A delightful read, even though it’s a murder mystery. The story flows nicely, and I got immediately drawn into the story. A small town in the middle of nowhere where everyone knows everyone else’s business. A boy disappears, and everyone is looking for him. A local man ends up in prison for killing his wife. Ten years later, and things start unfolding. 

Great, quirky characters and they all fit in to this small town. People have kept many secrets for years. Let one slip and many more will come out. Even though the devastating events the town and its people have moved forward. Only no one has forgotten, and what happened has left many people broken.

Beautifully written, with great character descriptions. This book would work well as a TV miniseries. I can see the town and all the characters clearly. The ending came a bit quickly, and there really wasn’t a chance that the reader could figure it out beforehand. So many sad people and destinies, I think this story is one I won’t forget about.

Truly AMAZING! I admit - I read this book twice... I had to. The story is so beautifully told in first-person through Shelby Lake's eyes and experiences. Once I finished, I had to go back and re-read it to catch how Mr. Freeman so carefully plotted and revealed Shelby's story. As a deputy in the small town nicknamed "Everywhere," the novel follows the disappearance of a ten-year-old boy, Jeremiah Sloan, along with the efforts to locate the boy. Mr. Freeman skillfully shows how this little boy's disappearance has ripple effects throughout the county. In addition to the mystery, the relationship between Shelby and her Sheriff father, Tom, is very real - as an individual whose Father has memory issues, I could easily relate. The end is very satisfying... and you'll find yourself wanting to read it again, immediately!! This is a masterpiece, and it should not be missed. I hope we hear more of Shelby Lake's story from Mr. Freeman, as The Deep, Deep Snow is one of my top five books of the year!

Brian Freeman has written so many good books. I've enjoyed them all. But, this book... The Deep Deep Snow is special. The humanity and emotion it evokes causes it to transcend the mystery and thriller that it is. It's powerful. It resonates with me. I think it's his best literary work so far. Read it for yourself.

As a newborn baby, Shelby Lake was left on the doorstep of Sheriff Tom Ginn who adopted and raised her. She now works as his deputy in the very rural Mittel County. The town is called Avery Weir but is –not surprisingly- known as Everywhere. There’s something with the names in this book both those of places and people, they’re colourful but carefully chosen.
Mittel is one of those counties where everybody knows everyone. When a 10-year-old boy goes missing, the local sheriff’s department isn’t capable of handling the case and the FBI gets involved. Much to the displeasure of her partner, it is Shelby who’s chosen as a liaison person. The little boy is never found but they manage to solve a murder that happened a year earlier. Most people assume that the same man is responsible for Jeremiah’s disappearance.
10 years later, a yellow shuttlecock that may have belonged to the boy turns up in a derelict resort, deep in the woods. This new evidence turns things around and it seems that they can no longer trust the timelines and alibis given at the time.

This is the second book I read by this author and it fulfils all its promises. It’s a rather simple story about the disappearance of a young boy, but it’s masterly told. It’s told in a leisurely pace without getting boring. We get to know most of the people involved in the drama, as well as their family and friends. In one of the last places where your business is your neighbour’s and everybody else’s, you can’t hide smaller or bigger secrets for a long time. One of the themes is this book is this love and care for family, friends and community. What it means to be family and that blood is not the only way to define families.
The book is divided into 2 parts: first, there is the investigation at the time of the disappearance and the second part tells the tale of the final investigation after finding the shuttlecock. Everything you think to know from the first part is being questioned and some of the assumptions are obviously wrong. It’s a tragic story, to be honest. I won’t say much more because that would involve spoilers. Only at the end of the book, do we know everything that has happened at the time of the alleged abduction.
The author has deep compassion and understanding of people with Alzheimer. He tackles the subject with real empathy and serenity. It’s such an ugly disease that will scare most of us but he manages to evoke some of the better moments, even when he describes the gradual deterioration of the sheriff. It must be hard to do something like that.
There’s some unsubtle criticism on the US’ crippling medical costs for working people like Breezy that go bankrupt from simple appendicitis. I really don’t understand what and why they have against universal healthcare. Unfortunately, we don’t have the UK’s NHS over in Belgium and we do have to pay something, but nothing as ludicrous as what Americans pay.
The evocation of county Mittel is also done expertly. It’s almost as if you’re watching a painting in progress. It really sounds like one of the friendliest places in the US and I’d love to settle down in one of those rapidly disappearing hideouts. I hope that I can find similar communities in the remoter parts of France, Ireland or Germany (hey, I want to speak the language and the UK has its Brexit).
If you can read only 10 books this year, this is one you should pick.
I thank NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the free ARC they provided me with, this is my honest, unbiased review of it.

I really liked this book; often when a book is a read now, I figure it is a first attempt. This was an excellent story with good characters and some interesting twists. It is well written and moves along quickly. I found myself wanting to read all of it, rather than my frequent skim technique if I am not captivated, and looking forward to picking up the story each evening.

The mysteriously found little girl who grows up to the apple of her dad's eye, follows in his footsteps to be a small town sheriff. The small town dynamics and secrets and the disappearance of a little boy set several story lines off to a conclusion that is a nice surprise. There a a few clues telegraphed in advance, but not enough to give it all away. 

I liked Shelby, the main character and found a kindness for all the characters, even the ones who could be the bad guys. 

Very nice surprise, fun book to read, liked it alot. Looking forward to his next one and would love to know who mom could be. While I tend to be stingy with stars, this was such a delightful surprise to read, so feeling generous.

I like to read Brian Freeman between reading a lot of Scandinavian Crime reads. Brian brings everything that is there, all the Scandinavian people, all the bars, everything that is northern Minnesota. He starts out with Sheriff Tom having an owl land on his boat as he was fishing. He wouldn't leave until Tom put everything away and went home. There he found a baby girl left on his doorstep, and named her after the lake he was fishing on. Shelby Lake grew up into a wonderful woman who was empathic with all people. She was also in to owls. What happens is a small boy lost his grandfather several weeks before his brother sent him off and he was lost. They work on this but by that time Sheriff Tom has dementia so they call in the FBI. 10 years fly by and they still haven't found the boy. The same time the boy went missing a woman was shot and her husband was sent to prison. Other characters are brought in to fill what was happening. Shelby Lake saves the day but you most read the story to find out what happened.

The book starts out with some background information of how Shelby Lake actually became Shelby Lake.  Shelby then begins telling the story by letting the reader know she is now 35 and we are being taken back 10 years to when Jeremiah Sloan went missing. The first half or so of the book is in this time line, while the second it set in the present.  The character building was fantastic, the stories of each of the main characters really draws the reader into the story.  As a reader I found myself caring about the characters and having some emotions when bad things happened. For me this is kind of rare. I know many are often drawn into the story, however for me this is not an overly often reaction and that is one of the reason for me willingly giving this a 5 star review. I am very stingy with my 5 stars, but when a book can evoke these emotions in me, it deserves all 5 stars. I do not want to give away any of the goodness, but let me say that I never saw the ending coming. If you0 like thrillers, amazing characters, and a story that keeps you guessing, do yourself a favor and read this book!