A 1001 Midnights Review: PAULA GOSLING – The Zero Trap.

A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review by John Lutz PAULA GOSLING – The Zero Trap. Coward McCann, hardcover, 1980. Warner Books, paperback, 1981. Published earlier in the UK by Macmillan, hardcover, 1979. Paula Gosling’s first novel, Fair Game, won critical acclaim and the 1978 John Creasey Award in England. In this, her second novel, she creates an elegant psychological thriller involving a hijacked military aircraft. On a routine flight, the plane’s nine passengers are gassed into unconsciousness. They awaken in a luxurious, isolated house stocked with the necessities for survival, and comfortable survival at that. Though they arc not guarded, they cannot leave the house, because it is surrounded by snow and hone-cracking cold. And they have no idea where they arc or why they are there. These captives of cold are a diverse group. Laura Ainslie is the daughter of a U.S. Army general. Frank Dcning is a federal marshal escorting accused murderer Joe Hallick to trial. There are also a sexpot…