Book Review: The Ice Harvest

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Ice Harvest     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Scott Phillips
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Noir
Ballantine, Oct 2000, $19.95, 224 pp.

It is an icy, freezing Christmas Eve in Kansas with most people staying indoors to keep warm with their families. Charlie Arglist is all alone having been divorced by his now remarried wife and estranged from his children. Charlie ran a marginally successful law practice until he joined Bill Gerard and Vic Cavanaugh, the local mobsters. Vic and Charlie have financially stripped their clients and tomorrow plan to leave the country.

Charlie is spending his last hours in town making the rounds of his favorite spots, strip bars, massage parlors, and the XXX movie theaters that represent his failed past. He looks forward to his bright future, but to stay alive he soon finds himself killing the people he thought were his buddies.

Readers who enjoy a gothic noir will like THE ICE HARVEST, a novel that looks at the underbelly of a small town on the Great Plains. The book takes place on Christmas Eve underlying the bleakness and hopelessness of the Charlies of the world who dominate the ever-darkening story line. Scott Phillips cleverly deals out information one card at a time so that the antihero’s tale is not fully revealed until the ironic ending that will surprise the audience. Although this is Mr. Phillips’ debut novel, it appears he has a long career ahead of him.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner