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pannapark's review against another edition
4.0
‘Cold Girl’ by R. M. Greenaway introduces us to two detectives with the RCMP in Northern BC, Cal Dion and Dave Leith. Greenaway does a fantastic job of setting up not only the antagonism that develops between these two officers, but also the competitiveness that arises between many of the officers involved in hunting down a serial killer. Cal Dion has returned to work after a year’s sick leave and attempts to hide the fact that he had a pretty stellar ten year career prior to sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a car crash. He desperately tries to develop coping strategies and fails more often than not. His colleagues also fail to understand what he’s going through and mostly react negatively to his behaviour. When another girl goes missing, Dion and Leith are drawn into each other’s lives as they seek to uncover why this popular member of a local folk/rock band has seemingly walked away. Intrigues between the band’s circle of friends, the locals and the police officers cause mis-steps in both the cases. Greenaway’s depiction of quirky small town Northern BC together with the effect of a long winter is excellent. I would have given the book 5 stars but for me, Dion and Leith were just too moody to really empathize with.
lisa_592's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to love this book because it's written by a local BC writer and set close to my town of Prince Rupert. This book had a great premise, I thought it would bring light to the tragedies that have occurred on the notorious Highway of Tears. Instead I was met with a book written by a new writer that doesn't know how to develop suspense, characters, sentence structure or commas. This book was impossible to focus on because it was all over the place. Instead of building a case on evidence, the author used witness narration to develop the investigator's case. The witness testimonials all contradicted each other to the point they were covering for another character. It was to the point where character testimony could not be taken seriously and I didn't see how some of the characters contributed to the story. The second women going missing was a very weak plot addition which wasn't followed up well and again, didn't add to the original plot.
constantreader471's review against another edition
4.0
I want to thank Dundurn Press and NetGalley for sending me this free ebook in return for an honest review. This book takes place during the brutal winter in northern British Columbia along the Skeena river, centered in the town of Hazelton. I recently rode the Skeena train from Prince George to Prince Rupert, which is why this book interested me.
Two policemen are the central characters in this book, Detective David Leith and RCMP Constable Cal Dion. Dion was a detective but has been demoted after an accident that killed his partner and left him seriously injured. They are on the trail of a serial killer, but they don't get along. The book is a solid police procedural, showing how a whole team of police officers pursue leads in a slow tedious process. I did not know for sure how it would end. I read it in two days, finding that I could not put it down once I was half way through.
This is book 1 in a promising new series. There were recurring formatting issues, i.e., a line of text would stop after 1 or 2 words and drop to the next line even though the sentence was not complete. I would not recommend the ebook version until the formatting issue is resolved.
Update 1-10-2016 My wife read and enjoyed this book, but formatting problems bothered her also.
Two policemen are the central characters in this book, Detective David Leith and RCMP Constable Cal Dion. Dion was a detective but has been demoted after an accident that killed his partner and left him seriously injured. They are on the trail of a serial killer, but they don't get along. The book is a solid police procedural, showing how a whole team of police officers pursue leads in a slow tedious process. I did not know for sure how it would end. I read it in two days, finding that I could not put it down once I was half way through.
This is book 1 in a promising new series. There were recurring formatting issues, i.e., a line of text would stop after 1 or 2 words and drop to the next line even though the sentence was not complete. I would not recommend the ebook version until the formatting issue is resolved.
Update 1-10-2016 My wife read and enjoyed this book, but formatting problems bothered her also.
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
3.0
A crime in the snowy mountains
Book set in Canada:
The snow covered mountains of the Hazelton area of BC is not the easiest of places to search and certainly not the easiest of places to be if you get lost. The scope of the search field and the feeling of isolation and despair is all around.
The RCMP is the force working this area and the insight into the police work and nature of crimes in this part of the world is fascinating. The RCMP Detectives Leith and Dion hate each other yet this relationship is the driving force in this story. Dion is recovering from an accident and David Leith is a detective in Prince Rupert who’s spent the last 2 years tracking the “Pickup Killer”. they come together when the singer goes missing but there is more shadows and grim discoveries to be made in these mountains.
The strong sense of place turns the setting into another character. The weather and the setting are obstacles to the enquiry. The sense of space, sense of isolation and slim hope of finding anyone alive in these remote parts adds to the chill factor.
Book set in Canada:
The snow covered mountains of the Hazelton area of BC is not the easiest of places to search and certainly not the easiest of places to be if you get lost. The scope of the search field and the feeling of isolation and despair is all around.
The RCMP is the force working this area and the insight into the police work and nature of crimes in this part of the world is fascinating. The RCMP Detectives Leith and Dion hate each other yet this relationship is the driving force in this story. Dion is recovering from an accident and David Leith is a detective in Prince Rupert who’s spent the last 2 years tracking the “Pickup Killer”. they come together when the singer goes missing but there is more shadows and grim discoveries to be made in these mountains.
The strong sense of place turns the setting into another character. The weather and the setting are obstacles to the enquiry. The sense of space, sense of isolation and slim hope of finding anyone alive in these remote parts adds to the chill factor.
johnnyb1954's review against another edition
3.0
Three stars mainly for the plot that was interesting enough that I read the whole thing.
Overly long at 430 pages
Repetitive cases of Dion’ blood turning to ice or Dion’s or Lieth’s stomach knotting up. And several scenes are unnecessary.
The subplot about Dion’s secret and his brain malfunctions just drag the story (and the rest of the series) down.
There is no character to root for - they are not all unlikable but everyone seems unhappy and morose. The depressing tone is established in the beginning and never lets up.
