by Tessa Wegert
Release Date: November 5, 2024
2024 Severn House
Ebook ARC; 306 Pages
ISBN: 978-1448314249
ASIN: B0CT47LP9L
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher
4 / 5 Stars
Summary
It’s February in
the Thousand Islands and, cut off from civilization by endless ice,
eight people are overwintering on tiny, remote Running Pine. Six
year-rounders, used to the hard work, isolation, and freezing
temperatures . . . and two newcomers: social-media stars Cary and
Sylvie, whose account documenting their year on the island is garnering
thousands of followers, and thousands of dollars’ worth of luxury gifts. So when Cary doesn’t return from ice fishing one morning, his neighbors
fear the worst.
With the clock ticking to find the missing influencer, a police team is dispatched to take the perilous journey to the island . . . but Sylvie, his frantic partner, will only talk to one person: newlywed Senior Investigator Shana Merchant.
With the clock ticking to find the missing influencer, a police team is dispatched to take the perilous journey to the island . . . but Sylvie, his frantic partner, will only talk to one person: newlywed Senior Investigator Shana Merchant.
My Thoughts
The Coldest Case has an interesting premise, and I definitely enjoyed the tiny frozen island setting whereby only a handful of people stick it out through the winter as it’s something I can relate to in the area where I live. I am familiar with the Thousand Islands area, but from the Canadian side so I can definitely appreciate the difficulties of living in that environment during the winter. In this story, experienced year-round dwellers are joined by a couple who have decided to document their experiences on Instagram, a couple who have little to no experience living in these types of conditions. Honestly, very few people who have experience in these conditions live on an isolated island in the winter, so I was curious as to the motives as there definitely had to be one.
I love locked in murder mysteries, especially the cold weather ones and this one delivered on that count. The descriptions of the hostile environment during the winter months made me cold while sitting in front of my fireplace, and I could appreciate the danger the first responders were under while searching for a missing man. The author wove these descriptions into the story seamlessly and I loved them.
The plot itself was a quick and easy read, but it didn’t just focus on the current case. Flashbacks to a previous case that almost killed Shana made up a large part of the book and while the author wove the previous case into the story quite well, I feel like it would be beneficial to have read the previous books to really be invested in what happened. There were a lot of themes woven into the narrative as well, one of the principal themes being mental health. Shana is dealing with the fallout of her kidnapping and the fact she has a serial killer in her family and I like how the author shows the consequences and ramifications, not just for Shana, but for everyone involved in the case. The concept of whom to trust is also central to the book and is one of the main storylines woven through both the present and past cases. Personally, I found the older case more interesting than the one about the instagrammers as it seemed to have more depth while the current one seemed to be more tropy in nature and was easy to figure out.
Verdict
The Coldest Case had some interesting twists and turns, some of which were predictable, some which caught me off guard. I did wonder about a seven-month pregnant investigator going into a dangerous situation, but decided just to go along with it as I am not sure of the protocols. I do recommend you read the previous books in the series to get a better idea of Shana’s trauma and her personal growth as well as learn about the development of her relationship, but it’s not absolutely necessary to enjoy this book.
I love locked in murder mysteries, especially the cold weather ones and this one delivered on that count. The descriptions of the hostile environment during the winter months made me cold while sitting in front of my fireplace, and I could appreciate the danger the first responders were under while searching for a missing man. The author wove these descriptions into the story seamlessly and I loved them.
The plot itself was a quick and easy read, but it didn’t just focus on the current case. Flashbacks to a previous case that almost killed Shana made up a large part of the book and while the author wove the previous case into the story quite well, I feel like it would be beneficial to have read the previous books to really be invested in what happened. There were a lot of themes woven into the narrative as well, one of the principal themes being mental health. Shana is dealing with the fallout of her kidnapping and the fact she has a serial killer in her family and I like how the author shows the consequences and ramifications, not just for Shana, but for everyone involved in the case. The concept of whom to trust is also central to the book and is one of the main storylines woven through both the present and past cases. Personally, I found the older case more interesting than the one about the instagrammers as it seemed to have more depth while the current one seemed to be more tropy in nature and was easy to figure out.
Verdict
The Coldest Case had some interesting twists and turns, some of which were predictable, some which caught me off guard. I did wonder about a seven-month pregnant investigator going into a dangerous situation, but decided just to go along with it as I am not sure of the protocols. I do recommend you read the previous books in the series to get a better idea of Shana’s trauma and her personal growth as well as learn about the development of her relationship, but it’s not absolutely necessary to enjoy this book.
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