14 Degrees Below Zero isn’t so much about solving how a crime was committed, but so much as why it was committed. The novel opens with the crime in progress, then retreats several days to follow the events that led up to it.

The story is one of a triangle between Jay, her father, Lewis and her boyfriend, Stephen. Jay struggles as a young single mother, forced to give up on college when she got pregnant and trying to find her place in the world. Her struggle is paralleled by Lewis, her father, going through a mid-life crisis after having lost his wife earlier that year to cancer. Stephen is the college-professor boyfriends who loves Jay and yearns to give her a better life for herself and her daughter. Part of that is breaking free of the manipulative grip of Lewis.

The story is a fascinating character study of each of the players in this drama. Each of them is motivated out of a love that may or may not blind them to the realities of the situation. Lewis doesn’t see his constant involvement in and belittling of Jay’s life and choices as bad. He is motivated out of wanting her to have a better life.

A series of events and confrontations leads to a violent act, an attempted murder and events spiralling out of control. Skinner teases us with the violent act early and then spends three quarters of the novel setting it up and the last quarter watching the fall-out. It’s a fascinating, complex and character driven novel that will keep the pages turning and linger with you long after the final page is turned.