In Caught in the Cold Snows, novelist T.R. Healy develops close-ups of common decency enlarged to big-screen proportions to reveal psychopaths lurking in the telescopic background. The author’s freeze-frames of do-gooder Curtis Reese, a burned-out college professor turned limo driver, contrast with the inflow of sleazy characters.

Caught in the Cold Snows presents the bitter reality that some relationships are twisted by people who con their way to love with the delusion of good and purportedly necessary beatings. Opposite forces are portrayed here in the form of brutal, abusive acts of jealousy against a young woman by an allegedly caring boyfriend.

Out of the cold blue, nice guy Curtis Reese lands in the middle of this troubled relationship. Concern for the woman’s safety warms to affection, but the pendulum of a promising romance swings in uneven directions, in part due to Curt’s limited familiarity with the other side of the track. A difficult, months-long spousal separation and bootlicking duties as a servile driver have thickened his skin, but not to the irascible toughness engrained in criminally abusive types.

Head spinning with heavy responsibilities - a new job, pending divorce, uninvited celebrity, a new flame, involvement in charitable fund-raising for an impoverished Mexican village – Curt is challenged to suit-up as a cool, calm, impressive redeemer of those who have failed in their civil, tow-the-line course. Curt is easily drawn to the unconventional out of instinctive concern for others. He just as easily slips on wintry terrain when attracted to risk that is alien to his inline practice.