City of Ice is a dark and powerful novel set in Montreal against the background of the wars raging between motorcycle gangs funded by Russian drug money. The heart-stopping plot introduces one of the most interesting characters in fiction: the middle-aged, cynical policeman-detective Emile Cinq-Mars, whose work is constantly undermined by corruption among his own people. Farrow's compelling descriptions of the ancient and beautiful city of Montreal, corrupted by the poisonous divisions of the Separatist movement, have provoked comparisons with Smilla's Sense of Snow.

"A deft thriller…rich descriptions of Montreal in winter blend well with the bone-chilling plot."
-The New York Times

"A gripping thriller."
-Time Out

"This is a character-driven mystery of the highest order, yet it also boasts one of the most confounding, architecturally inventive plots imaginable. A new crime-fiction star has been born."
-Booklist

"City of Ice is a page-turner stuffed with reportage worthy of the likes of a Tom Wolfe or a Charles Dickens."
-Quill & Quire

"This is a powerful, atmospheric thriller, built solidly and stylishly on depth of character and strength of plot."
-The Bookseller

"A richly complicated tale, told by a talented writer. . . . Half the pleasure of this novel is the character of Cinq-Mars, a moody man of old-fashioned integrity."
-St. Louis Dispatch

"John Farrow's City of Ice is vintage cop novel--literate and hard-edged; sharp, funny, and mean. All the street reality and ass-kicking you could want, set in Montreal in winter and chilling well beyond that."
-Alan Furst, author of Kingdom of Shadows