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The Cold Kiss
All Nate and Sara want is a new life in a new town, away from the crime and poverty of their past. So, after being approached at a roadside diner by a man offering $500 for a ride to Omaha, they wonder if their luck might be changing.
At first it seems like easy money, but within a few hours the man is dead.
Now, forced off the road by a blizzard and trapped in a run-down motel on the side of a deserted highway, Nate and Sara begin to uncover the man’s secrets. Who he was, how he died, and most importantly, why he was carrying two million dollars in his suitcase.
Before they know it, Nate and Sara are fighting for their lives, and in the end, each has to decide just how far they are willing to go to survive.
The Cold Kiss is an everyman psychological thriller that pits a young couple against moral corruption, greed, betrayal, and love. More simply, for two characters who may have used up all their chances, it’s the classic final trip down the dark tunnel that might lead to heaven, but drags them through hell. This is A Simple Plan meets The Getaway, with a pulse-pounding plot and a twist ending. John Rector is name that all thriller fans will come to know and love for years to come.
285 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2010
38 people are currently reading
854 people want to read
About the author
John Rector
23 books264 followersJohn Rector is the bestselling author of the novels Broken, The Ridge, The Cold Kiss, The Grove, Already Gone, Out of the Black, and Ruthless. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and has won several awards, including the International Thriller Award for his novella, Lost Things.
He lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
He lives in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
September 11, 2017
GENRE FICTION VS. LITERARY FICTION
Readers of genre fiction have got one big advantage over readers of literary fiction. They know that in every one of their novels something happens. Whereas in literary fiction trying to find an actual event is like looking for Amelia Earhart. I refer to Thomas Bernhardt, Italo Calvino, Haruki Murakami – the usual suspects. There are plenty of others.
In Cold Kiss a broke young couple give a lift to a guy with a real bad chest infection – or has he?- only to have him die in the back seat – or is he? – and then discover a whole lot of money in his suitcase – or is it?
THE USUAL RIGMAROLE
So this is a familiar plot which we have seen many times before in such excellent movies as Charlie Varrick and Shallow Grave. Someone unwittingly stumbles upon a shedload of hot money and then has to figure out how to keep it and stay alive when the bad guys come after it.
HEALTH AND SAFETY DISREGARDED
People in thrillers have not yet quit smoking. This one was published in 2010 and everyone is puffing away in blithe disregard of all the available information about the proven link between smoking and various life-threatening health conditions. Maybe they think that they’re already in such a dangerous genre that what the hell.
USEFUL ADVICE FOR LIFE
Do not go into business with a meth-head who has found God, or, more accurately, who says that God has found him.
USEFUL ADVICE FOR READING AND FOR LIFE
When you encounter a description of a dream in a novel, you can skip it. Just like when someone actually tells you about a dream of theirs. You don’t need to listen. You can just tune out and after they have stopped say “Oh wow, last night I had a dream where I was walking down a street and trying to dodge watermelons which people were hurling at me from their bedroom windows.” Or some such rubbish.
UNTHRILLING THRILLERS
If you’re expecting to be surprised by the unexpected plot twists of the modern thriller then the surprises will not be surprising as you’re expecting them. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but suspension of the expectation of thriller-type surprises when you’re reading a thriller is really impossible. This is a conundrum for the reader.
Readers of genre fiction have got one big advantage over readers of literary fiction. They know that in every one of their novels something happens. Whereas in literary fiction trying to find an actual event is like looking for Amelia Earhart. I refer to Thomas Bernhardt, Italo Calvino, Haruki Murakami – the usual suspects. There are plenty of others.
In Cold Kiss a broke young couple give a lift to a guy with a real bad chest infection – or has he?- only to have him die in the back seat – or is he? – and then discover a whole lot of money in his suitcase – or is it?
THE USUAL RIGMAROLE
So this is a familiar plot which we have seen many times before in such excellent movies as Charlie Varrick and Shallow Grave. Someone unwittingly stumbles upon a shedload of hot money and then has to figure out how to keep it and stay alive when the bad guys come after it.
HEALTH AND SAFETY DISREGARDED
People in thrillers have not yet quit smoking. This one was published in 2010 and everyone is puffing away in blithe disregard of all the available information about the proven link between smoking and various life-threatening health conditions. Maybe they think that they’re already in such a dangerous genre that what the hell.
USEFUL ADVICE FOR LIFE
Do not go into business with a meth-head who has found God, or, more accurately, who says that God has found him.
