Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Grim Heart Publishing

Genre: Thriller

Tags: Contemporary, Non-Romance, On-Page Violence, Serial Killer, Thriller

Length: 286 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

Blurb –

A blizzard’s coming—and it’s not the deadliest thing on the road.

Missy watches the blizzard approach her roadside motel with a mix of emotions — dread for the dangerous conditions it brings, and an intense longing for the warmth her late husband used to provide on cold nights like this. But for better or worse, Missy won’t be alone much longer.

Five unexpected guests are headed her way, desperately seeking shelter from the storm: a mortally wounded young man transporting stolen money, two hired guns hot on his trail with orders to bring the money back, and a young woman and her grandmother on a road trip to put the past behind them, totally unprepared for the perilous detour they’re about to take.

The icy roads are treacherous. The neon-red sign is a beacon of safety. But no amount of snow can extinguish this fuse once it’s lit — or bury the secrets unearthed in the blast.

Review –

Missy, the owner of The Eleventh Hour Motel, is watching The English Patient for the umpteenth time. Ralph Fiennes reminds her of her late husband, Geoffrey, so she watches the movie often in order to feel closer to him. A blizzard is headed her way, so she’s fairly certain her little motel in the middle of nowhere won’t be getting any overnight guests. That thought goes out the window shortly after when a young man stumbles in wanting to rent a room for the night. He looks… bad, sickly bad. She hurries to get him set up in a room far enough from the road for his vehicle to not be seen because it’s obvious he’s running from somebody. Not that anybody could see much in the snowstorm anyway.

That young man is Jasper, though he uses an alias when he checks in. Jasper and his friend Wyatt got into some pretty bad trouble not long before Jasper arrives at the motel. Now he’s got a bag full of stolen money and bad guys hot on his tail.

Those bad guys are Quentin and Allen, who have been ordered by their boss to get the stolen money back or else. Should be easy enough, right? Uh, no. One, the snow is blinding, so the roads are treacherous as they follow the other men. Two, they make some really stupid stupid stupid amateur mistakes that ultimately has Jasper getting away, and leaving them stranded.

Lana is driving along the dangerous road with her grandmother in the middle of the blizzard, heading somewhere for Grandma Darlene. A lot isn’t said about where they were headed until long into the book, but I learned enough to get the gist of it all. Lana is already scared to be driving in the crazy weather, but then some man decides to get in the middle of the road and flag them down, almost causing a serious accident. That man would be Quentin, who is there with an injured Allen, both of whom also give fake names. They ask for a ride, and Grandma being a sweet grandma, talks Lana into letting these two strangers in her car for a ride to the next town… or any sign of life they come across anyway. Lana has a bad feeling about Quentin who absolutely hates her on sight. Allen was kind of like a sweet puppy dog; one who is still quite clueless about everything and everyone around him.

Lana, Grandma Darlene, Quentin, and Allen eventually come across The Eleventh Hour Motel. They book two rooms with Missy and go their separate ways.

Jasper is gravely injured with a shotgun wound. He’s barely inside his motel room before he collapses. Missy, for reasons explained in the book, walks into his room and finds him. She somehow manages to get Jasper to the main house and into her guestroom for ‘care’. Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, Quentin and Allen show up within minutes of him being moved out of the motel room. I can’t say how, but they know Jasper’s there, even when Missy swears he’s not when asked.

All of that is the beginning of a wild ride. Missy is more than a little unhinged with regard to her late husband. Lana is running from an ex with secrets of her own. Grandma Darlene wants to put her past behind her. Quentin and Allen want their boss’ money back so they get the heck out of Dodge. Jasper just wants to survive so he can get back to his girlfriend and their unborn baby.

In only a matter of hours, every single one of their lives will be turned upside down, and only a select character or characters will survive.

I can’t say much more than that or I’ll be giving everything away.

What I liked about this book was that once I got beyond the initial introductions of all the characters the story moved fast. There was pretty much nonstop action within minutes of them all getting inside their motel rooms. A couple of them are not AT ALL as they appear early on.

What I didn’t like about this book was the lack of back stories for all the characters. We’re told Lana is running away, but not really why. It was the same with Grandma Darlene and why they were headed to their original destination. Who were Jasper and Wyatt? Why did they steal the money? How did they know to steal the money? What’s their connection to Quentin and Allen, who the reader also never learns anything about? Who was their boss, and what did he do to have so much money? Then there’s Missy. With her, I was left with a lot of questions, especially about Geoffrey.

There was a lot happening right now in the book, but not so much of what brought them there. There was also no follow-up on what happens after everything is said and done. I would’ve liked to have seen the fall-out and how certain things played out. If ever there was a book that needed an epilogue, it’s this one.

The ending was nice enough, though, again, I would’ve liked to have known some of the story behind the why of it all.

I’m still rating this 4.5 stars instead of lower because once I started reading, I didn’t want to put the book down until I finished it. I wouldn’t call it a whodunnit because there’s more than one of them, and they’re easy to figure out early on. There’s just a lot of action after, leaving me to wonder until the very end who, if anybody, would survive the night. A couple of parts were kind of sad, and I found myself hoping a bad guy or two would somehow make it out alive.

There’s quite a bit of on-page violence, so keep that in mind if you want to read it.

My first by this author. Another one, Just Play Along, has already been sent to my Kindle.