Review and Giveaway: Dead of Wynter by Spencer Seidel

About the Book:


Some say put the past behind you. Alice Wynter tried. 
Alice Dunn, nee Wynter, made great strides to create distance from her family in their rural Maine town. They were that family, who never had any money, were abused by the alcoholic father, who you both felt sorry for and disliked. Escaping south for a Boston University education led her to her Gerald, a nice guy from a well-off family. Thus began her life as Alice Dunn, a marketing exec, devoted wife, ever careful to cover up her upbringing to the world, including her husband. Life was not ideal with a marriage on the rocks and signs of age, but at least she wasn’t Alice Wynter anymore. Now, twenty years since putting her past behind, it all rushes back with a phone call in the middle of the night. 

“Dolly, it’s your mother.” Dolly. Jackie Ruth Wynter had called Alice that for years. The conversation that followed led her right back to the place she had run from for years. Her twin brother, younger by just a minute or so, had been fading, transforming into an image of their drunken, narrow-eyed father. Now her father was dead, and her brother, Chris, missing.

Alice resigns herself to return, helping her mother and the local police with the mystery surrounding the crime. But there are some family secrets her mother would sooner take to the grave than reveal. 

Reacquainting with her past brings fresh pain and new friendships as she struggles with who to trust with the details of her father’s murder and brother’s disappearance. As the authorities come closer to solving the mystery of the men in her family, she begins to realize her past life as Alice Wynter is the missing part of the puzzle. But who is searching out the former Alice?

Spencer Seidel tells a familiar tale of a reluctant hometown girl while plot twists take us deep into the bone-chilling cold of the dark winter in Maine’s lake country. The sinister mysteries of the Wynters will capture the reader’s attention well past when the fire has gone out.


About the Author:

Spencer Seidel lives and works in suburban New Jersey but has also called Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine home. He is an honors graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University and attended the Berklee College of Music to study guitar, which he has been playing for over 25 years. His love of reading and books began as a child after discovering Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Later, he was drawn to darker work by authors such as Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Jack Ketchum, who continue to influence his dark novels and short stories.






My Opinion:


This is a tale of secrets. Secrets long buried and long thought forgotten. Alice Wynter left her small, rural Maine upbringing for much better things. Her abusive, alcoholic father drove her away but continued to hold sway over her meek mother and troubled twin brother. When Alice receives a phone call in the middle of the night from her mother she learns that her father is dead. She also learns her brother is missing and her mother needs her. Whether she likes it or not she has to go back to her beginnings.


This is a book that grabs you from the very beginning. In fact, I sat and read it in one sitting. The tale is told in flashbacks and current day happenings and the mystery of the murder and who committed it builds slowly. Alice is forced to confront a past she never wanted to visit again. Mr. Seidel creates a very strong heroine in Alice; you really want to root for her as her life comes crumbling down around her. The surrounding characters are a good balance and add strong depth to a murder mystery that ends with a bang.  A page turner for sure!


Dead of Wynter is available on Amazon.com

















Thanks to the publisher one lucky reader will win a copy of Dead of Wynter!
How do you win? It's easy!
But first some rules:


US and Canada only
No PO boxes
18 yrs older +
One copy per household


MANDATORY ENTRY:


Leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win.


EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Follow @BrokenTeepee on Twitter and tweet the following (once per day)

#win Dead of Wynter by Spencer Seidel @BrokenTeepee @http://tinyurl.com/3rpqlr5 #giveaway

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3. Like Broken Teepee on Facebook

SEE THE EXTRA ENTRIES PAGE FOR ADDITIONAL WAYS TO ENTER. 


All entries need to be in by 9PM MDT on May 27th when I will go to Random.org to choose the winner. He/she will have 48hrs to respond or I will choose a new winner.


Good luck everyone!




Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of Dead of Wynter. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.