Cold Cold Heart
-
-
4.3 • 693 Ratings
-
-
- $8.99
-
- $8.99
Publisher Description
A thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag, “one of the most intense suspense writers around” (Chicago Tribune).
Dana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims. Nearly a year has passed since she survived her ordeal, but the physical, emotional, and psychological scars run deep. Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together. But home doesn’t provide the comfort she expects.
Dana’s harrowing story and her return to small-town life have rekindled police and media interest in the unsolved case of her childhood best friend, Casey Grant, who disappeared without a trace the summer after their graduation from high school. Terrified of truths long buried, Dana reluctantly begins to look back at her past. Viewed through the dark filter of PTSD, old friends and loved ones become suspects and enemies. Questioning everything she knows, refusing to be defined by the traumas of her past, Dana seeks out a truth that may prove too terrible to be believed...
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Tami Hoag’s name guarantees pulse-pounding thrills and a strong heroine. But we were blown away by the depth and sensitivity of Cold Cold Heart. After surviving imprisonment at the hands of a serial killer, young reporter Dana Nolan returns to her hometown, where police enlist her help in solving her best friend’s disappearance. Unfortunately, a traumatic brain injury and PTSD have left black holes in Dana's memory, turning even close friends into suspects. Hoag treats her heroine’s traumas respectfully even as she shapes her thriller into a shadowy maze with shocking reveals around every corner.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dana Nolan, Hoag's newest protagonist (after 2013's The 9th Girl), may qualify as the ultimate woman in jeopardy. In just the prologue, the former television reporter manages to subdue a sadistic serial rapist and murderer who has put her through a horrific period of torture. The book begins with her leaving the hospital, still scarred mentally and physically, to seek further therapy in the presumably more comfortable Indiana home of her mother and stepfather. Instead of quiet recovery, her well-publicized arrival activates a local cold case the disappearance of her high school BFF, Casey Grant. Reader Whelan's narration is soft and whispery, establishing an atmosphere of both intimacy and impending danger as Dana, suffering from a brain injury, struggles to remember any details surrounding Casey's sudden vanishing that might help. In giving voice to the protagonist, Whelan begins with a credible halting stutter combined with yelps of frustration. Then, as Dana's therapy kicks in, her speech settles into an infrequently halting, more normal pattern marked by moments of self-doubt and fear. The other characters are equally well served: Dana's overprotective mother sounds effusively caring and nervously high-strung, her step-father cold and aloof. Whelan lowers her voice effectively for the novel's other male characters, including Dana's high school boyfriend, Tim Carver, now the town's deputy sheriff, who seems understanding but patronizing, and Casey's ex-boyfriend, John Villante, a gruff, stoic loner, who is quick to anger and was once suspected of murder. A Dutton hardcover.
Customer Reviews
Excellent follow up to 9th girl
Loved the characters. Riveting. Could not put it down. Was reading it everywhere. My phone and iPad. Thanks Tami. Great reading.
Awesome
I thought this was one of her best books! I could not put it down!
Cold, cold heart
Fast moving, lots of mystery. People are not always who they appear to be. Wonder if there is a sequel to this book? Would definitely get it.