Dr. Dafydd Woodruff, a married British surgeon, receives a letter from a young girl claiming he is her and her twin brother's father. He knows this can't be true, as he believes he never was with her mother Sheila, a nurse at the clinic he worked at in Canada 15 years ago. He was in Canada as a penance for a botched surgery he did after a drunken night.
The book is him remembering the time in Canada and the people he met and treated. It also reviews his relationships with co-workers and others. It tells of his sexual exploits and failures. It also is in present time and his failing relationship with his wife who thinks he is lying when DNA tests say he is the father.
The ending is a twist, but not enough to save the book for me. ( )

Dit boek stond al zo lang in mijn boekenkast, maar opeens ben ik helemaal voor het lezen van oudere boeken. Het verhaal speelt zich af in Canada en in Cardiff, Wales. Hoewel dat laatste nauwelijks van belang is. Maar Canada speelt wel een grote rol. Kou, sneeuw en ijs, afgelegen dorpen, de inheemse bevolking, tradities en een beetje geloof in bovennatuurlijke zaken.
Dafydd krijgt een brief uit Moose Creek waarin een jong meisje zegt dat hij haar vader is en ook van haar tweelingbroer. Dafydd is inderdaad op het juiste moment in Moose Creek geweest als vervangende chirurg. Maar hij en de moeder, Sheila Hailey, konden echt niet met elkaar overweg. Hij kan zich totaal niet herinneren van iets dat ook maar lijkt op een intieme relatie met Sheila. Maar de dochter, Miranda, blijft schrijven en Sheila begint te praten over alimentatie. De vrouw van Dafydd, Isabel, staat op een DNA-test en als ook die positief is en reist Dafydd af naar Moose Creek en het verleden. ( )

A debut novel of suspense. I found it a little slow, but overall enjoyed the book. The chapters alternate between 2006 and 1992 for the first part. I thought this was interesting because you learned about the characters from different views.

Dr. Dafydd Woodriff is a successful surgeon in Cardiff and married to Isabel. They have been trying to have a baby with no success. He receives a letter from a 13 year old girl, Miranda saying that he is her father and the father of her twin brother. 14 years earlier Dafydd had been looking to get away from his life and spent 10 months in Moose Creek in Northern Canada. This is where the letter is from and the mother is the head nurse from the hospital where Dafydd had worked. Though he claims to never have been with Sheila, the DNA tests shows he is the father. This news hurts Dafydd's marriage and he eventually decides to go to Canada to sort things out. ( )

I'm not sure why I forced myself to finish this novel. I was not enjoying it as I read it. I disliked all of the characters, including Dafydd.

Sheila was particularly despicable. No one truly seemed to care about each other. Nor did any of the characters seem to truly understand each other. I came away from this story feeling that the characters were only acting the way they did in order to develop a forced plot.

The title of the story was Ice Trap: A Novel of Psychological Suspense. I didn't find any psychological suspense.

Kirkus Reviews described this book as "laced with erotic scenes". Where? I think it must have been describing an entirely different book.

J.S. Lance called this book "chilling and compelling". The only thing chilling in this book was its icy setting, and the only thing compelling for me was to finish this book and be done with it.

Sorry. This book did not at all leave me with a favorable impression. ( )

I wish I would have read the reviews before I read the book. ( )