Book Review of "Cold Woods" by Karen Katchur

[Lynne LeGrow]

The second in the Northampton County series, “Cold Woods” is a police procedural with serious themes of domestic abuse, alcoholism, and guilt.  The pacing was faultless, and the descriptions well rendered.

Detective Parker Reed, was everything one could hope for in a protagonist, and as a policeman. His new partner Geena Brassard, was a welcome addition to the dynamic. I was sort of disappointed that Parker’s girlfriend Becca didn’t play much of a role in this novel, as I was quite taken with her in the first novel in the series, “The River Girls”.

One thing I really appreciated about this novel is that all assumptions the reader makes turn out to be false. Secrets carried an enormous weight on the characters involved. A crushing weight…

The narrative was told in chapters alternating from the present police investigation and the winter of 1986 when the girls were teenagers.

This is a crime novel but also a character study. It is a story of dysfunctional families, secrets, and moral dilemmas.  I am eager now to read the next book in this series. Overall, “Cold Woods” was a novel that I savored reading and that I can highly recommend!