Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick is a young adult thriller about Britt Pfeiffer, an 18 year old, recent graduate of her high school. The story is told in both first person and through flashbacks. For summer break instead of going with her friends to Hawaii Britt decides to go backpacking on the Teton Range with her friend, Korbie, Korbie’s boyfriend, Bear, and Britt’s ex-boyfriend, Calvin. While they are on their way there their car breaks down and their stranded in the middle of nowhere. While they are looking for a place to stay they encounter a cabin with two older men using it for the week. But, the truth is that these two men are fugitives and just took them hostage as a last ditch effort to get off the mountain. As the ignorant Britt is exploring she finds evidence of murders and may also have become the killer’s next target. She makes a deal with them that if she can get them off the mountain she’ll get to live. Britt tries multiple times to lead the men in the wrong direction in order to buy herself more time so Calvin and Bear can find her. Now while Britt tries to lead these men down the man she has to sort out how she’s going to survive, her feelings for her kidnapper, Mason, and who she should really be trusting. The theme of this story is surviving both the harshest of physical conditions, and the most trying of mental and emotional struggles and that you never really know someone no matter how long you've been friends. One thing I didn't like about this story was the characters, the main character especially. In a lot of stories the characters go through some sort of change in the story, but in this story there is little to no change. Britt relies heavily on the support of her brothers and father in the beginning, and then all throughout the book she is constantly wanting support from another person. Korbie, the protagonist’s ‘best friend’, was manipulative and whiny in the beginning of the book, and then all throughout the rest of the book, she demonstrates how helpless she is. The best character in the book would have to be Calvin, Britt’s ex-boyfriend. Calvin is the only character to have an interesting story line and life, he was beaten by his father as a child and has to live with the constant pressure to be the best. This pressure and the beatings cause him to become the antagonist in this story instead of just another love interest for the main character. Mason was the first villain in the story, along with Shaun, and Britt’s love interest. Mason is introduced as being one of the fugitives hiding in the cabin that Britt and Korbie use to stay the night in after their car broke down. Mason is literally one of the people who could potentially kill or hurt Britt and what does she do, she falls in love with him. All throughout his book Mason’s personality and clear instability does nothing but draw Britt closer. Mason is with Shaun because he thought that Shaun killed his sister and now he wants revenge, so instead of going to the police like a normal person would have he takes matters into his own hands and goes after Shaun to gain his trust and eventually kill him. Shaun was never really an important character in the book, he kidnapped Britt and left Korbie to die, but he was killed more than halfway into the story. Shaun was actually the most normal character in the book, he just danced with girls and stalked them, and he was just a stalker and a thief. What I liked about this story was that there was a lot of twists and turns and the reader never really knows who the good guy and the bad guy is until the end of the story. But, the protagonist isn't likable at all, the romance doesn't make sense, and the characters are weak. The protagonist all throughout the story just makes excuses for what her “love interest” does. She said she wouldn't mind if one of the kidnappers hit her because she was rude. The romance is abusive, toxic, and just doesn't make sense. Britt makes excuses for his misdeeds. Also, Britt and Korbie have been constantly in a competition to see who could be better, in school, in love, in everything. They are constantly stabbing each other in the back in the story. I didn’t really learn anything from this story, and I didn't like it. The only redeeming quality this story had, was the plot twists and surprises this book had. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because the plot twists kept me extremely interested but the characters, especially the protagonist, were weak and the romance was abusive and didn't make much sense.
One thing I didn't like about this story was the characters, the main character especially. In a lot of stories the characters go through some sort of change in the story, but in this story there is little to no change. Britt relies heavily on the support of her brothers and father in the beginning, and then all throughout the book she is constantly wanting support from another person. Korbie, the protagonist’s ‘best friend’, was manipulative and whiny in the beginning of the book, and then all throughout the rest of the book, she demonstrates how helpless she is. The best character in the book would have to be Calvin, Britt’s ex-boyfriend. Calvin is the only character to have an interesting story line and life, he was beaten by his father as a child and has to live with the constant pressure to be the best. This pressure and the beatings cause him to become the antagonist in this story instead of just another love interest for the main character. Mason was the first villain in the story, along with Shaun, and Britt’s love interest. Mason is introduced as being one of the fugitives hiding in the cabin that Britt and Korbie use to stay the night in after their car broke down. Mason is literally one of the people who could potentially kill or hurt Britt and what does she do, she falls in love with him. All throughout his book Mason’s personality and clear instability does nothing but draw Britt closer. Mason is with Shaun because he thought that Shaun killed his sister and now he wants revenge, so instead of going to the police like a normal person would have he takes matters into his own hands and goes after Shaun to gain his trust and eventually kill him. Shaun was never really an important character in the book, he kidnapped Britt and left Korbie to die, but he was killed more than halfway into the story. Shaun was actually the most normal character in the book, he just danced with girls and stalked them, and he was just a stalker and a thief.
What I liked about this story was that there was a lot of twists and turns and the reader never really knows who the good guy and the bad guy is until the end of the story. But, the protagonist isn't likable at all, the romance doesn't make sense, and the characters are weak. The protagonist all throughout the story just makes excuses for what her “love interest” does. She said she wouldn't mind if one of the kidnappers hit her because she was rude. The romance is abusive, toxic, and just doesn't make sense. Britt makes excuses for his misdeeds. Also, Britt and Korbie have been constantly in a competition to see who could be better, in school, in love, in everything. They are constantly stabbing each other in the back in the story.
I didn’t really learn anything from this story, and I didn't like it. The only redeeming quality this story had, was the plot twists and surprises this book had. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because the plot twists kept me extremely interested but the characters, especially the protagonist, were weak and the romance was abusive and didn't make much sense.