When Hell Freezes Over: A Mystery.

Henry G. MacLeod teaches sociology at both Trent University and the
University of

Waterloo.

Readers unfamiliar with the mystery writings of Rick Blechta, like this reviewer, will not be disappointed if they pick up his latest suspense thriller, When Hell Freezes Over. The story is well written with non-stop action.

Michael Quinn is your classic protagonist who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shortly after leaving his mother’s home in Birmingham, England, in the early hours of the morning, he has almost stopped for a traffic light when a young woman opens the passenger door of his car and jumps in. The sight of two huge men and the woman’s urgings convinces him to run first and ask questions later. Eventually, he abandons her at a friend’s place in Scotland and returns to his home and business in Toronto. The friend is brutally murdered, the woman disappears, and the men come looking for him. He seeks out a private investigator, Shannon O’Brien, and the race is on. Can they determine what is happening before he, too, is murdered? While she follows the mystery woman’s trail, preparations for a memorial concert for his dead friend force him to confront his personal past.

Quinn has spent his life avoiding involvement. Twenty-four years earlier, for unstated reasons, the former rock star quit his band when it was on the verge of stardom. He now runs a successful backline instrument rental company. Blechta, who has been a musician all his life, uses his knowledge of the music world to add an appealing ingredient to his thriller.

Suspense is generated and sustained through several close calls and gradual revelations about the missing woman and the events in Quinn’s past. The weakness in most suspense novels is that the plot is often secondary to the action. A page-turning pace is set, but the final plot resolution about who the woman is and why she is in trouble is a little flat.