SEASON OF ICE

How could 17-year-old Genesis Sommer’s father simply disappear in Moosehead Lake in northern Maine? The search-and-rescue operation to find the longtime de-limber in the logging industry becomes a wait-and-see ordeal when the lake freezes overnight and her father’s body is trapped until the spring thaw. As Gen tries to resume a normal life, ice-car racing on the same lake and dropping out of school to help support her stepfamily, she questions how well she really knew her father, especially after dark rumors circulate through the small town. Venturing to her father’s logging camp to uncover the truth and entering a romance with a university intern, Gen begins the grief process, decides to live in the moment and realizes that her father’s love is all she really needs to know about him. Although the story’s pacing is slow but steady, Les Becquets has a gift for placing readers amidst the people and terrain of the region. Sports enthusiasts will be intrigued by Gen’s ice-car racing, based on real-life teenaged racer Nikki Hamilton. (Fiction. YA)