Trial by Ice and Fire FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
Adventure writer Clinton McKinzie returns to the fore with his third novel featuring cop and extreme mountain climber Antonio Burns, whose latest action-packed thriller takes readers to the dangerous peaks of Jackson, Wyoming. The author delivers a remarkably forward-moving plotline that never backtracks or slows its breakneck pace.
This time out, Burns must protect prosecutor Cali Morrow from a stalker who may be a dirty cop. As he's drawn into Cali's world of celebrities and movie stars, Burns learns that his own beloved fugitive brother may soon be arrested. Before long Burns is up in the mountains again, climbing his way to some fleeting sense of freedom even while a psychotic moves in for the attack.
McKinzie (The Edge of Justice, Point of Law) has discovered his own niche in the suspense genre with a style that is a perfect balance of mystery, police procedural, and high-altitude tension. The characters in Trial by Ice and Fire are either compromised by enormous sums of cash or are willing to throw themselves into a deadly fray for loyalty's sake. Despite the story's overt violence and occasional brutality, at its heart lies the rugged bond between brothers. McKinzie's writing style is vivid, energetic, and thoughtful enough to be wholly engaging on several levels. This winning, all-out thriller shows the Young Turk's golden touch in the arena of suspense fiction.
Tom Piccirilli
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Haunted by a reputation he earned by killing three men under questionable circumstances, Antonio Burns finds himself scorned by good cops and admired by bad ones. Unable to shake the tag of "Quickdraw," Burns has stepped closer to the edge of society while still doing the job he's paid to do and loving a woman who doesn't understand him - and may not want him anymore. And with his charismatic but dangerously antisocial brother, Roberto, in trouble with the law, Burns has to manage his loyalties carefully: He is a cop. 'Berto is a fugitive. And they'd die for one another." When Burns is sent to protect Wyoming prosecutor Cali Morrow, a former ski racer being threathened by a stalker, it seems like an easy job. But Cali is the beautiful daughter of one of America's hottest movie stars, and the stalker may well be a man working on Burns's side of the law. Antonio has a hard time resisting the woman he's supposed to be protecting - and stomaching the social swirl of those who make Jackson Hole their playground. With the feds closing in on his brother, Burns can feel his own personal lifeline slipping out of his grasp - until he himself becomes the target of a madman.
SYNOPSIS
Clinton McKinzie has carved out his own unique territory with suspense novels that blend the heart-pounding thrills of extreme mountain climbing with gripping legal intrigue.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Special Agent Antonio "Anton" Burns (The Edge of Justice) returns in another offbeat combo of mountain-climbing adventure and police thriller. Going through a rough patch with longtime lady love Rebecca, Anton is assigned the job of protecting a beautiful Wyoming prosecutor (and daughter of a Hollywood star), Cali Morrow, who is being menaced by an unknown stalker. Both Cali and Anton are recreational climbers, and on an afternoon climbing and skiing in the Rockies, Cali makes no secret of her attraction to Anton. He is tempted, but other matters preoccupy him. His fugitive brother, Roberto, overdue to turn himself in to the authorities, is hiding out in the woods behind Anton's remote cabin. And because of a recent high-profile incident in which Anton rashly shot at an assailant, he is disliked by much of the local citizenry and saddled with the nickname QuickDraw. The stalker suspects are Cali's ex-boyfriend (gruff cop Wokowski) and a nervous nerd named Myron Armalli, who may be only an obsessed fan. McKinzie shuffles these characters and puts Cali in jeopardy more than once (there's a harrowingly believable description of a mini-avalanche and its aftermath), leading Anton to much self-flagellation and soul-searching. Midway through, the stalker makes his move and the novel switches to McKinzie's forte: action, adventure and a multilayered chase and rescue. Like its hero, the book is erratic, but fires on all cylinders when it's at its best. (July 8) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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