Freeze by Kate Simants was kindly sent to me by Viper books after they put out a tweet with the premise and I keenly jumped on their tweet saying I’d love to receive a proof copy prior to launch. The premise I hear you ask? A group of “celebrities” go to Greenland to film a reality survival show but there’s clearly someone on that boat who is determined to ensure someone else on that boat doesn’t make the journey home. Intriguing huh?
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Tori and Dee are the main two viewpoints we read from in Freeze. Tori is the producer who has secured funding for this show hoping it will launch her career as a fun alternative to the I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here survival TV series genre. Dee is her friend and camerawoman. However, both have their secret paths that will eventually catch up with them.
Freeze plot – 4.25
Freeze has a fairly weak and slow start to be honest – we’re slowly introduced to our two main characters from whom we’ll be reading the viewpoints of for the majority of the book. Tori will the presenter of the show she’s created which has invited celebrities to try their efforts at some trials in freezing conditions. Dee on the other hand is a fairly stubborn and reserved camerawoman who also just so happens to be living with Tori.
They were hoping the trip would be simple, they’d make some money and boost their CVs at the same time. However, when someone tries to kill Tori and another of the passengers ends up dead, things start to get really dark.
As I said, it starts off incredibly slow with some slight peaks of action and interest but even when these elements happen, I was put off by the short and interchanging characters. What was also odd is that when a new chapter started, it didn’t necessarily mean a change in perspective which for me jolted my perspective sometimes.
“But wait Luke, why have you given the plot such a high score then?” Well, my bookish friend, that would be because of the final third of the book! Once the red herrings and slow build-up gets out of the way, the final third of this book is where all the action and all the great secret unveiling happens. This creates about a hundred pages where you simply won’t be able to put this book down – you can visualise it wonderfully in your head as it happens and you’re constantly wondering what the answer is to all of your questions and why.
Freeze characters – 3.75/5
As with so many books like this where the mystery is the focus of the book, the characters suffered a little in Freeze. As you’ll know by now if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, I need a character to have multiple players to make them interesting to me. I love a villain with a redemption story or the comic and loveable relief or the character with many layers of emotions.
Simants does give Dee and Tori a pair of good backstories, one of which doesn’t come out until much later in the book. However, despite this, I didn’t really like either of the characters more. Dee was rude pretty much the whole time and Tori just appeared to be a bit of an idiot who refused to admit she was pushed at one point which continued to make no sense.
On top of this, every single celebrity on that boat lost their temper at the flick of a button. Wolf, an internet star had a hideous personality where everything he said was overly mean, he had a short temper and nearly all of his actions were wrong. It really made liking any of the characters in Freeze very hard.
However, I do commend Simmant for writing in a mature element to the story and a fairly interesting backstory for Dee, that’s why my score isn’t lower.
Freeze final rating – 4
Freeze, like so many books, comes with a great premise that it hopes will get the books into people’s hands. The start of the book is slow and constantly filled with intrigue, however, if you hold out for a bit you’ll experience one of the best finales I’ve ever read in a thriller – action-packed and filled with great secrets revealed.
The characters were nearly all unlikeable but I must give it to Simmants for writing a mature story into also making Dee’s back story far more unique than it needed to be.
If you can get past the slow start, the Freeze will definitely be worth your time.
Pick up a copy of Freeze from Amazon.
