Croghan.
609 reviews5 followers
May 21, 2022
Wow!! Just Wow!!!

A real thriller! A little romance, a lot a suspense, lots of twists and turns that you won't see coming and tons of action. They have known each other for all their lives but she never realized he's the reason none of her relationships worked. Now they are in deadly peril and so is the world. Can they work together? Who knows! Highly recommended.
17 reviews
August 16, 2022
Deep Freeze by Vicki Hinze was an enjoyable, suspense filled read.

Vicki Hinze weaves an action packed and suspense filled story that keeps the pages turning. Anyone who enjoys action packed novels with characters that are endearing will enjoy the reading of this novel. I rated it 5 out of five because it delivered on all counts.
9 reviews
July 13, 2021
Just ok

The was a slow read. Had some interesting new info but otherwise pretty dull. The main character was likeable but the other characters were a little stiff. Won't read the series .
29 reviews
July 8, 2025
It was slow going in the beginning, wasn't holding my interest till 1/3 of the way through. Some of these women characters are like superwoman, can do and handle everything that happens. Not a fan of those types.
Profile Image for Sue.
1,214 reviews
December 15, 2019
This was my first book by Vicki Hinze and I really enjoyed it. Deep a freeze kept me engaged from the start. I look forward to reading the other books in the Storm series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.