A small tour bus slides off the road on a snowy day, and with an oncoming blizzard, the town deputy decides to put up the bird-watching group in the high school. KILLER FLOCK is another one of those suspenseful snowed-in thrillers, this time set in the Nebraska Sandhills. Kate Fox, the deputy in Hodgekiss, also runs a scenic ranch for Highland cattle. She’s busy securing her stock, as is everyone. But with that done, she, her married sister Louise and her father’s ex-girlfriend, Deenie Hayward, feel responsible for the welfare of the eight tourists. Only, do the visitors ever grumble. Kate intends to leave them off at the school, a section of which has kindly been opened by the principal, and get the heck out of Dodge. Louise supplies enough food and there are cots and they have sleeping bags. The weather closes in too fast, though, and a howling blizzard hits before the local ladies can escape. Looks like they are trapped for the duration. The power goes out. And then it gets worse. You’ll have to be ready for the claustrophobia, mini-hysterics and micro- aggressions that are expertly crafted by author Shannon Baker. If everyone treated it like a fun vacation, there would be no story. Kate and her friends are going through their personal trials, starting with Kate’s dad recently breaking up with kind Deenie against everyone’s wishes. Kate also has relatives off doing strange things in Chile. I don’t know if this is part of an ongoing storyline, but it did serve to take Kate’s head out of where she should have paid attention. A small dog, Poupon, keeps her company and acts unimpressed by all the guests. Cold, quiet indoors, and shadowy, the school building becomes creepy and threatening. The birdwatchers don’t do much talking about birds. Some of them don’t get along. There’s no phone signal, and no knowing how long they’ll be stuck together. Possibly, with a killer in their midst. I had a good time reading this atmospheric tale. Everyone seemed to have a traumatic backstory, gradually drawn out, and motives are suspect. The one thing I can’t believe is how often the door to the outside gets mysteriously left open. Wouldn’t they feel the draught? I would. I also wanted more bird information than we got, given the title KILLER FLOCK. That was a little disappointing, but you can’t have everything in a wintry thriller. There are ten previous books in the Kate Fox series. I would be very much inclined to catch up with her sometime when the weather is warmer.
Seeking refuge from a relentless blizzard, a bird-watching group takes shelter in a high school—only to find that the deadliest threat is already inside.
Kate Fox has her hands full when her sister Louise and her father’s latest ex-girlfriend, Deenie, show up at her doorstep just as a freak snowstorm comes bearing down. But when the sheriff—snowbound and stranded out of town—calls on Kate to assist a van of bird-watchers stuck along the road, she has no idea what she’s signed up for.
With the help of Deenie and Louise, Kate settles the stranded group in the local high school gym, hoping they can ride out the storm together. But as the blizzard howls and cell service dies, Kate and the eight quirky tourists find themselves utterly isolated. What began as a refuge quickly turns into a nightmare when, by dawn, one of the birders is found dead—murdered.
Trapped by the blizzard, Kate has to single-handedly preserve the crime scene and discreetly begin her investigation, all while keeping the ruffled birders calm. But she soon realizes that each of the bird-watchers has something to hide...and more than one of them had a reason to want the victim gone. Secrets run deep, and as the snow piles higher, so do the lies. With the murderer still among them and no chance of escape, Kate must untangle the deadly truths beneath the snow to avoid becoming prey to a killer in this flock.
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