A Cold Day in Hell

Author: Lissa Marie Redmond (Bio) Expected Publication:February 8th 2018 by Midnight Ink Series: Cold Case Investigation #1 Length: 397 pages Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Crime ISBN:N/A Source: NetGalleyLauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from her nemesis, slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. But now he's begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding that case—until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the buried facts. But the more she digs, the more she discovers that nothing is what it first appears to be. As Lauren puts her career and life in danger, doubt starts to lurk on every corner . . . and so does her stalker.This story quickly jumps into the career and life of Lauren Riley, a successful cold case detective who is well known throughout the Buffalo Police Department for her work. She is a approached by a shifty defense attorney who wants to hire her despite his track record of calling her incompetent on multiple past cases. As she tries to balance her professional and personal life, some lines start to blur. As the tale unravels Lauren must decide who she can trust in this cat mouse game that some how ends up with her in the center. In the end Lauren must decide between following her cop mind or her heart to do what she feels is right. What I find most captivating about this book is how real it is. Lauren is portrayed as a real character that some people, both men and women might be able to identify with. Not only is she a single mom twice divorced, but also battles with feelings of abandonment as her daughters are off to college. Lauren's life depiction is not some story of a perfect female cop and all is right in her world without any complications. Instead her her strengths and weaknesses are equally laid out there for everyone to see and multiple characters in the book call out these things which makes Lauren seem even more touchable. It is not often a book in this genre captivates me enough to stay up all night to complete. I find that crime novels are often easy to figure out and for that reason they tend to bore me. Not this one, the reveal at the end somewhat blindsided me because I couldn't quite make up my mind. One thing to keep in mind as I read was that not everyone in the tale is as they seem. Redmond did a great job with playing to multiple audiences with the way she wrote her novel and for that I applaud her and her work. If you are a fan of crime novels or just looking for a new read, this is definitely worth picking up. The chapters are quick and the story transitions quite well from scene to scene. This is basically your most complicated Law and Order episode you can think of except better and in book form. This book is not yet release. There is a link to the author's Goodreads account at the top of the page. I humbly thank NetGalley and the publisher Midnight Ink for this ARC copy of the book to review prior to release. I wish the author all the best and hope to see this on shelves early next year.