Overview:
London, 1814. As a cruel winter holds the city in its icy grip, the bloody body of a beautiful young musician is found half-buried in a snowdrift. Jane Ambrose's ties to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne, panic the palace, which moves quickly to shut down any investigation into the death of the talented pianist. But Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife Hero refuse to allow Jane's murderer to escape justice.
Untangling the secrets of Jane's world leads Sebastian into a maze of dangerous treachery where each player has his or her own unsavory agenda and no one can be trusted. As the Thames freezes over and the people of London pour onto the ice for a Frost Fair, Sebastian and Hero find their investigation circling back to the palace and building to a chilling crescendo of deceit and death . . .
My Review:
*THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THIS SERIES*
This is the 13th book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series and probably one of my least favorites so let me go through it and explain why.
The first thing right off the bat may seem nit-picky but it was the first thing that struck me and that is the cover. I understand that the cover is black and white because the setting takes place in the deep freeze of winter and there is a massive snow storm but that isn't what bothers me. Rather, it's the scale of Sebastian compared to the trees. He seems so small and like he was just Photo-shopped into the picture and it just seems really off to me. I know, I know - that shouldn't matter but for some reason it really does.
Second (stop reading here if you haven't read the one before this!!), I thought that the death of Hero's mother would be addressed in this book and it wasn't, other than to say it had taken place four months previous and Hero was still in full mourning attire. Really? It was such a major event and there were circumstances that needed to be explained but it was almost like it didn't happen at all. There was one very tiny scene that hinted at something but nothing we didn't already suspect anyway so that was very disappointing.
Third, the story seemed to just go in circles and things that were given heavy emphasis ended up not really mattering. I
I also didn't like that Gibson, Alexi, the Earl of Hendon, and especially Tom and Morley were basically non-existent in this book. I want to see more of a story line with Gibson and Alexi because they seem to be completely stalled and almost cardboard cutouts used as fillers and I don't like that. They are all interesting characters and their arcs need to start developing more.
Finally, there had been heavy emphasis in previous books about Sebastian's parents and that story line seems to have been completely dropped now. There was one small conversation Sebastian had that gave a small clue but again, nothing developed out of it. It almost feels like Harris doesn't know where to go with it so has just let it fade away.
I don't want it to seem like I hated the book. I didn't - and in fact finished it in only seven hours but it just wasn't on par with all the other ones. I want more about Sebastian's parents, the other characters, and Hero's mother.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
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