Winterkill

Kathryn Johnson is a bestselling author of over 40 published novels. She was nominated for the Agatha Award and earned the Heart of Excellence and Bookseller's Best Awards. Her most well known work is The Gentlemen Poet, a novel that has Shakespeare escape to the New World. What drew me to her writing was the young-adult novels she wrote in the 1990s using the pseudonym Nicole Davidson. These were published by Avon under their young-adult imprint Avon Flare. I wanted to read her first novel, Winterkill. It was published in 1991.

Winterkill was written for young adults, however, after reading it, I can honestly say this is no different than any mystery from the early to mid 20th century. The narrative would also please horror readers - which is probably the young audience the cover catered to. I would imagine if you enjoy the childhood perspectives in books by the likes of John Saul, Dan Simmons, or even Stephen King, then that element is strongly used by Johnson - a vulnerable teen placed into extreme situations. 

The book stars Karen, a high school student that is forced to move with her parents to a small town in Vermont. This little town, which features a ski resort, is far different than Karen's New York City roots. There's a fish-out-of-water scenario with Karen initially becoming shy, self-sheltered, and protective in terms of negotiating her emotions at a new school with new people. Thankfully, Karen loosens up and befriends a fellow student named Matt and his popular friends. Matt and Karen begin dating.

Karen also befriends a less popular girl and develops a little rivalry with a local girl named Jerrie. One night at a party Matt tells Karen he has to leave for just a little bit but he will return. Karen gets worried and follows Matt only to see him run over in a hit and run. She can't make out the car through the snow and fog. Later, she discovers that her own car was used in the hit and run. But who would want to kill Matt? Why use her car to do it? Karen then sets out to solve the mystery by eliminating her fellow students as suspects. The finale of the book takes place on the ski slopes as Karen tries to outfox the killer. 

This book was a lot of fun and contained an absorbing mystery. In terms of young-adult novels, this one has some profanity, talk about sex, and of course at least one murder. Again, in comparison to early 20th century mystery fiction, there isn't anything too far out of bounds from just a straight up traditional mystery novel. There is a hint of the supernatural, but it is subjective. Karen's necklace was handed down to her from her grandmother. The necklace has opals that change color depending on how much danger Karen is in. Now, it could just be the lighting or some type of scientific explanation of the weather affecting the stones. There's no clear answer on this, so it is up to the reader to determine if there was something supernatural involved. Personally, I don't think so.

Winterkill was a lot of fun and I have a few other books by this same author I'm willing to read now. If they are as good as this then I'd be very pleased. Recommended. Get the book HERE.