Reviewed by Lily Andrews
“The Winter Verdict” by Dan Buzzetta is a book that follows Tom Berte, a lawyer who has traded the chaos of the high-stakes world of Washington D.C. for a quiet life as a small-town attorney in the ski resort town of Castle Ridge, or “the Castle” as locals call it, in upstate New York. Through his harrowing journey, the novel explores themes of redemption, the inescapable pull of the past, and the impossible choices a man must make when his family’s safety hangs in the balance. It is set against the brutal beauty of an upstate New York winter, and weaves together the stories of Tom, who is trying to rebuild his life far from the corruption he left behind, Faith McReynolds, the third generation owner of the ski resort who is fighting to protect her family’s legacy, a shadow consortium called Phoenix Holdings who has mysterious designs on a plot of land by the reservoir and an unknown threat that will force Tom to confront the question of how far he’s willing to go to save the people he loves. Purchase Here.
The story begins with what should be a perfect morning, with Tom skiing the empty slopes before dawn, enjoying the peace he worked five years to build. He glimpses movements in the woods over his right shoulder, right before a shrill shriek stops him in his tracks. Thinking someone might be injured and in dire need of help, he scrambles down the icy embankment only to be ambushed and brutally attacked and left for dead in the snow.
The state police believe that whoever attacked him deliberately avoided killing him, likely intending it as a warning or simply to scare him. But soon after he is cleared by the doctors, the ski resort’s main chairlift gets sabotaged in a devastating cyberattack that kills numerous people. But before the dust even settles, a cryptic note warns him that something far worse is planned for the Fourth of July, and that his wife and daughter will be harmed if he goes to the authorities. This leaves him alone and feeling trapped between his oath as an officer of the court and his primal duty to protect his family.
Buzzetta, a litigation partner in a national law firm – the author of this book – brings an authenticity to the legal maneuvering and investigative work that few thriller writers can match. His novel carries a sense of relentless pacing and a willingness to put its protagonist through what feels like a hell designed to finish him off completely. He has not drawn Tom as an invincible hero but as a man who bleeds, who doubts himself, who makes mistakes, and whose love for his family is both his greatest vulnerability and his only weapon.
The author’s intimate knowledge of how power actually works in the courtrooms, corporate boardrooms, and in the shadowy spaces between is what I believe lends every twist and revelation in this book a chilling credibility. I could not fail to notice the well-drawn bond between Tom and the resort’s former marine head of security, through whom we are shown how trust can be forged in the crucible of shared danger. The depiction of the antagonist’s compound, with its cold ideology and meticulous planning, felt brilliant, and like the perfect reminder that the most frightening enemies are sometimes the very people who believe utterly in the justice of their cause. “The Winter Verdict” by Dan Buzzetta is a gripping, pulse‑pounding thriller that left me wondering, ‘What then?’ when the law won’t protect the innocent. With its unforgettable protagonist, breakneck pace, and deeply satisfying conclusion, I believe that it cements Buzzetta’s place among the finest writers of legal suspense today. For anyone who believes that the line between hero and outlaw is actually thinner than anyone would dare to admit, this novel is an absolute must-read.