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The Ice Queen,

Alice Hoffman

Chatto & Windus
Reviewed by John Whelan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)
 
"Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back."

So begins this adult fairy tale where fantasy is mixed with the everyday, the bizarre is accepted without a second glance and sometimes wishes really do come true.

The tale is told by a librarian who has a morbid preoccupation with death, which is quite handy because one day she is struck by lightning and her life is never the same again.

To aid her recovery she reluctantly joins a support group for fellow sufferers, where she is drawn into the lives of other unfortunate souls.

Each sufferer has experienced the same dangerously unique occurrence that has now become a curse.

She learns about Lazarus Jones, a mysterious man who was brought back to life after being hit by a lightning bolt. She sets out to find him and things turn into a tragic love story involving unusual goings on with a bath and ice cubes.

The blend of magic and mystery is original but the large dollops of waffling silliness, from a supremely talented writer, tend to go on a bit and Hoffman is plagued by the need to have a happy, if rather unconventional, ending.

It's entertaining enough but with more misses than hits.