The Snow Garden - Softcover

Christopher Rice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330492535 ISBN 13: 9780330492539

Publisher: PAN BOOKS LTD (ENGLAND), 2003

Synopsis

In the darkening chill of winter, three Atherton University freshmen are being mysteriously drawn together by fate, and a compulsion they cannot comprehend. Though they come from vastly differing backgrounds, the college holds the promise of a better life for each of them -- and an opportunity to break away from the anguish and desolation of their former lives. But the past does not die so easily, and the intricate webs of deceit that they have spun to protect themselves are slowly twisted into shackles that chain them to their doom. Snowbound and trapped on the campus, the friends find themselves unwilling pawns in the machinations of a malevolent force that has taken hold of Atherton -- and all their oldest fears, veiled passions, and secret nightmares are about to come to life in...The Snow Garden.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher Rice is the son of Anne Rice, the novelist, and Stan Rice, the poet. He lives in Los Angeles. His first novel, A DENSITY OF SOULS, is available from Pan Books.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PROLOGUE

Inverness Creek

Groping at the icy tree trunks and pushing branches from his face, he followed the sound of water flowing against the ice until it brought him to the edge of Inverness Creek. The haggard elms stood in regiments along the sloping banks of ice-slick mud. Veils of snow danced on contrary gusts of wind before vanishing into ice punctuated by sudden black pools of creek water. The music of Fraternity Green was an eerie, distant suggestion far behind him. Bursts of drunken laughter and the delighted squeals of young women, underscored by the bass thud of a stereo, barely filtered through the thicket of trees to where he stood, steadying himself on a branch, staring down at Pamela Milford.

She was lying facedown on a sheet of ice that bobbed in the struggling current, her blonde hair fanned forward from her head. A few strands draped the side of her face where her cheek puffed against the upward press of the ice, the corner of her mouth open slightly as if she was trying to draw breath. One arm was pinned beneath her chest; the other was frozen in midreach for the far bank. Her right leg shot outward at an awkward angle from her body. A miniature geyser erupted around the toe of the boot on her left foot, water spilling over the top of the ice, a puncture that revealed the frailty of the sheet she lay on.

From this distance, the red trail extending out from her neck could easily have been mistaken for blood. He knew better.....

Edition details

• Publisher: PAN BOOKS LTD (ENGLAND)
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0330492535
• ISBN 13: 9780330492539
• Binding: Paperback