USEFUL ADVICE FOR READING AND FOR LIFE
When you encounter a description of a dream in a novel, you can skip it. Just like when someone actually tells you about a dream of theirs. You don’t need to listen. You can just tune out and after they have stopped say “Oh wow, last night I had a dream where I was walking down a street and trying to dodge watermelons which people were hurling at me from their bedroom windows.” Or some such rubbish.
UNTHRILLING THRILLERS
If you’re expecting to be surprised by the unexpected plot twists of the modern thriller then the surprises will not be surprising as you’re expecting them. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but suspension of the expectation of thriller-type surprises when you’re reading a thriller is really impossible. This is a conundrum for the reader.
January 12, 2016
Yep. This guy John Rector is the real deal. I very recently enjoyed his novella,
Lost Things: A Novella
, and now I LOVED his second novel, The Cold Kiss. He writes the kind of thrillers that I enjoy the most: dark suspense stories featuring ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations, making decisions that cause a tragic snowball effect as they struggle to get out of what they realize is actually a lose-lose situation. Wait a minute...you could say that is the definition of noir, my favorite genre! And I would agree; this book is probably the best modern take on the genre I've read since
A Simple Plan
, and that's saying a lot!
Newly engaged couple Nate and Sara are driving from Minnesota to Reno to get married and start a new life with their unborn child. But on the way, they pick up a hitchhiker and are forced to stop at an isolated motel to wait out a terrible snowstorm. But once they get there, they discover their hitchhiker is dead of a festering gunshot wound with a sack full of cash money in his bags. And it's a lot of money. Definitely enough for a new family to start a good life with...
Rector ratchets up the tension as Nate and Sara try every way to make it through the next 48 hours and get away with the money scot-free. And he builds such a great atmosphere at the motel, with the constant snowfall, and lack of electricity or phone service. And as I mentioned in my review of the last book I read by him, Rector's prose is pitch-perfect. This guy really knows how to craft a plot that moves without feeling like anything's lost. Some people might be able to see some of the twists coming but I didn't care. I was taken for a ride. So f*** it. I'm throwing 5 stars at the book. And I'm locked in as a fan now.
Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai says this about noir:
There is a feeling of dread and doom that suffuses the action; the story typically features a protagonist who's in trouble, who often doesn't deserve the trouble he's in (even if he's a bad guy, he often doesn't deserve the *particular* trouble he's in), and whose trouble just gets worse as the narrative grinds inexorably toward an unhappy -- often tragic -- ending.
And that's a great way to describe this book.
Newly engaged couple Nate and Sara are driving from Minnesota to Reno to get married and start a new life with their unborn child. But on the way, they pick up a hitchhiker and are forced to stop at an isolated motel to wait out a terrible snowstorm. But once they get there, they discover their hitchhiker is dead of a festering gunshot wound with a sack full of cash money in his bags. And it's a lot of money. Definitely enough for a new family to start a good life with...
Rector ratchets up the tension as Nate and Sara try every way to make it through the next 48 hours and get away with the money scot-free. And he builds such a great atmosphere at the motel, with the constant snowfall, and lack of electricity or phone service. And as I mentioned in my review of the last book I read by him, Rector's prose is pitch-perfect. This guy really knows how to craft a plot that moves without feeling like anything's lost. Some people might be able to see some of the twists coming but I didn't care. I was taken for a ride. So f*** it. I'm throwing 5 stars at the book. And I'm locked in as a fan now.
Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai says this about noir:
There is a feeling of dread and doom that suffuses the action; the story typically features a protagonist who's in trouble, who often doesn't deserve the trouble he's in (even if he's a bad guy, he often doesn't deserve the *particular* trouble he's in), and whose trouble just gets worse as the narrative grinds inexorably toward an unhappy -- often tragic -- ending.
And that's a great way to describe this book.
"Kiss me, for good luck"
I frowned. "That doesn't work."
"Of course it does," she said. "It always works. Now kiss me."
I stared at her for a moment longer, then bent and pressed my lips against hers.
It was a good kiss.
But it didn't work.
December 30, 2010
Nate and his pregnant girlfriend Sara are driving from Minnesota to Reno, seeking a new life for themselves and their baby. On a snowy night in Nebraska, they see a man in a cafe who is obviously very sick. Sara takes pity on the man and when the stranger offers them $500 for a ride into Omaha, the kids accept.
The three drive off into a major winter storm and are forced to seek refuge in a run-down motel out in the middle of nowhere. On getting out of the car, Nate and Sara discover to their horror that their passenger has died. They are further stunned to discover that the passenger, Syl, has over $2 million in cash in his suitcase. Of course the kids should call the cops, report the tragic death of their passenger and hand over the money. But then, of course, the book would end at the conclusion of chapter two.
Tempted by the sight of all that money, Nate and Sara begin to imagine the life they might have if they were to simply dump Syl's body, wait for the plows to clear the roads and take off with the cash. Unfortunately for them, apparently neither Nate nor Sara has read Scott Smith's, A Simple Plan. Nor has either one of them ever seen the movie that was made from Smith's book, and thus they have no idea that keeping the money is a really, really, really bad idea.
Needless to say, complications ensue. As one might expect, the other stranded guests consist of the usual group of fine folks that one expects to encounter when stranded in a third-rate motel, miles from civilization trapped by the blizzard of the century.
The plot is hardly new, but Rector makes it seem fresh. This is a taut, lean book that grabs you early on and refuses to let go. Practically from page one, you're screaming at Nate and Sara, begging them not to make one bad decision after another. But even though they consistently reject your sound advice, you can't abandon them, and you can't rest until you see where the consequences of their actions finally take them
The three drive off into a major winter storm and are forced to seek refuge in a run-down motel out in the middle of nowhere. On getting out of the car, Nate and Sara discover to their horror that their passenger has died. They are further stunned to discover that the passenger, Syl, has over $2 million in cash in his suitcase. Of course the kids should call the cops, report the tragic death of their passenger and hand over the money. But then, of course, the book would end at the conclusion of chapter two.
Tempted by the sight of all that money, Nate and Sara begin to imagine the life they might have if they were to simply dump Syl's body, wait for the plows to clear the roads and take off with the cash. Unfortunately for them, apparently neither Nate nor Sara has read Scott Smith's, A Simple Plan. Nor has either one of them ever seen the movie that was made from Smith's book, and thus they have no idea that keeping the money is a really, really, really bad idea.
Needless to say, complications ensue. As one might expect, the other stranded guests consist of the usual group of fine folks that one expects to encounter when stranded in a third-rate motel, miles from civilization trapped by the blizzard of the century.
The plot is hardly new, but Rector makes it seem fresh. This is a taut, lean book that grabs you early on and refuses to let go. Practically from page one, you're screaming at Nate and Sara, begging them not to make one bad decision after another. But even though they consistently reject your sound advice, you can't abandon them, and you can't rest until you see where the consequences of their actions finally take them
December 25, 2022
Sehr spannend & kurzweilig, passt perfekt in den Winter 👌🏻 Könnte ich mir auch sehr gut als Film vorstellen! Das Ende war allerdings wirklich fies … 🙈😅
August 22, 2016
Noir in Nebraska?? Yes, and it’s pretty damn good noir, too.
Nate and Sara have loaded up their car and are headed to Reno from Minnesota to start a life together. At a diner in rural Nebraska, they meet a man named Syl with a wicked cough who pays them $500 for a ride to Omaha. A severe blizzard forces them to take shelter in a rundown hotel well off the interstate, but as they check in they discover that Syl has died in the car of a gunshot wound and had $2 million in a suitcase.
Good girl Sara initially thinks they should wait out the storm until they can contact the police and turn over the money. Nate sees this as a chance to finally escape his own troubled past and provide a good life for Sara so he pushes for a riskier option. Hide Syl’s body in the snow in a nearby field, wait until the roads clear and then take off with the money. Of course, anyone who has ever taken a bag of money off a dead stranger could tell them that it’s never that easy.
John Rector’s novel is an exceptionally solid piece of crime writing. He does a nice job of building the suspense by throwing complications at Nate and Sara as they try to wait out the storm. This is the type of story that reminds me of James Cain or Jim Thompson. Some of the twists are fairly obvious and easy to predict, but others are very surprising. I also loved how he managed to provide a different ending than we usually get in these types of stories.
Nate and Sara have loaded up their car and are headed to Reno from Minnesota to start a life together. At a diner in rural Nebraska, they meet a man named Syl with a wicked cough who pays them $500 for a ride to Omaha. A severe blizzard forces them to take shelter in a rundown hotel well off the interstate, but as they check in they discover that Syl has died in the car of a gunshot wound and had $2 million in a suitcase.
Good girl Sara initially thinks they should wait out the storm until they can contact the police and turn over the money. Nate sees this as a chance to finally escape his own troubled past and provide a good life for Sara so he pushes for a riskier option. Hide Syl’s body in the snow in a nearby field, wait until the roads clear and then take off with the money. Of course, anyone who has ever taken a bag of money off a dead stranger could tell them that it’s never that easy.
