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A Killing Cold
By Kate Alice Marshall
Published by Pan Macmillan
ISBN 9781761567759
It seems I have a penchant for reading books about the cold,… this is fourth, maybe it's because I was born and brought up in the North East of Scotland, but I much prefer far being away from the cold in Sydney.
This story takes place on a mountain, somewhere in the USA, in winter, where the snow is thick and f-f-freezing.
There is a continuing theme of the protagonist, Theodora Scott (Theo), having a nightmarish dream about being a small child and having to hide from an ogre coming to do her harm in the middle of the night.
But all is very slowly revealed when her new fiancée invites her to his very rich family's mountain for the two weeks surrounding Christmas.
She experiences a feeling that she has been there before but, of course, her memory does not concur because she can not remember further back to when she was four years of age.
Theo knows she was brought up by adoptive parents but has no idea of her life before that. Sadly, her life was miserable, growing up with abuse and cruelty. Eventually she broke free and went onto forge a new life at University which led to her finding great job in a book shop.
Theo meets Connor Dalton through a mutual friend, at a party. As luck would have it she discovers that, not only is he good looking and kind, but also extremely wealthy.
But that's where the story starts to get juicy, or maybe the word should be icy. She receives anonymous chilling texts telling her to keep away from Connor which causes her to become concerned, they are a mysterious.
Connor proposes marriage to Theo she is in love with him and she delightedly accepts. But then he invites her to meet the family for Christmas. When Theo arrives she finds a large lodge where the family members gather and where there are several cabins scattered around the property, mostly hidden by trees.
As the story progresses small pieces of her memory return believing her intuition that she has been here before. This is heightened when she goes into one of the disused cabins, which she quietly investigates. The cabin is almost empty but she discovers one photograph that some family members who had ived there had missed.
She is shocked to realise that the man in the photo she recognises is Connor’s late father and the little child whose and hand he is holding is her. That's when the story heats up...or freezes...
The author is from the USA and writes in American English, There are quite a few words and phrases that stopped my reading flow. It's true "two nations divided by a common language" - Winston Churchill. In the true spirit of Churchillianism, I soldiered on and I'm so glad I did, it is worth reading this throughly enjoyable clever story.
Marshall's writing style is staccato, urgent and gripping.
Her descriptive skills paint a vivid picture of the scenes she unfolds before us. The twists and turns of the story add a thrilling texture to the narrative that is totally enthralling.
The ending is not as expected... This is a very good read.
The Author
Kate Alice Marshall is also the author of the young adult novels I Am Still Alive, Rules for Vanishing, and Our Last Echoes, as well as the Secrets of Eden Eld middle grade series. She lives outside of Seattle, where she spends her time playing board games, tending a chaotic vegetable garden, and wrangling dogs and children.
This is an independent review, I am not paid by the book publishers, so.If you Liked this review - please Buy me a coffee
