Maureen Foley

Fans of the hit TV series Ghost Whisperer will love The Ice Cradle. Mary Ann Winkowski is a consultant for the show and also the co-author of this incredible story. Ice Cradle has it all and without doubt covers several genres including: historical, paranormal, romance, political, environmental and mystery. It is also a clean read that is suitable for a broad range of ages. This is more than a paranormal investigation story. Thematically, it appeals to a reader on several levels. The show more historical elements provide a background to the haunting, but also raise the debate about disrupting burial sites for the sake of progress – or in this case, developing wind energy. Should the past trump the future? How should the living honor the dead? Anza O’Malley’s gift reminds us that what is important varies person to person, and although we have good intentions, sometimes a compromise is the best we can hope to accomplish. There are no good and bad guys, but a string of events, interests and perceptions all interacting and colliding on many planes, at the same time. Ice Cradle is a complex story that reads easy and is entirely entertaining while at the same time being thought provoking. This is a difficult task to achieve, but Winkowski and Foley have done it! show less

The Ice Cradle is the second in the Ghost Files series by authors Mary Ann Winkowski and Maureen Foley; the first being The Book of Illumination. Anza O'Malley and her son Henry return in this novel, when Anza accepts a bookbinding commission on a small island community, Block Island.

One of the elements I really like about this series is the main character's occupation of bookbinder. Weaved throughout the story are references to bookbinding techniques and materials that are irresistible to show more book-lovers and bibliophiles.

Anza has been hired to preserve, bind and exhibit the letters, reports, photographs and artefacts surrounding the sinking in 1907 of the passenger steamship Larchmont just off the coast of Block Island. Of the 200 passengers, only 19 survived and those with an interest in preserving history will enjoy these elements of the story.

When Anza arrives, she walks into an island divided over wind turbines. She learns that half of the island's residents are in favour of the construction, the other half against, and an ghost informs her that they plan to build the turbines right where the wreckage of the Larchmont lies on the seabed!

All this is happening at the same time her young son sees his first ghost, and Anza is trying to find reasons local fisherman doesn't stack up to Henry's Dad.

This is a fabulous read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although you will need to be open to paranormal themes to enjoy this one. The Ice Cradle is terrific as a second installation in the series but also works as a stand alone novel. Light and easy, with a feel good ending, most readers will enjoy this one. I look forward to the next in the series! show less

I'm the type of person who really wishes he could believe in ghosts, but doesn't. I have loved a good ghost story, having heard my first half a century ago while sitting in my dad's lap. I am forever reading books or watching shows about haunting. Some are good. Others are .....well, not.

After the first couple chapters, I was inclined to think that The Ice Cradle would be one of the latter. Author Mary Ann Winkowski, a paranormal investigator and consultant on Ghost Whisperer, portrays show more ghosts as beings very similar to living humans, only not as dense. Someone with enough 'talent', such as protagonist Anza O'Malley, can see ghosts, chat with ghosts, take walks with ghosts, play with ghosts or even have tea with ghosts (okay, maybe not drink tea). While this may go well with the image of ghosts seen on Ghost Whisperer, it doesn't exactly fit my idea of what haunting are all about.

That said, it was a fairly short book so I plowed on to the finish and found that I did enjoy it. As it turns out, the ghosts, most of whom were victims of an actual maritime disaster that occurred in 1907 off Block Island, weren't key players the story. The main plot centers on an ongoing debate amongst islanders about whether or not to put up several wind turbines offshore and an apparent case of arson aimed at the measure's leading supporter.

It is definitely not the most challenging mystery I have read this year, nor is it a story that taxes the old gray cells. Thinkl of it as the literary equivalent of most network programming in TV these days. It is also not very scary so there is no reason that young readers can't enjoy it.

The bottom line is that if you are looking for mindless entertainment, you may well enjoy The Ice Cradle.

*Quotations and scene descriptions are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review copy of this book was obtained from the publisher via the Amazon Vine Program. show less

This book is written by Maureen Foley and Mary Ann Winkowski (the real life inspiration behind the tv show 'The Ghost Whisperer'). I loved Mary Ann Winkowski's first book 'When Ghosts Speak' which is an autobiographical account of her life as a medium. I was so excited to hear she had teamed up with another writer to publish a novel that I had to buy it right away. I savoured the sight of it on my bookshelf until I couldn't wait any longer and I dove right in.

The novel has so many cool show more elements: a character who can see and communicate with ghosts, two characters who are bookbinders by trade, ancient manuscripts, medieval monks, a rich family with a massive mansion and a butler, and a crime that needs solving.

I had such high expectations for the book that I couldn't help but be a little disappointed at the end result. I definitely believe too much time was spent on the main character's son and family arrangements (boring and not key to the plot) and I definitely wanted to read more about her ability to communicate with ghosts and how she decided to use this gift in her every day life.

In my opinion, the plot line was too complicated for these authors to successfully tackle in their first novel together, and the book would have worked better if they'd kept it simple instead of aiming so high.

Will I read any of their work in the future? Of course I will! Mary Ann Winkowski is the kind of author I will follow blindly, and I hope she hones her style and gains the confidence to write novels on her own. I'm confident she can do it and I'll support her work all the way. show less