Author: Graham Joyce

Title: The Silent Land

Publisher: Doubleday

Young, married couple Zoe and Jake hit the ski slopes in the French Alps resort town of Saint-Bernard-en-Haut before any other vacationers had ventured out of the hotel in the early morning.

Their passion for skiing in virgin, fresh fallen snow had brought them out into the quiet morning to playfully race each other down the mountain. A love affair that started on a ski trip years before nearly ends on the same plane when a freak avalanche overwhelms the couple's thrill ride and keeps them from reaching their finish line.

Encased in a tomb of snow, Zoe believes she probably has met her end. She is buried upside down, can barely move the fingers on one hand, and realizes her muffled calls for help are being unheard on the lonely mountain. After blacking out Jake eventually comes to her rescue and they celebrate their good fortune of having so narrowly survived death on the slopes. They cautiously make their way back down to the ski lift, which has been abandoned by the operator because of the avalanche. After resting and gathering their composure they make the descent back into the ski village.

The silent morning becomes even more surreal when they find their hotel, and the village, deserted. Everything looks like it was abandoned in a hurry, as if the town officials feared the avalanche danger wasn't over and that the residents needed to be quickly shuttled to safely. Zoe and Jake realize that in the panic for survival they have been forgotten by the others and have been left to manage by themselves. This sets into motion a series of conversations and discoveries between the lovers about themselves and their situation that are best left for the readers to digest. Saying too much about this story would ruin the unearthings by story lovers.

"I asked you if you thought we're trapped here, or if we've been freed here."

"Depends which way you choose to see it."

"Exactly. There isn't a right answer, is there? It depends on how we choose to see it. If we choose to see it as if we're trapped here, then our situation is tragic. If we choose to see that we've been liberated here, then it's the opposite."

British author Graham Joyce (Requiem and The Tooth Fairy) artfully renders a portrait of love, painted with haunting, swirling colors on the glaring white canvas of snow. His descriptions are fresh and poignant. While describing Zoe (the meaning of her Greek name being a tip off to the reader) and Jake skiing alone on the mountain, Joyce writes, "They managed it more effectively this time, and where they didn't, they laughed, and their shared laughter cut through the silent trees. It was a little like laughing in church: whether it was approved of or frowned upon depended on the aspect of your God."

While his slender book doesn't smoothly fit into any specific genre, readers who enjoy thrillers, the supernatural and subdued romance will find something hauntingly beautiful to connect with in The Silent Land.

*This Review first published 4/5/2011