(2010) This one was one of the better ones as almost the entire book centers on Maura Isles as she becomes stranded in the mountains near Jackson Hole WY. She escapes only thru the efforts of a young man who is hiding from the cult that owns a site where Maura had wound up. Mysterious deaths push the story to its conclusion. (Booklist) Boston medical examiner Maura Isles is in Wyoming for a conference. Impulsively, she joins an old friend and his daughter on a ski trip. When their vehicle breaks down, they're stranded in the eerily named Kingdom Come, a small community whose residents appear to have vanished. Then Maura vanishes. The announcement of her death shocks homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, Maura's close friend. Investigating Kingdom Come, Rizzoli uncovers dark secrets that may explain Maura's disappearance. Gerritsen wouldn't be the first writer to kill off a popular series character, but is that what she's doing here? Fans of the novels will no doubt suspect Gerritsen has a few tricks up her sleeve, and surely the upcoming television series based on the Isles-Rizzoli mysteries would seem to suggest that this is a very bad time to kill off Maura. Leaving aside this rather unnecessary subterfuge, the novel is a solid entry in the series, with a compelling mystery and some good, old-fashioned shockers. A solid choice for Gerritsen fans, but probably not the best starting point for those new to the series. --David Pitt

I absolutely loved this book and I mean LOVED!!! It had all new elements and sides of Maura and Jane that we haven't gotten to see yet, I've only been able to read one or two chapters a night because of work yet it's so good I read half of it today on my day off. Tess Gerritsen has definitely out done herself on this one! Must buy!!! ( )

This was the first Rizzoli and Isles book that I've ever read so it was interesting to see that the characters' personalities were much like the TV show, but their circumstances weren't. The story really hooked me and I found it hard to put down. It was well-paced, not at all predictable and very visual for me. I could see everything in my mind's eye. I will definitely go back and read some of the earlier books now. ( )

By the time I finished reading The Keepsake, I wasn't looking forward to reading Ice Cold. I was even considering to put it off for another week, read another author for a change. Maybe it would freshen my outlook on the Rizzoli & Isles series - giving myself some time to forgive Tess Gerritsen for the seventh novel. But I couldn't resist. I cracked the novel and dove in. And while at the beginning of the novel, I felt like Gerritsen was working on some deadline to release a novel during the time the series was going to be released, the journey it took me on caught me off guard. Has it renewed my faith in Gerritsen's prose? Perhaps. Has it left me pining away until she releases a ninth novel? You bet your sweet ass it has.

Unlike the predecessors, Ice Cold seems to focus mostly on Dr. Maura Isles. Jane Rizzoli still remains the series's central character, however. Starting up on the winter after the events in The Keepsake, we open up with the beginning of the end of Maura and Father Daniel Brophy's affair. Leaving for Wyoming, Maura doesn't want to face the facts that have been so painfully obvious for months now. Still, rather than ending it there at the airport, she boards the plane knowing that the one person who has made her the happiest has also left miserable. At the conference in Wyoming, she meets up with an old college alumnus, Douglas Comley - a character who is Maura's opposite. Seduced into living a little wild, Maura agrees to join him, his daughter and two friends on a road trip to sight see after the conference commences. However, a wrong turn takes them on a deadly path that neither foresaw.

Taking shelter in an abandon compound called Kingdom Come, the quartet begin to uncover a mystery. Meals have been abandoned; pets are found dead. Something strange has happened in Kingdom Come, and someone is watching them intently.

When Jane Rizzoli learns of Maura's failure to board the flight back to Boston, she sets off for Wyoming - husband Gabriel Dean and Father Daniel Brophy in tow. The trio learn of Maura's death, leaving a greater mystery to uncover.

I don't want to give too much away, because I liked being on the edge of my seat. However, if you remember correctly, Maura Isles has died before in Body Double. I was confused about the novel when I first started reading it. Several times I found myself wondering if any of the actions were really those of the characters. It felt like Gerritsen was meeting some deadline - a way to promote the TNT series by labeling the novel "A Rizzoli & Isles Novel" rather than the usual "Jane Rizzoli Book #". Some of Maura's actions were questionable, but I learned to accept them. However, the ending was a little flat. Not to mention the mystery's ending was a little too familiar, as well (ahem, can anyone remember The Sinner?).

Old friends are brought back - Anthony Sansone returns, as well, with a cameo appearance from The Mephisto Club victim, Lily Saul - and new ones are made - possibly the most memorable, Julian "Rat" Perkins, who serves as the sort of anti-hero. ( )

I have never been a huge crime/mystery/cop novel person but I have read all the Rizzoli and Isles books after getting hooked on the show and I love them. Granted, I like the tv portrayal of the characters and their friendship better, but Tess Gerritsen knows how to tell a good story.

This novel grabs your attention right away and holds it until you have read the last page. It starts with what seems like some sort of mormon like (or polygamy) cult and then moves on to Maura Isles' point of view. Maura is at a conference of some sort for doctors and she gets invited to tag along on a weekend ski trip by an old fellow classmate. She accepts and things start to go wrong. Their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the group (Maura, her old classmate, Doug, his 13 year old daughter, Grace, and his two friends Arlo and Eliaine) is forced to try and walk to the gas station they stopped at 30 miles earlier. Did I mention they are in Wyoming in the middle of winter?

So they come to this "village" that is completely void of human life, electricity, and the same man is in every family photo hanging in the individual houses. Food is left congealed on the tables, dead dogs and pet birds are found, and snow prints that aren't the groups keep popping up.

Of course there is no cell reception.


I don't think I should mention anything more for fear of giving too much away, but Jane does get involved later on as well.

This was perhaps one of the best and more interesting of this series. As I said before, it totally held my attention for a complete day I did nothing but read this book. I highly recommend it. ( )