14 Degrees Below Zero: A Novel of Psychological Suspense

by Quinton Skinner

Fourteen degrees below zero--cold enough to freeze the soul

Lewis Ingraham is cold. He's lost his wife to cancer, his executive career, his once sure grip on the world around him. All that he can hold on to is his beautiful daughter Jay, a brilliant student who has become a struggling single mother. But he sees that even Jay is starting to slip away from him, in favor of Stephen, her self-important boyfriend. This time Lewis is going to fight back.

But when Lewis takes out his fury on Stephen, he ignites a chain reaction of violence. Now winter is bearing down on Minnesota. Desire, guilt, and rage are swirling in the snow. And a heinous crime is about to lead three people down a steep and unforgiving slope--into a realm of cold, hard truth.

Set in a chillingly barren milieu and invoking comparisons to Donald Westlake's bestselling classic The Ax, 14 Degrees Below Zero is a stunning, provocative, and utterly unforgettable experience in psychological suspense and American noir--fashioned from the heat of ordinary lives.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author was new to me and I would like to read more of his work. His use of description and the way in which he brings the reader into the mind of the characters works well for me. However, I found his dipping into the dream world a bit too much in the realm of fantasy and he lost me. Perhaps another of his works will be better suited to my taste.

[Jfrank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring. Couldn’t finish it.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

14 Degrees Below Zero isn’t so much about solving how a crime was committed, but so much as why it was committed. The novel opens with the crime in progress, then retreats several days to follow the events that led up to it.

The story is one of a triangle between Jay, her father, Lewis and her boyfriend, Stephen. Jay struggles as a young single mother, forced to give up on college when she got pregnant and trying to find her place in the world. Her struggle is paralleled by Lewis, her father, going through a mid-life crisis after having lost his wife earlier that year to cancer. Stephen is the college-professor boyfriends who loves Jay and yearns to give her a better life for herself and her daughter. Part of that is breaking free of the manipulative grip of Lewis.

The story is a fascinating character study of each of the players in this drama. Each of them is motivated out of a love that may or may not blind them to the realities of the situation. Lewis doesn’t see his constant involvement in and belittling of Jay’s life and choices as bad. He is motivated out of wanting her to have a better life.

A series of events and confrontations leads to a violent act, an attempted murder and events spiralling out of control. Skinner teases us with the violent act early and then spends three quarters of the novel setting it up and the last quarter watching the fall-out. It’s a fascinating, complex and character driven novel that will keep the pages turning and linger with you long after the final page is turned.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is a good psychological thriller that doesn't overdo it with the details - a really rare find. It is about Jay, a single mother, who has lived with an extremely overprotective father her whole life. As the story unfolds between the four narrators, the father becomes crazier and crazier. I also loved how the story wound in the cold weather as being such a big part of these characters lives. Living in a cold climate, it's totally relatable.

[Wendy VanHeel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this yesterday while taking 2 flights out to Seattle. The Minneapolis references
were fun, especially from Uptown and the Lakes, where my first apartment was.
It was a quick easy read. The character development was good. I love the way he describes the painfully cold winters that Minnesota natives never seem to adjust to. I will read more of this author.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great local mystery but with a deeper,more relateable plot than most mysteries. I enjoyed Skinners sense of reality in the benign characters minds as well as the madman's. He has a real grip on how age,time and environmental circumstances can take shape and move the plot forward. I highly recommend this book.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jay had lost her mother a few months before. Now her father was being overprotective because as a single mother he thought she shouldn't have her lover spending the night with her little girl there.

[Lauri · Rating 1 out of 5]

my amazon review.

The book was confusing and dreadful. The only thing I can say good about it is that it mentioned places in Minnesota I am familiar with.

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to give up on this book. I really didn't like anyone in it, not even the kid, and I had no desire to spend any further time in their heads.