There is a lot of detail showing the tedium of police procedure - then there is a major plot development in the middle that wraps up in a couple of pages and is done.
I just realized I violated my vow to not read any more books with “girl” in the title.
Overly long at 430 pages
Repetitive cases of Dion’ blood turning to ice or Dion’s or Lieth’s stomach knotting up. And several scenes are unnecessary.
The subplot about Dion’s secret and his brain malfunctions just drag the story (and the rest of the series) down.
There is no character to root for - they are not all unlikable but everyone seems unhappy and morose. The depressing tone is established in the beginning and never lets up.
There is a lot of detail showing the tedium of police procedure - then there is a major plot development in the middle that wraps up in a couple of pages and is done.
I just realized I violated my vow to not read any more books with “girl” in the title.
urlphantomhive's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
A coming singer goes missing. Has she fallen prey to the serial killer who's at work in the region, or did something completely else happen.
For the biggest part this was an interesting detective story. The local police itself has a lot of problems, some of which didn't get enough closure at the end. Speaking about the ending, it left me very confused and I wanted to have another book to read exactly what is going on with Dion and what he's getting at at the end.
Although it might not have been the most original of stories, it was a very pleasant read and many of the characters were interesting. The big twist was not really a big twist in my opinion but I didn't mind. It worked. I would like to see where exactly the story is going from here in a next book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
A coming singer goes missing. Has she fallen prey to the serial killer who's at work in the region, or did something completely else happen.
For the biggest part this was an interesting detective story. The local police itself has a lot of problems, some of which didn't get enough closure at the end. Speaking about the ending, it left me very confused and I wanted to have another book to read exactly what is going on with Dion and what he's getting at at the end.
Although it might not have been the most original of stories, it was a very pleasant read and many of the characters were interesting. The big twist was not really a big twist in my opinion but I didn't mind. It worked. I would like to see where exactly the story is going from here in a next book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
suze_1624's review
4.0
3.5/4*
I did like this one generally.
Police procedural, which I liked. Plenty of red herrings.
Good sense of place and had me tracing on the map.
Felt the treatment of Dion was a bit harsh considering they didn’t know his history. But then, he should have had more supervision. Who knows.
Felt a bit disjointed like Dion’s brain at times but quite engaging.
I did like this one generally.
Police procedural, which I liked. Plenty of red herrings.
Good sense of place and had me tracing on the map.
Felt the treatment of Dion was a bit harsh considering they didn’t know his history. But then, he should have had more supervision. Who knows.
Felt a bit disjointed like Dion’s brain at times but quite engaging.
happy_hiker's review against another edition
2.0
I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.
It looks like I am in the minority of the few reviewers of this book. I tried, but could not get excited about this novel. This book is 336 pages long but to me,it felt like it was twice that. It was easy to put down and it really took me a long time to read, much longer than it normally takes me to read a book of this length. Why didn't I go crazy for this book - it had things I generally like - it was a mystery, a police procedural, and had a potentially intriguing setting.
As a mystery/police procedural, this was fine, the story had potential. A popular singer goes missing and is believed to possibly be the victim of a serial killer. In come the reinforcements to help the local law enforcement - an expert on the serial killer (Leith), a brain-injured constable (Dion), and another bigwig (Bosko) who tags along for no apparent reason. I had to suspend my disbelief that Dion, who was still suffering the after-effects of a brain injury, was put on active duty in this case.
I was not a huge fan of the writing style. I highlighted passages in the ebook that I had to read more than once; there are numerous highlights throughout the book.
As far as the setting, I never really felt a good sense of place. I got that it was cold, remote, it was hard to travel on foothill and mountain roads, and the ground was frozen solid (a fact I was told several times), but there was no atmosphere for me - this could have been set in northern Wisconsin (minus the foothills and mountains).
This book is the first in a series. I see there is potential for character development down the road.
It looks like I am in the minority of the few reviewers of this book. I tried, but could not get excited about this novel. This book is 336 pages long but to me,it felt like it was twice that. It was easy to put down and it really took me a long time to read, much longer than it normally takes me to read a book of this length. Why didn't I go crazy for this book - it had things I generally like - it was a mystery, a police procedural, and had a potentially intriguing setting.
As a mystery/police procedural, this was fine, the story had potential. A popular singer goes missing and is believed to possibly be the victim of a serial killer. In come the reinforcements to help the local law enforcement - an expert on the serial killer (Leith), a brain-injured constable (Dion), and another bigwig (Bosko) who tags along for no apparent reason. I had to suspend my disbelief that Dion, who was still suffering the after-effects of a brain injury, was put on active duty in this case.
Spoiler
After the serial killer angle is conveniently wrapped up and the singer is deemed not to be his victim, the mystery, in my opinion, becomes overly complicated with too many suspects, too many miscellaneous people, and too many law enforcement officers (the locals and the reinforcements). By the time it was all over, I was just happy it was wrapped up.I was not a huge fan of the writing style. I highlighted passages in the ebook that I had to read more than once; there are numerous highlights throughout the book.
As far as the setting, I never really felt a good sense of place. I got that it was cold, remote, it was hard to travel on foothill and mountain roads, and the ground was frozen solid (a fact I was told several times), but there was no atmosphere for me - this could have been set in northern Wisconsin (minus the foothills and mountains).
This book is the first in a series.
Spoiler
Although I felt that presence of Bosko in the story was merely a vehicle to allow for Leith and Dion to end up in the same place for later books in the series,meghan_is_reading's review against another edition
Not my favorite, but as a first book there is always the potential the series gets better right? Plus the local-ness is a redeeming factor. Poor concussion-Dion tho. I'm not sure I liked any of the characters :/