ALC Book Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Thriller
Length: 304 pages
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: February 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

A THRILLER I ENJOYED.

Which, y’all, is hard for me. I am not a thriller girlie but I usually read a small handful each year that either remind me why I don’t or convince me that I should try some more. This one leaned into the more column. I’ve been a fan of KAM’s YA books and loved the audiobook narration for A Killing Cold.

I loved the remote house setting filled with rich people trying to hide secrets. I liked that Theo wasn’t a hard character to like. Of course she’s complicated and hiding secrets, but, she didn’t feel like an inherently bad person and that makes a thriller better for me.

The twists were good and I was surprised by a few of them. I thought the reveals happened at the right times and there wasn’t a lot of drag out moments where I was just waiting for the shoe to drop. I wouldn’t say this had a creepy factor for me but it is suspenseful. I liked the way it ended too.

Overall audience notes: