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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Logan, C. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | FIC LOGAN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
On one of the coldest nights in Minnesota history, the difference between life and death is literally the blink of an eye for Phil Broker, until recently St. Paul's most successful undercover cop. That blink will convey the urgent warning of a comatose man who knows the dark truth binding Broker to a remarkable cast of characters -- a weary anesthesiologist, a brilliant surgeon, a wealthy novelist, his exwife (a reformed exotic dancer), and her unrepentant pimp.
For Broker it all began when he agreed to take three big-city professionals on a canoeing trip across Minnesota's most remote lakes. One of the three is horribly injured in a freak October blizzard, and Broker embarks on a white-knuckle rescue against time and the elements, ending with a writer in a coma and his accountant dead. Suspicious of foul play, Broker follows a twisted trail of manipulation and revenge that leads back to the writer's beautiful wife -- and a ring of men caught in a deadly competition for her affections. Absolute Zero is suspense writing at its finest, a novel whose surprising reversals and unexpectedly nuanced characters secure Chuck Logan's reputation as "one of the best of the . . . thriller breed" and blows the lid off Minnesota's best-kept literary secret.Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ex-cop Phil Broker, hero of Logan's previous three thrillers (The Big Law, etc.), takes a break from managing his small Minnesota resort in this latest outing and fills in for his uncle as a wilderness guide in the northernmost reaches of the state. It's hardly a pleasure trip: Broker's soldier wife, Nina, has just split with their child, and one of Broker's three clients, action writer Hank Sommer, is constantly fighting with his wife, Jolene, by cell phone while Dr. Allen Falken and lawyer Milt Bane look on. Caught by a sudden blizzard as they are kayaking, Broker nearly drowns until Sommer fights their kayak across the lake, but ruptures his colon in the effort. At a minimal hospital with no surgeon in snowbound Ely, Falken operates with local nurse anesthetist Amy Skoda, but Sommer goes into post-op coma and Skoda gets the blame. Then Sommer's sexy wife takes Sommer home early, and the kinky death of a CPA, Cliff Stovall, hits the news. Pondering Sommer's last words "tell Cliff to move the money" Broker teams up with Skoda to visit Sommer and Jolene, but Skoda gets info that puts their lives in danger. Lured back to Ely and tricked by experts, Broker and Skoda are put out of action, and the scene is set for a shattering surprise ending. Logan parlays the plot elements with the icy finesse of James M. Cain and draws characters so real you can feel the body heat steaming off the page. Once again, he proves himself an awesome storyteller with a unique voice and a flawless sense of place and mood. Major ad/promo; 6-city author tour; Harper Audio. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Darn cold in those Minnesota northwoods, but as usual the action's hot as Logan shows us for the fourth time why he's a thrillermeister to keep (The Big Law, 1998, etc.). Absolute zero is minus 459.670F, or as someone says early on, "the temperature when everything stops." But if you're a substitute guide leading three ambitious amateurs on a hunting trip in the dead of winter, count on it being when a lot of bad stuff starts. Ex-cop Phil Broker, making his third starring appearance, has as his headstrong charges a brilliant surgeon, a shrewd lawyer, and a bestselling novelist who hates the books that have made him rich. A volatile enough mix, but the party holds its own until a blizzard-"an October surprise," in northwoods speak-hits them hard, wrong-footing them and eventually dumping all four out of their canoes and into icy Lake Fraser. They escape death but narrowly: Hank Sommer, the writer, only after Allen Franken, the surgeon, operates successfully on him in the small, underequipped hospital they're flown to after rescue. Successful, that is, until post-op. A nurse-anesthetist's tragic mistake is what it's called at first, the effect of it being to zap Hank into instant coma. At this point, enter Jolene, trophy wife with a past, on the edge of becoming a wealthy widow. The lawyer lusts for her, so does the surgeon, and not even our hero-though racked by woman troubles on his own home front-is immune to the former stripper's earthy appeal. Hank lingers, the deathwatch generates bizarre behavior, and Broker begins to ask himself questions about when it is that an accident has the best chance of not having been one. Answer: when there's money to follow. Good writing, colorful cast, and a thoroughly appealing protagonist: a two-fisted softy perfect for page-turning. Author tour
Booklist Review
Part adventure, part medical thriller, part twisted love story, Logan's latest wintry Minnesotan tale features Phil Broker, the ex-undercover cop last seen in The Big Law (1998). Broker is leading three friends--a doctor, a lawyer, and a writer--on a canoe expedition in the Boundary Waters when a winter storm comes out of nowhere. The writer is critically wounded and must be rescued and rushed into emergency surgery. All goes smoothly until he stops breathing in the recovery room, unattended, and lapses into a coma. A few days later, his accountant turns up dead as well. Broker takes a closer look at the cast of characters and finds that the writer's beautiful, volatile, cash-strapped wife and his two concerned canoeing buddies may not be quite what they seem--and what looked like a tragic oversight at the hospital might have been something entirely different. The first 50 stormy pages alone are worth the price of admission, and the shifting loyalties and shifting narrative perspectives that follow make the rest just as hard to put down. Carrie Bissey.
Library Journal Review
Continuing his winning streak, Logan (The Big Law) brings back recurring character Phil Broker, now as a wilderness guide rather than an undercover police officer. Broker leads three minimally equipped men deep into the Minnesota woods to hunt moose. Before they can bag a beast, however, a massive storm destroys most of their supplies and critically injures one of the men. As the troupe's guide, it falls to Phil to get to civilization and bring back a rescue team before the man dies. The rescue and subsequent events connect their four lives in unexpected ways. Readers will delights in the first-rate characterization and compelling plot filled with unexpected twists. Recommended for popular fiction collections. Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.