In this must-read psychological thriller full of suspense, The Palace is a world-renowned ice skating facility. The competition is fierce, and the Olympics is the goal of everyone there. The coach has a strange method of teaching while the assistant coach must publicly back her up, but he calms the students from her harshness. If you are a fan of ice skating, you will love this book.
The way everyone carried on reminded me of high school with all of its jealousies, bitter moms trying to compete through their young, sordid affairs, secrets, and so on. Emotions run high all through the book.
But now there has been a murder. The assistant coach, Emile, has been found with his head bashed in. He has been killed by being hit with the blade of an ice skate.
A former student, Ana Robbins, who has issues of her own because of her time at the school, is now a lawyer and is defending Grace, a skating student accused of brutally murdering Emile.
Grace is the daughter of one of the Orphans, the group Ana was in when she was a student at The Palace. Ana’s troubled past is explored while she is trying to find a way to keep Grace from facing a charge of murder or at least proving she isn’t responsible for what she did.
The character development is excellent, the story moves along fast and keeps you on your toes while your little gray cells attempt to work out just what happened. Ana’s past, as it is revealed, is just as interesting and mysterious as what is going on with Grace. And a blizzard, inconvenient at any given time, just happens to come along and complicate everything.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The first page of the book grabbed my interest and it never diminished before the satisfying ending.
Amazon Link: Blade
Favorite Sentences:
She knows this mountain, the thick forest of evergreens, the switchback carved into them that winds from the highway to The Palace, Avery Hall, and then Dawn’s house—all behind her now.
The fear spirals, but her legs keep moving and her feet absorb the pain and her arms sweep into the branches before they can cut her face.
We’re in a void, an ebony globe where nothing from the outside world can get in. Or out.
He was subtle when he slipped that pin from his grenade.
New Word Learned:
Intonation – the pattern or melody of pitch changes in connected speech, especially the pitch pattern of a sentence, which distinguishes kinds of sentences or speakers of different language cultures
About the Author:
Wendy Walker is the author of the psychological suspense novels All Is Not Forgotten, Emma In The Night, The Night Before, Don’t Look For Me, What Remains, and Blade; and the Audible Originals Hold Your Breath, American Girl, Mad Love, and The Room Next Door. Her novels have been translated into 23 foreign languages, topped bestseller lists both nationally and abroad and have been optioned for television and film. Wendy holds degrees from Brown University and Georgetown Law School. Prior to her writing career, Wendy trained for competitive figure skating, worked as a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs, and practiced both corporate and family law. She resides in Connecticut.
