Monday, November 16, 2015

A Cold and Lonely Place; Sara J. Henry

Dreamscape - 2013

When I started this audiobook, I hadn't realized it was actually the second book of a (3) book series featuring Troy Chance. I hate when that happens, but despite that it was still a pretty good listening experience.

Troy Chance is a freelance write for a local newspaper in the Lake Placid, New York area.  As the story opens the village of Saran Lake is preparing for the annual winter festival.  Troy is out on the lake taking pictures of workers cutting away ice blocks as the prepare to build the ice palace.  While this is happening suddenly workers stop and a body is being pulled from the lake which Troy captures on camera.

The body is that of Tobin Winslow, the boyfriend of Troy's roommate Jessamyn.  Tobin lives in a cabin just outside the village, and although he came from money, he was somewhat of a drifter, spending lots of time in bars and drinking too much. So what happened to Tobin and why would a guy with everything going for him drop out of Princeton and try to escape his past?

This mystery had lots of possible suspects and honestly, far too many characters to keep straight especially in audio format.  Many of the characters are never fully developed of just mentioned once or twice, a few were even character Troy emailed.    I did love the protagonist, Troy. She comes across as a lonely but bright woman and a keen observer of people.  I also enjoyed reading about and learning more about Tobin, the victim as I was curious what happened to cause him to give up a life that many would envy to drift from place to place.

This mystery was far from perfect, but I still enjoyed listening to it.  I'm on the fence as to whether I'll go back and read the first book in the series, Learning to Swim.

3.5/5 stars
(library)

6 comments:

  1. I enjoy a good mystery. I'll have to keep this in mind. Thanks for another great book review Diane. I always enjoy reading them.

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  2. This sounds like it might have been better in print. I struggle when there are too many characters on audio.

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  3. A friend of mine has recommended Learning to Swim. I did not know it was part of a series.

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  4. I thought "Learning to Swim" was outstanding, but I didn't care for "A Cold and Lonely Place" nearly as much.

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  5. I met Sara, briefly, at Bouchercon 4 years ago when Learning To Swim won best debut. I still have it, unread, and didn't know it was part of a series. Maybe I'll have to dust it off and take a look :)

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