John Rector’s novel is an exceptionally solid piece of crime writing. He does a nice job of building the suspense by throwing complications at Nate and Sara as they try to wait out the storm. This is the type of story that reminds me of James Cain or Jim Thompson. Some of the twists are fairly obvious and easy to predict, but others are very surprising. I also loved how he managed to provide a different ending than we usually get in these types of stories.
July 16, 2010
I don’t read tons of crime fiction, so I won’t compare THE COLD KISS to a slew of other books out there, but I’m guessing the storyline is fairly familiar to regular fans of the genre. A person – or a couple in this case – without much money or future prospects suddenly find themselves in possession of a suitcase full of cash. As is usually the case, it’s blood money and someone is looking for it. In this type of story, there’s the setup, the moment of truth (when they decide to keep the money), the typically bad result of that decision, and the aftermath. All of the elements are here, but Rector throws in a few wrinkles along the way to surprise the reader into flipping to the next page to see what happens.
THE COLD KISS, like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, or A SIMPLE PLAN, follows the aforementioned formula well, but is set in a remote motel in the middle of the blizzard. It’s cold and desolate and a perfect setting for what the characters, with no means of escape, experience as their plans fall apart around them. With no place to go, each scene has a tense, claustrophobic feel.
What makes this book stand out are the unexpected twists, crisp dialogue, and most importantly, believeable characters you can root for. The narrative is fast-paced, the style is bare bones, which is true to the main character through whom the entire story is told in the first person, and the ending is just right. This books sucks you in and demands your attention, as any good thriller should. While not his first novel, Rector nails his first major release and I look forward to reading more from him as his career takes off from here.
THE COLD KISS, like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, or A SIMPLE PLAN, follows the aforementioned formula well, but is set in a remote motel in the middle of the blizzard. It’s cold and desolate and a perfect setting for what the characters, with no means of escape, experience as their plans fall apart around them. With no place to go, each scene has a tense, claustrophobic feel.
What makes this book stand out are the unexpected twists, crisp dialogue, and most importantly, believeable characters you can root for. The narrative is fast-paced, the style is bare bones, which is true to the main character through whom the entire story is told in the first person, and the ending is just right. This books sucks you in and demands your attention, as any good thriller should. While not his first novel, Rector nails his first major release and I look forward to reading more from him as his career takes off from here.
April 27, 2015
When a novel begins with a corpse faced guy coughing up blood at a roadside diner in need of a lift.....with a massive snowstorm coming.....you know there's trouble on the way.....
This mystery-crime-thriller is one crazy fast-moving noir-ride with a multitude of psycho characters and a befitting ending. Entertaining read!
July 31, 2013
The story line was inviting, but it was a wild ride with a high body count. I did like the ending. Not sure if I will read more of John Rector or not. . .
June 2, 2015
If I have learned anything from watching movies, it's that if you Find Money in circumstances that involve dead people, you must absolutely not talk yourself into keeping it to build a better life. Turn it over to the cops, leave it in the downed plane with that dead guy, bury it in the woods, but for god's sake don't take it with you because someone is always going to follow you & try to kill you messily in order to get it back. Happily, though, none of the characters in books like these know the things that I know, so they make their justifications for their foolish choices & I get to read snappy little noir-ish business like this. It's pretty easy to see exactly where all of this is going from the first page, but this is still well-written & tight enough to entertain, especially if you read it with your feet up on a hot day so you can marvel at how it could ever be that cold.
January 21, 2011
"The Cold Kiss" is a lean, tightly wound, claustrophobic, competent thriller. It's only got one drawback, but it's a big one: It's so derivative of "A Simple Plan" that Scott Smith could probably sue author John Rector if so inclined and probably win a whopping settlement (say, a bag filled with $2 million in cash). Also, with a cast of seven people stranded together, Rector might also have to pay off the creators of "Gilligan's Island" as well.
That said, if you're not fatally distracted by playing spot-the-influence, there's a lot to like in "The Cold Kiss." The two main characters — young lovers on the run in the Midwest — are intriguingly complex, good but flawed people. There's also an elderly couple (including a wife who "likes to play Miss Marple," according to her husband), a mysterious young woman who may or may not be from Russia, a likable but inscrutable innkeeper and the innkeeper's odd nephew. All are stuck in a rundown back-highway motel in a winter blizzard in an unknown locale (eastern Colorado, maybe, or western Nebraska).
