The descriptions of the Arctic landscape and living conditions were excellent - it's obvious that the author has spent time living there. Such an isolated and at times, very depressing place - the characters all seemed quite detached from the real world, many of them were quite horrible. Nurse Sheila is possibly one of the most despicable characters I have come across for a long time. Most of the leading characters had numerous faults - yet very human.The plot was a real page turner, although i'd worked out the mystery before the ending, this didnt take away from the story though. Waterstone's Cardholder

This is a superb character driven mystery with plenty of twists and turns and lots of small town style gossip and intertwined stories that follows Welsh docter Dafydd Woodruff as he is forced to return to the Arctic town of Moose Creek to resolve the question of his paternity to two teenagers. In doing so he uncovers a lot more than he bargained for and ends up with his entire life turned completely upside-down. While this is a very well written book with engrossing characters and thoroughly gripping story I did find the lengths and diversity of criminal activity in some a small town a little unbelievable and a tad far-fetched, especially without getting caught. That aside it is a good read with good characters that are well written and on the whole quite believable. Sewell has managed to capture the cold isolation of the Arctic well with obvious first-hand experience of the biting winds and sense of cabin fever that comes with it. Overall not a bad read.