It has taken more than two decades, but the members of the Leiston School Winter Adventure Group of 1990 are finally reunited near their old school.The intimate gathering opens with the renewal of old friendships at a private Lake Michigan estate near their old school. But the alcohol-fueled camaraderie soon melts away as old rivalries begin to surface, as do old secrets — one old secret in … old secret in particular. Twenty-five years ago, this group headed into an Upper Peninsula wilderness for a winter camping adventure. They ended up stranded and cut off for days by a huge winter storm. When they were finally rescued, hungry and frostbitten, their chaperone was missing and so were the facts.
Now, as the group assembles for a late morning brunch, someone else is missing. A search leads to the discovery of a body, and Ray Elkins, the local sheriff, is called in to investigate. But just like the first time, what happens at Leiston stays at Leiston, and Sheriff Elkins is greeted with hostility and a pact of silence.
more
This series just gets better and better! The plot is a little far fetched, but I loved it! I do wonder, however, what kind of a school administrator would have approved that camping trip…it was a law suit in the making!
A little harder to get into than some of his previous books but the background information was necessary!
If you have ever experienced a northern Michigan blizzard, you don’t have to use too much imagination during this story. Ray and Sue are a pair of die hard cops. The first trip to the lake during the blizzard was brutal. This was a tough one to figure out. Each character had issues and reasons. The settings and details of this story were so realistic, so well described.
I thought the story was very disjointed and the book ended leaving the reader with unanswered questions. Characters were not fully developed.
Done before. No realistic plots.
People are not believable.
Page turner.
New author to me and I like his style.
The Ray Elkins series is great and I recommend you see the books….
Kept my attention throughout.
I liked the basic mystery. There wasn’t a lot of bad language or objectionable material. This was part of a series & I came in on the middle. It made me wonder about the relationship of the two main characters & how it might develop in the future.
I wouldn’t recommend this book. There are words missing throughout and the ending is awful. I was extremely disappointed.
High school was 25 years ago but there’s still a grudge to be settled at this reunion. I’m a fan of low key Ray Elkins and his partner Sue Davenport. What happened to the French teacher who also taught fencing at the private school. What secrets do the other students hold, including an old flame of Elkins? It keeps the reader guessing until the end.
Very interesting reading. I’m just not sure what happened when I had finished reading. I could have used an extra few pages of explanation.
entertaining; I liked some of the characters, thought others were of no use to the story, and a few were confusing — where did they come from!?! But probably others will love it.
I have read most of the book in this series and enjoyed them. The Gales of November was a little scattered for my taste and the ending left me saying “really — this is it?!”. Not a fan of this book.
I love Aaron Stander’s books. They are always unpredictable and really make you think.
I have read other books by this author, They are consistently well written, well edited books with well-developed characters. I only gave four stars for this particular book because the primary mystery was never solved. What happened to Etienne, the school teacher who disappeared on a camping trip 20 years ago? Instead, a couple more dead bodies were added to the plot and their deaths were subsequently explained. So while I did enjoy the book, I left it feeling somewhat dissatisfied.
This book is about a murder at a class reunion at an exclusive private school. It takes place during a November storm. The people involved were classmates on an outdoor adventure that took place during a Thanksgiving break 30 years ago. The sheriff gets a call about an unexplained death at the reunion and gets caught in the storm. He then has to determine what happened 30 years ago and how it applies to the current murder.
Love the Elkins books always a good read
Well written and an excellent book. Ready to read the next one!