Title: In The Cold
Author: Lynn Erickson
Published in June 2003 by Berkley Sensations
Genre: Romantic Suspense
IBSN: 0-425-19069-2
There was much that he could probably say, but there is no one that he particularly wants to say it to...well, maybe Joe. If Joe really pushed, Chris knows that he would spill the whole lurid tale, but he has never pushed. Joe was his best friend, and partner, and one that Chris Judge felt that he had left down. Now Joe is his best friend only, the injury that crippled him, caused his retirement from the department still weighs heavily on Chris' mind. Chris blamed himself for a lot of things before, but lately he has begun to doubt not only his self-worth, but also his sanity. The mind is a funny thing, and once again, Chris was to the point that he wondered if he had gone to the other side. Not only to the other side of the law, but of sanity as well. He was a top undercover cop, and he was good at his job, but Chris is still plagued by the what ifs that the curves in his life have thrown his way. There is one thing that one could always say, time was kind to him, and maturity laid easily and well across his broad shoulders.
There was a time, not so long ago, when he would have been ready for any thing. As a man of many faces, Chris can blend in any where, and that has led to the problems in his life. His wife left him shortly after he moved them to Newark. She hated it, and his undercover work, and it soon became his fault that she wasn't happy. When the "bad stuff" went down, the deal and his cover broke, he retired, loaded up his guilt and his crazy mind, and then moved to back to Denver. Now she was happy, and he was divorced, but at least he had his son, and Joe. Lately he has begun to feel the pressure again, and this time might be the one. His other best friend, the service revolver that has saved his life on more than one occasion, could now be the means to end it. A maudlin thought to go with another sleepless night, like so many others. This night just might be the night though. Life has again crowded him to the breaking point. He knows he is on the edge, but he also knows there is no help for him either. The voice on the other end of the line halts any plans he might have had. He'd know that voice anywhere...Ashley Lacouter!
Time and life happen to us all, but to Ashley Marin, time and life seems to enjoy playing tricks. As a young girl, she had all the hopes and dreams that go with growing up. Then life intruded in a most cruel and horrid way, and the scars that it left would last a life time, if not longer. She was, at the tender age of sixteen, kidnapped and left in a cold dark mine shaft. That experience, the horror of being kidnapped was bad enough, but the place in which she was held for all those months has left deep scars. Even though she has been through therapy and has adjusted to her circumstances fairly well, the old fears still haunt her. Nights are still the worst, and the window is always open as is the door to her room. Her life without the kidnapping, she figures, would have been pretty close to what others would consider normal. She still thinks back on things, and wonders what Robert Marin ever saw in her. The only good thing she actually got from that marriage is Lauren, her fifteen year old daughter.
Stubborn and obstinate as all youth are, Lauren is still what Ashley lives for. She has had to fight for her too, because Robert has tried everything he could to try and wrest custody of Lauren from her. She will fight him tooth and nail, and she is still afraid that he will come at her again. Her nightmares were the excuse he used to move to another bedroom, claiming that he could no longer stand the disturbances. He has tried to use her claustrophobia against her as well, but the courts have sided with Ashley, and Lauren is still hers. The fear that he will try something else is always lingering in the back of her mind, and it doesn't help her in the least. The thoughts of the dank, dark, dripping walls of crushing rock often flit through her sleeping mind, and the panic swells. "It is just a dream," is the mantra that she uses to cope with the nighttime fears, and she is getting better. She is thrown into a sheer panic when Lauren fails to return home from a friends house. The phone call she gets, sends a chill down her spine. Her nightmare is back, but this time it is her daughter Lauren caught in the vengeful trap. She turns to the only man in the world that she truly trusts, the man who saved her. No one else can save her daughter. She knows this, he is the only one who can save Lauren.
Lynn Erickson has opened up the bag of tricks yet again, and has given us a delightful love story and very suspenseful mystery. In the Cold chronicles the desperation that draws two people together, and follows them through the trials and tribulations in tracking down the very twisted and vengeful mind that has devised this plan of terror. The worst of Ashley's nightmares have stemmed from what happened all those years ago, and now they have come rushing back. The trail leads Ashley and Chris into places that neither thought they would ever go into again, and never in their wildest dreams would they have thought they would go there together. In the Cold is a romance with enough suspense to keep even the most avid of mystery buffs happy, and enough romance to keep the rest satisfied as well.
This June Release for the new Berkley Sensations line is one heck of a slam-dunk start! In the Cold is one book you definitely won't want to miss. Lynn has done it again with the "ripped from the headlines" story and the hero and heroine to match. The story is poignant, rich, and terrifyingly real as you are drawn into the twisted and evil mind and the trap that he has laid for his victim. Revenge is never pretty, but In the Cold is beautifully and dramatically written and the insight is bold and realistic. A real keeper, Don't Miss it!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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