Snow - Ronald Malfi

There were only a couple books in the reading list this semester that I was truly looking forward to reading.  Snow was one of them.  I don't know why.  I hadn't heard anything about the book, or read anything by Malfi before.  I vaguely remembered seeing the book in Barnes & Noble when it came out, but that was all.  Still, there was something about about the idea, about killer snow, that got me excited.  After all, I love snow.  In all amounts and any time.  I chalk it up to growing up in south Florida but ever since I've moved to Colorado I just can't get enough of it.  So taking that thing I love and turning it into something deadly?  That was a great hook.

And all that waiting paid off.  First, Malfi does a great job developing characters that I actually care about.  Todd is far from perfect, but he is painfully aware of his faults and trying to make himself better.  I found myself actually rooting for him.  And all of the other characters, no matter how long he gave them to live, were developed and human.

And then he pits them against "snow elementals" and skin-suits.  I loved the idea of snow monsters that could just rush up out of the snow and stab you, or carry you off into the sky and drop you through a church ceiling.  Their powers were interesting and frightening, and he only explained what he needed to.  The addition of the skin-suits was a mix for me.  They were basically zombies and I'm not fond of them.  But it did give the characters something more tangible to fight against.  Something they could kill more easily and see more readily.  And that was important for building the tension in a lot of scenes.  (Like the handprints on the window of the church)  So I can see why he did it.  And the fact that he explained why they needed to enter the skin-suits was critical

There really was too much about this book and the monster it featured that I liked.  I could go on for a long time.  But I'll focus on the end.  Breeding Grounds failed me completely at the end, but Snow delivered.  It was a bit predictable, but at least it kept the tension high and all made sense.  (Well, aside from the military arriving so soon after they were called)  And I was very happy to see that Todd did not end up with Kate.  That final scene, where he finally gets to see his son, and his ex starts to see that just maybe he could be a different person...  That made the ending for me.