Cold Fury
A Cold Fury Novel
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
In the first book of this suspenseful series, a sixteen-year-old’s life takes a dark turn when her parents and brother are kidnapped, revealing her family’s deep involvement with the Chicago mob.
“Engaging, including action sequences that are forthright and expeditious.”—School Library Journal
“A white-knuckle read.”—Gregg Olsen, New York Times bestselling author
Sara Jane Rispoli has just turned sixteen, but so far, it’s anything but sweet. She’d planned to spend this birthday at the spring dance with the handsome Max Kissberg, not being chased and attacked by a masked assassin, dirty cops, and a turncoat uncle. She certainly didn’t plan on discovering that her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the Mob) or to come home and find them gone.
Now on the run but determined to find her family, Sara Jane fights back with a flame burning in her gut—a deadly cold fury. Though also armed with a .45 and a briefcase full of cash, an old tattered notebook may be her best defense. It holds the key to “Ultimate Power.” It’s why she’s being pursued, it’s why her family was taken away, and it could be the key to saving her life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Let down by plot holes and a barely developed supporting cast, Goeglein's debut, first in a planned trilogy, fails to do its nifty hook justice. When Sara Jane Rispoli's family goes missing and she is nearly abducted, the 16-year-old suspects her jealous Uncle Buddy is behind the crime. A hidden tape from Sara Jane's father reveals a secret room in the family bakery that helps her discover the Rispolis' history with the Chicago mob. While there are several fun hooks in the story (including a series of "Capone Doors," secret escape doors hidden in many old Chicago buildings and El stations), they pale next to oddities like a four-star hotel staffed entirely by mob employees, mob enforcers beating up a school bully, and a case of literal (and ludicrous) rattus ex machina. Adding to the mix are inexplicable character decisions most notably Sara Jane's decision to return to school while still on the run from her assailants and the sort of large-scale cop-and-mobster collusion that falls apart unless all the players are hypercompetent. Ages 12 up.
