Ryan Perry, at 34, is a young man – hardly of an age to be on a waiting list, nervously hoping for a heart transplant. Luck appears to be with him: he is the recipient of a new heart, and (fortunately) the transplant takes, triumphantly.

But a year passes, and Ryan begins to receive gifts in the shape of hearts, sent anonymously. A feeling of paranoia sets in – and this feeling is exacerbated when a large amount of money vanishes from his bank account – it has been donated to a local hospital’s cardiology department.

Needless to say, all of this is a prelude to something truly horrific: everything he owns – including his new heart – is to be torn from him, and he is informed he will die a grisly death. Who is Ryan’s tormentor?

What I Thought: Dean Koontz needs to take a holiday. I could count the number of well-written, tension-enhancing pages on my fingers. The angst suffered by Ryan in the first half of the book and the denoument seem to come from different stories entirely and, though the denoument is gripping, and even makes sense, I really would not recommend this to anyone but a die-hard fan. And even they will be disappointed.

Short listed for the Wales Book of the Year 2006 and The Crime Writer’s Association New Blood Award 2006.

Air so cold it will steal your life in minutes…
A land so remote that its people make their own rules…
A heart so hard she’s ready to exploit her own children…

Dafydd Woodruff’s life is about to be blown apart by the arrival of unexpected news. It puts his marriage in jeopardy and threatens his medical career. In an effort to make sense of the impossible he takes a flight back to the sub-Arctic Canadian wilderness to confront the demons he thought he’d left behind years ago

..an involving narrative, a sharply observed cast and an atmospherically evoked and unusual setting. - The Guardian

“Ice Trap” is a gripping thriller set in a fascinating and exotic locale. You won’t want to put this one down as you follow the compelling characters across an icy Arctic landscape towards a powerful and extraordinarily moving conclusion. - Peter Robinson, author of Friend of the Devil

One of the most atmospheric and affecting novels of the year… A classy piece of contemporary fiction - Big Issue

What I Thought - This started slow, but by the time I reached the last chapters, it made me late for work by demanding I finish it. Sheila Hailey is a compellingly written nasty piece of work: you would think her enemies would unite against her, but her strength lies in how she intimidates them individually so they do not realise just how in her coils they are. Or who else is trapped with them. Worth a read, I would rate this as 7.5 out of 10