Review | Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler

Title: Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler
Series: N/A
Genre: YA- Fantasy/Mystery
Publication:  June 19th 2008 by Philomel
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Rating: ★★

Synopsis: It starts with a phone call. “I’m dying,” a voice tells Dusty. Who is he and how has he gotten her cell number? Dusty wants no part of this strange boy . . . until he begins saying things that only someone who knows her intimately could say—things that lead her to think he knows the whereabouts of her brother, who disappeared over a year ago. Suddenly drawn in, Dusty very much wants to save this boy. Trouble is, she cannot find him. Part human, part spirit, he won’t let himself be found. He is too dangerous, he says. There are mobs of people who agree and who want to see this boy dead . . . and who will hurt anyone who stands in their way.

A gripping, hair-raising mystery about a boy not of this world, and a girl determined to protect him.

Thoughts: It was not gripping, hair-raising, and barely really a mystery. It was not a very good psychological thriller either. It is a book I would not recommend.
 
It starts exactly like the inside flap says, with a phone call from a mysterious boy who knows intimate secrets that Dusty has never shared with anyone. Its mysterious and exciting and I want to know who he is? Why is he calling Dusty? How does he know these things? 
 
And then it sort of falls flat from there. There are a few fast paced, and somewhat suspenseful scenes that were a little better, scattered here and there, but I really wanted to put the book down and not finish it.

Towards the middle and mostly at the ending, the motive of Dusty becomes confusing and I really couldn't enjoy the story because I couldn't "get" the purpose of her actions, and really didn't understand her decisions. I didn't even like her. Or her parents, missing brother, or even her friends. The characters are so flat, so boring. I just really couldn't "get along" with anyone, because they were all so plainly similar.
 
I am still not sure what happened at the end. I feel like I read to the second to last chapter, and then stopped. And it's not that the story just stopped, because it had an ending. A very unsatisfying ending that is. I was left thinking, "Wait, what? That's it?" when I finished the last sentence. I have no idea what the ending really meant.