Thomas Nelson was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the newest installment in Lis Wiehl’s “Triple Threat” series, Heart of Ice, to read and review. I have been a big fan of this series since I read the first novel two years ago, and this book was the best one yet, the kind of book that you keep reading until the middle of the night, just to find out how it’s going to end!
As far as mystery novels go, this one was a little different, because the reader knows who the villain is right from the start. (She leaves a trail of death and destruction in her wake, leaving Portland wondering at what seem to be random and unrelated crimes.) The triple threat club, on the other hand, doesn’t have a clue, and they’ve unwittingly let the killer get close to them, and to their families.
Elizabeth Avery seems like someone you’d want to get to know–she has a glamorous, albeit mysterious, past, she’s beautiful, she’s fun, and she seems to be exactly what you want her to be. But she’s hiding the fact that she’s really Sissy Hewsom, a woman who won’t let anything get between her and what she wants. A cold-blooded killer at age 13, she’s managed to cover-up her past, but hasn’t changed a bit.
Identity theft and actual theft are just a game to her–and she’s so cold-hearted, she doesn’t even hesitate at the thought of killing an innocent child. She manages to trap unsuspecting people in her web, using them to commit crimes she doesn’t want to dirty her hands with, including arson, several murders, and even setting one man up to “commit suicide” to further hide evidence.
How will the triple threat club ever realize the truth about Elizabeth? Will Cassidy discover it trying to find out the motive behind the murder of her television station intern? Will Allison learn the truth when talking to her deadbeat sister who has come to live with her? Or will Nicole be able to step back from her personal problems long enough to put two and two together, before someone very close to her becomes Elizabeth’s next victim? Who will discover that the beautiful girl-next-door is really a vicious killer with a heart of ice?