Buried Under Ice (Ice Breaker:Cold Case 7) by Cynthia Eden-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 28, 2023

Once she was falling in love with him, but now she hates him.

FBI Special Agent Oliver Foxx lied to Lark Lawson. Lied, used, seduced, and betrayed her. Four ultimate sins. The special agent got close to Lark just so that he could prove her twin brother was guilty of murder. Correction, multiple murders. The deceitful special agent believed that her brother was a serial killer, and now, because she let the wrong man get close, Lark’s brother is rotting in a jail cell. Her fault, but she’s going to fix things. Or die trying. Though she’d really, really prefer not to die…

It’s up to Lark to prove her brother’s innocence.

Lark knows her brother isn’t guilty. He is the only family she has left, and she is not about to watch him go down for crimes he never committed. So now she’s determined to hunt down the real killer. No one seems to believe that she’s up to the task, but when danger begins to stalk her, it’s clear that Lark has attracted someone’s attention. To a deadly degree.

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REVIEW:BURIED UNDER ICE is the seventh instalment in Cynthia Eden’s contemporary, adult ICE BREAKER: COLD CASE romantic suspense series focusing on the men and women who work for Ice Breakers, an online team of crime solvers whose goal is to solve cold cases. This is FBI Agent Oliver Foxx, and florist Lark Lawson’s story line. BURIED UNDER ICE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual omniscient third person perspectives (Lark and Oliver) BURIED UNDER ICE follows in the wake of the arrest of Larks’s brother Lane. Five months earlier, FBI agent Oliver Foxx broke Lark Lawson’s heart. Oliver and the FBI believed Lane’s brother was a serial killer, and Lark became a pawn in Oliver’s quest. Fast forward to present day, wherein Lane has hired the team at Ice Breaker to prove her brother is innocent but within days Lane finds herself a target when the ongoing threats against her life become more personal and dark. Enter FBI Agent Oliver Foxx, and the man who vows to protect Lark with his life. What ensues is the acrimonious but rebuilding romance and relationship between Lark and Olive, and the potential fall out as the threats against Lark continue to grow.

The world building is complex and detailed. While the FBI, and the local Vegas Police believe they have a killer in custody, the team at Ice Breaker continue to search for the truth. As the incidents increase, law enforcement refuse to accept the possibility of another suspect, and Lark’s brother is targeted in prison.

The relationship between Lark and Oliver is a second chance romance. Months earlier OLiver destroyed Lark’s heart and her faith in humanity when her brother was arrested for a series of murders. Believing she was used by Oliver and the FBI, Lark is determined to prove her brother’s innocence but at every turn, Lark is a target by the people of Las Vegas, and the FBI. Oliver wants a second chance but Lark refuses to accept that she wasn’t played by the man she once loved. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and questionable secondary and supporting characters including Lark’s brother Lane, numerous FBI agents and Ice Breaker investigators, as well as several potential suspects.

BURIED UNDER ICE is a story of betrayal and vengeance, obsession and madness, murder and mayhem, secrets and lies, forgiveness and love. The premise is intriguing and captivating; the romance is seductive ; the characters are determined, desperate, broken but healing.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Frozen in Ice
Falling for the Ice Queen
Ice Cold Saint
Touched by Ice
Trapped in Ice
Forged From Ice

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy