Review: "Bitterfrost" by Bryan Gruley

 

Bitterfrost by Bryan Gruley Severn House, 2025   Bitterfrost, the first in a new mystery series by Edgar Award winner Bryan Gruley, is an uneven but memorable legal thriller set in Michigan’s harsh north country—about as far north as one can go before crossing to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Jimmy Baker—Bakes when he’s on the ice playing hockey—is a local legend. As a kid Jimmy played for the local hockey team, the Ice Kings, and later went on to play in the minors. As a professional hockey player Jimmy was a team enforcer, or a “goon,” tasked with intimidating opposing players with his fists. A role he did well, until he walked away from the game after sending an opponent to the hospital. Now Jimmy works at Bitterfrost’s ice rink, where the Ice Kings play, driving the Zamboni, nicknamed Zelda, and trying to piece his life back together after a divorce. Everything changes for Jimmy when two strangers from down state—read that as Detroit—are beaten to death. One was found near Jimmy’s house and the other outside the ice rink where he works. Jimmy is the logical suspect since he had a run-in with the men at a local bar the night they were killed and everyone knows Jimmy is violent. Jimmy’s friend, Devyn Payne—whose mother owns the ice rink and the hockey team—takes Jimmy’s case. What she finds is a labyrinth of crime wreathing just beneath Bitterfrost’s placid looking surface. Bitterfrost’s opening chapter is as close to brilliant as any you’ll read in popular fiction. It is atmospheric and claustrophobic as Jimmy awakens on his kitchen linoleum with no memory of the previous night. His knuckles are scraped, a bruise on his head, and a text on his phone he doesn’t remember sending. The narrative falters as additional characters are introduced, including the heroine, Devyn Payne, but recovers in the novel’s second half as all the pieces begin clicking into place. The small-town politics, especially the rivalry between the Paynes and a duplicitous bunch called the Dulaneys, are well crafted and impact the story just right. The bitter cold Michigan winter adds flavor, too. Bitterfrost is a tale you need to be patient with—there are a few contrived oh my God moments for the characters that are never shared with the reader—but the ultimate payoff is worth wading through the flaws.

Check out Bitterfrost on Amazon—click here for the Kindle edition and here for the hardcover.