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High Mountain Terror
Surviving an avalanche
Has them in a terrorist’s crosshairs…
Deep in the rugged Washington mountains, nature photographer Ava Brevick inadvertently takes a picture of a wanted terrorist. His men start an avalanche to kill her, but she escapes—and saves investigating detective Zach Reeves from icy death. As a snowstorm cuts them off, she and Zach challenge merciless terrain to warn authorities. But will trusting each other prove an even deadlier trap?
Has them in a terrorist’s crosshairs…
Deep in the rugged Washington mountains, nature photographer Ava Brevick inadvertently takes a picture of a wanted terrorist. His men start an avalanche to kill her, but she escapes—and saves investigating detective Zach Reeves from icy death. As a snowstorm cuts them off, she and Zach challenge merciless terrain to warn authorities. But will trusting each other prove an even deadlier trap?
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 3, 2023
13 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Janice Kay Johnson
294 books193 followersJanice Kay Johnson is the author of over a hundred books for children and adults. Her first four published romance novels were coauthored with her mother, also a writer who has since published mysteries and children's books on her own. These were "sweet" romance novels, the author hastens to add; she isn't sure they'd have felt comfortable coauthoring passionate love scenes!
Janice graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in history and then received a master's degree in library science from the University of Washington. She was a branch librarian for a public library system until she began selling her own writing.
She has written six novels for young adults and one picture book for the read-aloud crowd. Rosamund was the outgrowth of all those hours spent reading to her own daughters, and of her passion for growing old roses. Two more of her favorite books were historical novels she wrote for Tor/Forge. The research was pure indulgence for someone who set out intending to be a historian!
Janice is divorced and has raised her two daughters in a small, rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She's an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter, and foster kittens often enliven a household that already includes a few more cats than she wants to admit to!
Janice loves writing books about both love and family — about the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her Superromance novels are frequent finalists for Romance Writers of America RITA® awards. Along with her books for Harlequin, Janice has written the Cape Trouble series of romantic suspense novels, and is about to launch a new series, Desperation Creek, set in rural eastern Oregon.
Janice graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in history and then received a master's degree in library science from the University of Washington. She was a branch librarian for a public library system until she began selling her own writing.
She has written six novels for young adults and one picture book for the read-aloud crowd. Rosamund was the outgrowth of all those hours spent reading to her own daughters, and of her passion for growing old roses. Two more of her favorite books were historical novels she wrote for Tor/Forge. The research was pure indulgence for someone who set out intending to be a historian!
Janice is divorced and has raised her two daughters in a small, rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She's an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter, and foster kittens often enliven a household that already includes a few more cats than she wants to admit to!
Janice loves writing books about both love and family — about the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her Superromance novels are frequent finalists for Romance Writers of America RITA® awards. Along with her books for Harlequin, Janice has written the Cape Trouble series of romantic suspense novels, and is about to launch a new series, Desperation Creek, set in rural eastern Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 5, 2023
I love stories where people are stranded in the wilderness - extra points if there are mountains and snow, so this was right up my alley. It's a non-stop suspense story that I had a great time reading. Unfortunately surviving here means fending off a group of terrorists and not using your skills to keep warm or find food, which is what I love the most. Still, it was a fast-paced, fun book, just right for reading with some hot tea and a warm cat on my lap.
August 30, 2023
High Mountain Terror is the newest stand-alone adventure/romantic suspense novel by Janice Kay Johnson.
Nature photographer Ava Brevick is on assignment in the Cascade Mountains in northern Washington, alone because it’s the off-season and the park is closed to visitors. She’s afraid when she realizes that a man is behind her on a trail and getting closer. When she spots a group of men overhead on a ridge, she takes their pictures, not realizing that they are a terrorist group who snuck over the Canadian border.
Zach Reeves is a Whatcom County, Washington Sheriff’s Department detective, taking an off-season vacation as he adjusts to civilian life after serving 10 years in the military. His best friend, Reid, is a Border Patrol Agent and dropped him into the Cascade Mountains via helicopter on the condition that Zach be on the lookout for a group of Russian terrorists who were trying to enter the United States. Zach sees when the group of men on the ridge notice him and the lone woman hiker and then launch a grenade, starting an avalanche.
Ava is able to reach safety away from the avalanche flow, but she goes back and rescues Zach, who is trapped under the snow. They begin a friendship as they work together to avoid the terrorists and reach a spot where they can get a cellphone signal to alert authorities. Both Ava and Zach are injured and have limited supplies since Zach’s backpack was lost in the avalanche.
High Mountain Terror is another outdoor adventure/survival story similar to others that Janice Kay Johnson has written in the recent past for the Harlequin Intrigue line. Johnson consistently writes stories with strong male and female characters with the most authentic dialogue, but this story excels with the fast-paced plot and the female character’s ability to adapt and face challenges. In the author’s earliest books for the Harlequin Intrigue line, I criticized that the endings seemed rushed. High Mountain Terror has a nice denouement from the climactic scene and a very well-written longer conclusion.
I purchased this book from Amazon, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Nature photographer Ava Brevick is on assignment in the Cascade Mountains in northern Washington, alone because it’s the off-season and the park is closed to visitors. She’s afraid when she realizes that a man is behind her on a trail and getting closer. When she spots a group of men overhead on a ridge, she takes their pictures, not realizing that they are a terrorist group who snuck over the Canadian border.
Zach Reeves is a Whatcom County, Washington Sheriff’s Department detective, taking an off-season vacation as he adjusts to civilian life after serving 10 years in the military. His best friend, Reid, is a Border Patrol Agent and dropped him into the Cascade Mountains via helicopter on the condition that Zach be on the lookout for a group of Russian terrorists who were trying to enter the United States. Zach sees when the group of men on the ridge notice him and the lone woman hiker and then launch a grenade, starting an avalanche.
Ava is able to reach safety away from the avalanche flow, but she goes back and rescues Zach, who is trapped under the snow. They begin a friendship as they work together to avoid the terrorists and reach a spot where they can get a cellphone signal to alert authorities. Both Ava and Zach are injured and have limited supplies since Zach’s backpack was lost in the avalanche.
High Mountain Terror is another outdoor adventure/survival story similar to others that Janice Kay Johnson has written in the recent past for the Harlequin Intrigue line. Johnson consistently writes stories with strong male and female characters with the most authentic dialogue, but this story excels with the fast-paced plot and the female character’s ability to adapt and face challenges. In the author’s earliest books for the Harlequin Intrigue line, I criticized that the endings seemed rushed. High Mountain Terror has a nice denouement from the climactic scene and a very well-written longer conclusion.
I purchased this book from Amazon, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
December 20, 2023
Wildlife photographer Ava Brevick is certain someone is following her during her trek in the North Cascades seeking animals in the snow. Who is it? Why? But when she starts to race away from him, he gets caught in an avalanche triggered by the boom of two RPGs from a cluster of white-clad strangers high on a ridge above her.
She escapes the avalanche, but the man behind her doesn't and she can't let him die. When she digs him out, she discovers that Zach Reeves is a local cop on vacation who just happened upon her. But that doesn't stop the strangers on the ridge from chasing after them, intent on stopping them when the avalanche doesn't succeed in burying them. Those photos she took are of Russian mercenaries Zach is certain have come over the unguarded Canadian border.
Can she and Zach escape to turn over the photos to border patrol agents eager to capture that particular Russian terrorist or will they lose a chance of getting back to civilization with the photos she never expected to endanger their lives?
A suspense that kept me up half the night.
She escapes the avalanche, but the man behind her doesn't and she can't let him die. When she digs him out, she discovers that Zach Reeves is a local cop on vacation who just happened upon her. But that doesn't stop the strangers on the ridge from chasing after them, intent on stopping them when the avalanche doesn't succeed in burying them. Those photos she took are of Russian mercenaries Zach is certain have come over the unguarded Canadian border.
Can she and Zach escape to turn over the photos to border patrol agents eager to capture that particular Russian terrorist or will they lose a chance of getting back to civilization with the photos she never expected to endanger their lives?
A suspense that kept me up half the night.
April 15, 2024
3.5 stars
Not bad, heavy on that action/adventure, light on the romance. Stories like this always remind me of the end of the movie Speed where Sandra Bullock’s character is hooking up with Keanu Reeve’s and one says relationships based on intense situations never work out and they agree to base theirs on sex. The movie has a HFN and that’s how I feel about this book.
Do they actually have anything in common? Where do they stand on other things that make a relationship? We just don’t get to see any of that to truly know and feel that deep love between them. Instead we get forced proximity lust. Which is fine, but not really romance.
The heroine is pretty bad ass but the hero has some unchecked misogyny.
I don’t know full how police ranking and what not work, but is it possibly/plausible for someone who’s been a cop for only 1 year to be a detective already?
This book really needed a map at the front of it, there was so much descriptions of trails and ridges and valleys and rivers, I could never really picture how/where they were traveling in relation to everyone else.
Not bad, heavy on that action/adventure, light on the romance. Stories like this always remind me of the end of the movie Speed where Sandra Bullock’s character is hooking up with Keanu Reeve’s and one says relationships based on intense situations never work out and they agree to base theirs on sex. The movie has a HFN and that’s how I feel about this book.
Do they actually have anything in common? Where do they stand on other things that make a relationship? We just don’t get to see any of that to truly know and feel that deep love between them. Instead we get forced proximity lust. Which is fine, but not really romance.
The heroine is pretty bad ass but the hero has some unchecked misogyny.
I don’t know full how police ranking and what not work, but is it possibly/plausible for someone who’s been a cop for only 1 year to be a detective already?
This book really needed a map at the front of it, there was so much descriptions of trails and ridges and valleys and rivers, I could never really picture how/where they were traveling in relation to everyone else.
August 11, 2023
This was quite an adventure. Shooting, will they make it. 2 complete strangers. This has the making of a big screen hit! It’s intense, trusting, it’s recovering and surviving in tough conditions. Great story!
August 28, 2023
Excellent read! This is a fast paced book with great characters and plenty of action. I thought it ended too abruptly though and would have liked a little more of the story.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews