I purchased this book after reading about it in "Books to Die For" and learning that it had been nominated for several awards including the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. While it is no doubt a crime novel, unfortunately for me it is by no means a mystery. I might have been tempted to give this a higher rating if I hadn't already read a very similar sort of book earlier this month - "The Getaway" by Jim Thompson. If you are a fan of noir crime novels, you will probably like this book but I find reading books in which all the characters are unpleasant and there is no puzzle to solve is just distasteful... but I can't give this 1* because the writing was good and despite the fact I found the plot disagreeable, I read it right through. ( )

The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips is a noirish crime story full of bleak humor. It is dark and violent as Charlie, a mobster lawyer, makes his final rounds to various seedy joints. He plans on leaving town later that light as he has embezzled money from his boss. The setting is mostly of sleazy nightclubs and strip joints and there is a raft of unsavoury characters that bring humor and pathos to the story. The book takes place in 1979, on a snowy Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas and presents Christmas in a totally unpleasant way. In this story Christmas is an inconvenience.

Like an accident waiting to happen the reader can see that bad things are ahead. We discover that Charlie isn’t alone in his embezzlement, his partner Vic, with whom he runs a couple of strip clubs with, is also involved. When Charlie finally goes to meet him, Vic doesn’t show. This opens up the possibility of betrayal and gives the book a sense of inevitable doom. The long night is full of twists and turns and the final twist at the end of the book is a doozy.

Written in simple, straight forward language, the author gives this quirky noir tale a mid-western flavor. Ironic and darkly humorous, The Ice Harvest was a book that I really enjoyed although I could see that it’s nasty side could put some people off. ( )

This book is not for everyone. It's dark, violent and disturbing. However, it is positively intriguing and horrifying in a 'can't look away from that train wreck' kind of way. The plot moves at a rather leisurely pace, quietly setting up what turns out to be a jaw dropping set of events. The story is told in a very neutral way, which gives the violence the ability to knock the wind out of the reader. The conclusion is surreal, dark humor at its best and worst. ( )

Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean you shouldn't read it! But, only if you like crime novels where weak, bad people do bad stuff to each other and the lives of quiet desparation keep chugging on all around and it's set at christmas go for it. Better is: [book:already dead] by [denis johnson]. ( )

A fabulously engaging crime story. Unpredictable, horrifying in parts, but nonetheless a page turner - worth every minute! ( )