Cold-Blooded: Repressed

by Jeffery Deaver

Short story only on Audible.

Genres: Horror

Audiobook

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

#1 international bestselling author of over thirty novels and three collections of short stories. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world.

Reviews

[Tgordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Twisted and evil- I gut that’s why it’s called Cold-Blooded.ha ha. Very good quick book. The plot is a school teacher is obsessed by a car he sees at a car show. Strange, I thought, but in the end the connection to the car is bizarre and evil.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not my genre, but it’s short and it had been on my audiobook pile for a long time, so I gave it a shot.

On the plus side, it’s striking to see how skillful Deaver is at plotting. My heart is in literary fiction, but I do read a lot of noir. I see narratives that move skillfully, but I rarely see stories with every detail both relevant and subtle. There’s barely a wasted observation here; seemingly throwaway details from early scenes turn out to be significant later.

On top of that, Deaver works up some real tension when he has his protagonist hammer away at his repressed memory trying to get the relief that will come from remembering something he has unconsciously caused himself to forget. It’s an effective twist on the detection; he’s trying to piece together the clues of his own consciousness. When he does remember, it’s compelling.

All that said, though, I’m simply not a fan of the serial killer genre. As it turns out, Sam Fogel has repressed the memory of the murder he has committed as a child. When he recovers it, he finds peace and complacency in his commitment to killing one or two a year from here on out. There’s a funny irony in the idea of his therapist opening him up to such a new potential for crime, but it feels like a betrayal of the often intense and harrowing self-excavation he does earlier in the novel.

And, finally, I can’t help but be a little amused and a little disappointed by Deaver’s cliched imagining of the life of a middle-aged literature professor. I know a little something about that, not so much in the South, but certainly in the profession overall. We’re not as sedate as the decades-old stereotype; we certainly don’t have our pick of multiple opportunities unless we’ve published multiple books. Maybe it’s a description that works for others, but I’m too aware of the cut corners to appreciate it.

This is a fine example of genre well done. I acknowledge the skill here, but, as always, I’m hungry for something imagined at a more fundamental level.

[Anastasiya M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was... interesting. With the short length, it still managed to provide a great plot and character development with an ending that was easy to figure out but still surprisingly good! While the book could've used some excitement in certain places, the horror elements were exactly what they were meant to be.

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[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story and wish it could have continued. I love all of Deaver’s short stories!

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This audiobook was ok. It was a quick listen to meet the goals of my GR challenge. The ending was easily predictable. All in all, short listen meant to meet a goal and it did that.

[Beau Stucki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Astoundingly, some people still take Freud seriously enough to justify plots with his theories.

[Rebecca J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. It had an interesting little “Oh? That’s not what I thought the ending would be.” Fun story.

[Stephen Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

writing was good but the ending well I don't want to spoil it.