Without meaning to riff off the title, I went into this one completely blind. I'd never read anything by Michael McBride, nor was I overly familiar with his type of work. I seemed to recall some critics comparing him to Michael Crichton, and that was sufficient enough to steer me away. But when this novella came up as the monthly book read at Horror Aficionados, I opted to give it a shot. BILDERREISEN / **** “Psychologically well structurued, claustrophobic and exciting. A successful crime debut.” on SNOWBLIND We are on the threshold of human interchange here, speech, verbal commerce along the barren avenues of Quaalude City. Communication at this level, although sophisticated in its own way, can best be described as haphazard. It is a kind of space-age remodeling of traditional counterintelligence techniques - scrambled messages, predistorted transmissions, sympathetically programmed transceivers - a kind of mojo cryptography which contains no universal cipher and is efficient only when two people are doing the same kind of dope." If a Golden Age crime novel was to emerge from a literary deep freeze then you'd hope it would read like this." - Craig Robertson I was highly anticipating reading Snowblind this year. I've been a fan of Christopher Golden for a long time, and it has been a while since he's released a new horror book. When I heard Snowblind was going to be released, I immediately placed it on my must read list.

In Snowblind, four college friends have been going hunting every year together but this year instead of hunting, they are being hunted. Someone or something is stalking them through the woods & every time they think they have a planned worked out to thwart their stalkers, their stalkers are two steps ahead of them... A horror story (to appreciate the full effects!) is best enjoyed alone and possibly with the aid of an alcoholic beverage as the silence and tension can be unbearable. I sometimes read very early in the morning and approaching winter, here in the UK, the wind may be howling accompanied by a little rain....and then I read the following.... He lives in Reykjavik though he gives lectures in many crime fiction writing panels across the world, and publishes for renowned magazines such as “Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine”. Ragnar got interested in a literary career from a very young age when he translated fourteen of Agatha Christie’s novels into his native Icelandic by the time he was seventeen.This is almost a classic Scandinavian noir setup, but Ragnar Jónasson is full of surprises ... I loved it." Mystery Scene Magazine While he starts out very inexperienced, his capacity as a policeman develop over the course of the series as does his determination and will to stay the course. While he is very much the outsider that is affected by the dank and claustrophobic weather and treated with disdain, he gets on with his job.

It is surely only a matter of time before Snowblind and the rest of Ragnar’s Dark Iceland series go on to take the Nordic Noir genre by storm. The rest of the world has been patiently waiting for a new author to emerge from Iceland and join the ranks of Indriðason and Sigurðardóttir and it appears that he is now here’ Grant NicholAs you can guess from the title, a blizzard strikes. But this is no run of the mill blizzard. This blizzard brings with it “things” that destroy families for years to come.

In keeping with this year’s book fair guest country, Iceland, dozens of commisioners are identified from the volcanic island. The most likeable: Policeman Ari, who must solve a series of crimes in Ragnar Jonasson’s crime novel.” – GALA Magazine, Germany, October 2011 - on SNOWBLIND Yes, I read this during the heat of summer. If I’d read this during our horrendous and never-ending winter I most likely would’ve moved to one of those sunshiny states. This book gets points for its descriptions of an icy cold hell but, most to my dismay because I was truly looking forward to it, it never moved above a 3 star read for me. I’ll try to tell you why. ESCHBORNER STADTMAGAZIN / “A wonderful work to get to know the guest country of the bookfair, Iceland.” – Eschborner Stadtmagazin on SNOWBLIND Starred Review. Jónasson skillfully alternates points of view and shifts of time that set in relief Ari Thór's efforts to find a purpose to his lonely life. The action builds to a shattering climax." - Publishers Weekly SONNTAGSZEITUNG / “A solid thriller with all the Scandinavian ingredients – from human interaction to evil.“ – SonntagsZeitung on SNOWBLINDSnowblind was a fast and furious read. McBride's tale, of an annual elk hunting trip for four college buddies now pushing towards their forties, is full of atmosphere and paranoia. While hunting, one of the hunters breaks his leg just as a blizzard is dumping foot after foot of the white stuff on the mountain. Visibility is zero and they're lost. They eventually stumble onto a dilapidated cabin to get out of the miserable weather. Unfortunately for the hunters, they aren't alone. Just like Christie’s “River Nile” or her “Orient Express”, Siglufjörur the setting of the novels is a novel about setting and plotting. Having spent much of his time in the town, he found it easy to write about its weather, its people and their quirks in such a convincing and believable tone that made his novels shoot to the top of the charts. The characters are written in such a way that they are realistic and relate-able (even if you only get to know a few of them really well). You find yourself rooting for them, even while thinking they could very well be your neighbors. You worried with them, you cheered with them.. hell you even cried with them. This book had everything! You'd expect a book about cocaine to be, if nothing else, exciting, and Snowblind is, occasionally, very exciting, but it's also a bitch to read. This was first published in 1976 and has not dated particularly well. The main reason why, and the book's biggest flaw, in my opinion, is the author's unabashed enthusiasm for the story (not the drug or the business) though it has to be said, an enthusiasm that is considerably more restraint than Howard Mark's excruciating introduction. An important element I use to judge a good story is....Do I think about it the following day? Where is the author going? Are the characters real? Can I sympathize with them?....more importantly in a horror story....does it scare the hell out of me?? Let me tell you dear readers of my review that I cycle to and from work each day (ok you say what has that got to do with it....hold on I will tell you!) My 12 mile route home in the evenings is dark and lonely with only me my bike and my little light for company...the mind plays funny things and “Snowblind” became my mental companion this week as I struggled through the darkness....what was that I began to see to my left and right....????