Best Blizzard Book

The incredible winter storm that blew through town this past weekend reminded me of a fantastic novel I had the pleasure of discovering several years ago. Susie Moloney's first novel: Bastion Falls.

I remember shelving it when I was working at the Coles at St. Laurent mall in Ottawa when it came out, and pausing to read the back cover. I was hooked immediately, bought the book and started reading it that night.

Moloney kept me spellbound from start to end with her disturbing tale.

It seems to be "temporarily out of stock" on the Chapters website, and I'm not sure if it's still in print, but this excellent book (and I still love the original cover in the Key Porter version of the novel, as opposed to the cover on the re-release by Random House) is definitely worth tracking down.

The premise is simply that one day it starts snowing and it simply doesn't stop. The residents of a small "northern town" (and if you read between the lines, you might recognize the setting as a small town on Manitoulin Island, one of the areas where this author has lived) become isolated and trapped in the high piling snow -- and of course, because it's a horror novel, something dark and evil comes stalking, hidden beneath all that snow.

Moloney went on to write two other novels (so far), and while I enjoyed them (A Dry Spell and The Dwelling), they didn't quite chill me as deeply as her first novel, which is still my favourite. Perhaps because it was so close to home.


All I know is that, by the time I had shoveled my driveway for the 7th time in 24 hours, I started thinking about that awesome Susie Moloney novel and thought how wonderful a read it would be for someone who wanted to just go inside and curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book. (Of course, if you'd had enough of the snow, then perhaps this dark and chilling novel might NOT be something you'd want to read, because Moloney does bring the power of that heavy snowfall down hard on the reader)