Iced

by Jenny Siler

Book Overview

From the author of the "New York Times" Notable Book Easy Money, a riveting suspense novel about a headstrong repo woman in Montana. On Missoula's coldest day of the year, the police pull Clay Bennett's corpse from the weeds. For the cops, his death is an open-and-shut case, the result of a drunken brawl gone out of control. For repo woman Meg Gardner, who'd been looking to snag Bennett's Jeep, his death is an opportunity: without him around to make...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805064389
• ISBN13: 9780805064384
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

a great mystery

This is a great satirical mystery of the cynical hard-boiled chick-detective subgenre. The plot starts with a dead guy's briefcase in the back of a repoed Jeep Grand Cherokee and soon enough we find that the Belarussian branch of the Russian mafia, a corrupt Senate candidate and assorted other bad guys are interested in the contents of the briefcase. The hard-boiled action incongruously takes place in the rather peaceful college town of Missoula, Montana. Like all other towns, there is a lot of nasty business going on here, however, almost but not quite out of sight. As the heroine Meg Gardner says, "there's enough sleaze under Missoula's veneer to make the place tolerable." This is an even greater story of love and loss and forgiveness...

This Book Is ICE COLD

Iced is a murder mystery that I highly recommend. This story is a fairly easy read and it is not too complicated. Even though the plot is very simple it also has a very interesting story line. I liked this book because it had a very good mystery plot with a modern day spin. I do not really like old books because they do not have a good sense of humor. Meg Gardner was a girl with a life of crime. It probably all started out with the bad relationship she had with her parents. She was thrown into a New Mexico State penitentiary and had to stay there for 18 months. When she got out of jail she was offered a great job that was only offered to ex-cons. The job was to be a repo-woman. The job was to go out and to repossess cars from people that did not keep up with payments. Everything was going fine for her until she had to repossess Clay Bennett's Jeep Cherokee because the person who was paying for the car died. Inside of the vehicle was a locked briefcase. When she was about to take the suitcase out Ivan, a well known murderer but the police never had evidence to lock him up, and his thugs order that Meg has to give over the briefcase. So Meg ended up giving it up. A few minutes later a police chief came by and interrogated Meg. She found out that the payer of the Jeep died in a plain crash a few years back. After a few weeks passed, somebody threatened to kill Meg's boyfriend and also Clay Bennett's friend turned up dead. Meg figures if she wants to stay alive, then she will have to figure out what is going on. The author uses a lot of sensory details to explain what is going on and you can almost imagine you in Meg's position.BY MICHAEL M.

What is in the Briefcase?

Meg Gardner, the product of dysfunctional family, got her start in life on the wrong side of the law and she's just out of eighteen months in prison. Now she has her first real job, reposing cars in Missoula, Montana.When she tries to repossess Clay Bennett's Jeep, she finds the police at his house, pulling his body out of the ditch. Murder, it seems, and the suspect is Tina Red Deer and she remembers her father had once known someone in the Red Deer family who lived on the reservation.Meg takes the Jeep, finds a locked briefcase in the car and takes it. Someone bursts into her house and seizes it. A second villain comes for it, but he's too let. Meg recognizes the thieves as members of a gangster family from Ukraine and all of a sudden she's too deep into whatever-it-is, so she goes investigating.Jenny Siller writes great stories about women in trouble and how they get out of it and this five star novel is no exception. I couldn't put it down.Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Iced is a chilling Montana winter's tale!

When Clay Bennett's corpse is pulled from some frozen weeds the Missoula Cops think they have an open-and-shut case - a brawl gone awry. For repo woman Meg Gardner, intent on getting Bennett's Jeep back, it's the break she's been looking for. Trouble is someone else wants the auto too. In a bitter December night, Meg stumbles into a dangerous bunch of Russian thugs intent on messing with her mission.Meg Gardner is an unlikely heroine fraught with glorious & damaging childhood memories; a recent past that's far from squeaky clean; a lover who's too good for her & the chance for sublime domestic bliss. A chance two unusual & equally lethal opponents ruthlessly undermine.Bring out your sweater, put another log on the fire & settle in for a rip-snortin' whodunit in the dead of a Montana winter. Brrr - couldn't tell if I was shivering from the yarn or the cold! Do visit my site for my full review & eInterview with this lively author.

great drama

After spending eighteen months in a New Mexico State penitentiary, twenty-nine-year-old Meg Gardner returns to her home in Missoula, Montana. Meg hopes to forge a relationship with her estranged parents, but fails to achieve her goal. Instead, Meg rents a small home and works as a repo person, taking possession of cars from individuals who default on their payments.Her current job is to repossess Clay Bennett's Cherokee Jeep since the debtor is dead. Inside the vehicle, Meg notices a locked briefcase. Meg begins to open the briefcase, but has to stop when Ivan and his thugs demand she hand it over even to the point of using force. A woman comes by asking about the briefcase and Meg informs her that Ivan holds it. Next the police chief questions Meg. She learns that the deceased crashed a plane years ago and has been searching for it ever since. Soon someone threatens Meg's boyfriend and a buddy of Clay is dead. Meg has no idea what is going on, but if she is to remain alive, she better find out soon.Jenny Siller has a lyrical style that allows readers to use their senses to vividly understand the local terrain and climate (wear a scarf it is cold up north). Through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns about the scandal surrounding Meg's parents, why she did hard time, and what she did before returning to Montana. The mystery is cleverly devised leading to a richly textured book that has several interesting levels for fans to discern.Harriet Klausner