Jill Jackson is working undercover as Krystal Peters in Sydney’s Fairfield. In a long term operation she’s gathering intelligence on the area’s drug dealers and their suppliers in an effort to help clean up they city’s drug scene. At the same time Serendipity (Seren) Templeton is due to be released from prison after spending more than 12 months in jail for a drug related crime she did not commit. All she wants is to be reunited with her young son. And to extract revenge from the man responsible for her imprisonment. There are other forces at play too: Jill’s sister Cassie, a top class fashion model, has a new boyfriend and is living the high life in the harbour city and a young Chemistry student is learning that you can’t always stop what you start.

I’m sure part of the meaning of the title of this book relates to the drug at the heart of the tale. But as I started reading I was reminded of the winter I spent in the North-East of the US (i.e. a real winter as opposed to its rather laughable cousin we have here in Adelaide). As someone new to walking and driving in the conditions I was warned often of the black ice which was virtually transparent and so invisible until you were right on top of it (which in my case generally resulted in falling over or sliding off the road). There are elements of this story that are hidden in the same way: Jill’s undercover alter-ego whose personality is very different from Jill’s, Seren’s second persona which she uses to embark on the revenge she’s been plotting for months. Even air-headed Cassie, towards the end of the book, shows hidden depths. The unpredictable way all three of these strong female characters are revealed over the course of the story is utterly captivating.

It’s always the characters I love most about Giarratano’s books and this time I think it’s Serendipity who will stay with me after the rest of the book starts to fade. Her life of abuse, teenage pregnancy without any support, and betrayal when the one good thing that’s ever happened to her turns sour is painfully but beautifully depicted. In what might be a new record I was crying by page 38 when her two cellmates turned on her. Then each other. From that point on all I wanted to know was how would life treat Seren and how, or if, she would cope.

Jill is more mature in this book and at times takes a back seat to the other characters although she’s still quite a presence and it is interesting to watch her behaviour change and normalise over time. Aside from her and Seren there are Giarratano’s usual assortment of odd but memorable bit players who manage to leave lasting impressions even if they only appear for a few lines or a few pages. I won’t forget poor Damien who should have known better than to experiment or the nastily bureaucratic parole officer any time soon. And in this book the city itself plays a strong role. Two of its sides, rich and privileged versus limited by poverty, are shown inhabiting the same physical space yet practically operating as if on separate planets and it has quite a realistic feel for this former Sydney-sider.

Rather than answering the question ‘who committed that crime’ this book seems instead to be pondering the reasons why crimes happen and so is far less of a police procedural than its predecessors. Although some of the scenarios were completely foreign to my middle class existence with my happy childhood memories I found myself often wondering what I would have done in the scenarios being described. Although ‘turning to a jelly-like wreck’ is the most likely answer for most instances in this book I always enjoy reading that offers me any kind of vicarious living. And although parts of the book are bleak it’s not uniformly so. Call me an old softie if you like but I enjoyed it more because of that: there are limits to how much bleakness I want in my life.

I probably shouldn’t have liked this book. At least in part it’s about the drug scene (almost my least favourite plot theme ever for reasons I won’t bore anyone with) and, more importantly, it’s quite a departure from its much-loved predecessors. I was anticipating more of the same from Black Ice as I had enjoyed about the two earlier Jill Jackson novels: the creepiest of villains and a put-upon but valiant heroine. I didn’t have to hide undeer a blanket once here and the heroine wasn’t really who I expected her to be. However, despite that departure, or perhaps because of it, I found the book an emotional and satisfying read. It has retained the essence of what made the first two books great: wonderfully drawn characters and an exquisite build-up of tension towards the climax. But it’s also taken me somewhere unexpected, given me new ideas to think about. A thoroughly great read that I’d recommend to both fans of the previous books and people new to the series. ( )

Detective Sergeant Jill Jackson is seeing the seamier side of Sydney's drugs underworld working undercover. The aim of the operation is the identification and removal not only of drug pushers, and the drug barons, but also of the small kitchen labs where pills and tablets are being manufactured. Jill's role requires that she live in communities where she is likely to meet users and through them gain the trust of those further up the chain. It is a dangerous sting, and the complexity increases ten-fold when she meets her younger sister Cassie at a party.

The main action BLACK ICE takes place over just 15 days, some of the described events occurring simultaneously. The convergence of several story lines: the young mother who has just done 12 months in gaol for carrying, now bent on revenge; the university chemistry student raking it in manufacturing in his kitchen now realises that it is all getting a lot more complicated than he envisaged; Jill's own relationship with her family and her sister in particular; these all add heightened interest to what feels in particular like an authoritative novel.

BLACK ICE is #3 in Giarratano's Jill Jackson series. While it is part of a series, BLACK ICE works quite well as a stand-alone. Giarratano sees to it that the reader gets plenty of Jackson's back story. The action moves well, and the scenarios felt very believable. ( )

Leah Giarratano, forensic psychologist, crime fiction writer and consummate storyteller has just released her third novel - BLACK ICE. As with both of the earlier books, Giarratano takes the reader deep into a specific world of crime and criminal behaviour, the theme in BLACK ICE is illegal drugs.

Readers of the two earlier books will know about DS Jill Jackson, a survivor of child sexual abuse, she has fought her way back from despair and continues, ever so gradually, to get control of her life and to deal with the memories of what happened to her. BLACK ICE adds another dimension to the story with the introduction her sister Cassie - famous model, one half of a glamorous society couple, a cocaine addict. Her boyfriend Christian, a highly successful lawyer and drug dealer has a past which is about to catch up with him. Cassie inadvertently steps into an investigation into illegal drugs that Jill is working undercover on, and in even more difficult circumstances, Christian's past, when a young mother, just out of jail is hell-bent on vengeance.

One of the strongest aspect's of Giarratano's books is that she is obviously writing about people and behaviours that she knows all too well. DARK ICE draws a picture of both sides of drug addiction. The sheer ruthlessness of the "business" side of drugs - the totally amoral behaviour of the dealers and the people who make obscene amounts of money. The ease with which that money can buy the cooks, the dealers, the trappings of the lifestyle. The craziness that takes over when there's turf to protect and supply and demand chains to maintain. Finally the depths to which the addicts themselves can sink. Even as part of the so called "beautiful people", addicted people do terrible things.

The introduction of Jill's own sister under threat provides Giarratano with an opportunity to explore the relationship between the sisters. There's an age difference, and then there's the problem of the affect of abduction and abuse on the siblings of the victim. The relationship between these two sisters is very fragile, and a lot of the difficulties go back to the way that their family coped with what happened to Jill. Hopefully this is an area that Giarratano's going to get further into as this was a particularly interesting aspect of the affects of dreadful crimes that isn't overly explored in crime fiction. Slightly less successful for this reader was the story of Seren - the young mother jailed for drug offences, who is so keen to achieve revenge. To this reader it seemed the author was seeking to create another character who, despite enormous odds against them, triumphs over circumstances which seemed a little to co-incidental with Jill, despite the specific experiences being very different. Perhaps it was simply a personality thing - but readers who find a connection with Seren will undoubtedly be able empathise with her strongly.

As always with Leah Giarratano's books, the reader is going to come away from BLACK ICE thinking just a little bit more about the consequences behind the headlines on the nightly news. That's a very good thing. ( )