Chill Factor

A Novel

By: Sandra Brown

Narrated by: Stephen Lang

Cleary, North Carolina, is a sleepy mountain town, the kind of place where criminal activity is usually limited to parking violations. Not so, lately. Four women have disappeared from Cleary over the past two years. And there's always a blue ribbon left near the spot where each of the women was last seen. There are no bodies, no other clues, and no suspicion as to who their abductor might be. And now, another woman has disappeared without a trace.

It is to this backdrop that Lilly Martin returns to close the sale of her mountain cabin, marking the end of her turbulent eight-year marriage to Dutch Burton, Cleary's chief of police. Dutch's reluctance to let her go isn't Lilly's only obstacle. As she's trying to outrun a snowstorm, her car skids on the icy road and strikes a man. She recognizes the injured man as Ben Tierney, whom she'd met the previous summer. They're forced to wait out the storm in the cabin, but as the hours of their confinement mount, Lilly begins to wonder if the greatest danger to her safety isn't the blizzard outside, but the mysterious man right beside her. Is Ben Tierney the feared abductor? Or is he who he claims to be...her rescuer from harm and from the tragedy that haunts her?

©2005 Sandra Brown (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Romance

"Lust, jealousy, and murder suffuse Brown's crisp thriller, set in the snowbound mountains of North Carolina....The snowy suspense will cool off Brown's fans during the dog days of summer." (Publishers Weekly)

Chill Factor

I love Sandra Brown but i had to listen to this book as fast as i could, she kept me guessing and I had pick the wrong killer. It was worth listening.

Chilled to the bone.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to dramatic elements - some narrators are effective, some should be fired. Stephen Lang is effective and did a great job. I could visualize the different characters and say "those are beliveable people." Unfortuneatly, the plot is predictable, the mechanics of the story are very well known and the book reads as a first foray into the genre for the author. By the end of chapter 2 you know the protagonist isn't Tierny - the only surprize is how clumsy Ms Brown set her stage with respect to snow and automobiles.

Not her best

This is the first book of Sandra Brown's that I really had trouble getting through. The story was good and the narrator (Audio book) was decent, but the book was way too long winded. Too much detail given to things that really didn't need that much detail. About half way through I got the abridged edition and finished it that way. I don't typically like abridged editions but in this case it was a good thing. The abridged edition made the story move in a timely manner. I think much of the issues with this book stems from trying to do too much with too many of the characters. Over all I do recommend this book if you don't mind a very long winded story or get the abridged edition and it's very enjoyable.

Totally Unpredictable

I thought I knew exactly who the Serial Killer was! Turns out I was wrong multiple times! Kudos to Sandra Brown!

Kept me thinking!

Another great book from Sandra Brown. Kept me on the edge until the very end! Mystery, intrigue, romance ... what more could you want?

The best Sandra Brown I've ever

Brown is best know for her romances with explicit sex and yes, there's some of that here, but there's also a really good story with good suspense and mystery.

Not for the boys, but if you like Brown -- you'll love this!

Should be in the Romance category

Well, I suffered through it all hoping that somewhere it would be worth it. Wrong. This was so sappy I couldn't help laughing out loud. The slooooow speech of the "hero" Tierney is so hysterical. I guess it's supposed to be his calm cool strong he-man demeaner. Puuuuleeeeze! And the rest of it all is so obvious. Unless you are expecting a sickly Southern Romance don't waste your time.