The couple give a ride to a seriously ill stranger who apparently dies in the backseat. In sorting through his belongings, Nate and Sara (the main characters) find $20,000 in one bag, and $2 million in another. They're hardly shrewd criminals, however, and their attempts to hide the body and secure the loot and otherwise furtively skulk around do not go unnoticed. Eventually, a noose of suspicion (and greed) tighten around the couple until the truth explodes in a moment of shocking surprise violence.
The good-people-doing-bad-things storyline touches base with "A Simple Plan" at several points along the story arc, but I will say that the end of the earlier book doesn't not necessarily foretell how "A Cold Kiss" will end.
In all, I found "The Cold Kiss" to be a fun but somewhat forgettable single night's read. I did admire its craft, however, as the author steered clear of anything that wasn't pure story and kept a zoom-lens focus on each moment in step with another clear influence, Elmore Leonard (and, perhaps, Donald Westlake).
A lesser author would have slowed down the action to offer doom-laden philosophical ruminations, or played distractingly with prose style. Instead, Rector just drives straight through the story ... not unlike a car plowing at night through a snowstorm on a deserted back highway in the middle of nowhere. With lean, spare brushstrokes, Rector sucks the reader into his character's desolate nightmare before they've had a chance to think about it. It's a gift not every author possesses.
That said, if you're not fatally distracted by playing spot-the-influence, there's a lot to like in "The Cold Kiss." The two main characters — young lovers on the run in the Midwest — are intriguingly complex, good but flawed people. There's also an elderly couple (including a wife who "likes to play Miss Marple," according to her husband), a mysterious young woman who may or may not be from Russia, a likable but inscrutable innkeeper and the innkeeper's odd nephew. All are stuck in a rundown back-highway motel in a winter blizzard in an unknown locale (eastern Colorado, maybe, or western Nebraska).
The couple give a ride to a seriously ill stranger who apparently dies in the backseat. In sorting through his belongings, Nate and Sara (the main characters) find $20,000 in one bag, and $2 million in another. They're hardly shrewd criminals, however, and their attempts to hide the body and secure the loot and otherwise furtively skulk around do not go unnoticed. Eventually, a noose of suspicion (and greed) tighten around the couple until the truth explodes in a moment of shocking surprise violence.
The good-people-doing-bad-things storyline touches base with "A Simple Plan" at several points along the story arc, but I will say that the end of the earlier book doesn't not necessarily foretell how "A Cold Kiss" will end.
In all, I found "The Cold Kiss" to be a fun but somewhat forgettable single night's read. I did admire its craft, however, as the author steered clear of anything that wasn't pure story and kept a zoom-lens focus on each moment in step with another clear influence, Elmore Leonard (and, perhaps, Donald Westlake).
A lesser author would have slowed down the action to offer doom-laden philosophical ruminations, or played distractingly with prose style. Instead, Rector just drives straight through the story ... not unlike a car plowing at night through a snowstorm on a deserted back highway in the middle of nowhere. With lean, spare brushstrokes, Rector sucks the reader into his character's desolate nightmare before they've had a chance to think about it. It's a gift not every author possesses.
March 27, 2015
Audiobook. A good thriller must have several things going for it to keep me entertained: I must care about one or more of the characters; I have to want to find out what happens in the end; and it has to be reasonably well written. If the characters are relatively normal people, i.e., don’t have the superhuman powers so common in some thrillers today, that's a plus. My crap-detector swings into overdrive when our hero manages to take on twelve bad guys with one six-shooter and gets all of them. Sometimes two criteria out of three works; sometimes not. Cold Kiss meets all three.
This book reminded me so much of A Simple Plan (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) by Scott Smith. Nate and his fiancé find themselves driving into a blizzard on their way to Reno to get married. At a rest stop they meet a man, obviously ill, who offers them $500 to drive him there also as his car needs some work. They agree but as the snow worsens they are forced to stop at a motel in the middle of nowhere with heat but no power. They discover the man has been shot, and, he has a suitcase full of money. One thing leads to another and soon the man is dead, the motel’s handyman is suspicious, the snow is worsening, and everyone is getting greedy.
Paul Michael Garcia reads with a laconic, slow tempo that drives the tension effectively.
This book reminded me so much of A Simple Plan (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) by Scott Smith. Nate and his fiancé find themselves driving into a blizzard on their way to Reno to get married. At a rest stop they meet a man, obviously ill, who offers them $500 to drive him there also as his car needs some work. They agree but as the snow worsens they are forced to stop at a motel in the middle of nowhere with heat but no power. They discover the man has been shot, and, he has a suitcase full of money. One thing leads to another and soon the man is dead, the motel’s handyman is suspicious, the snow is worsening, and everyone is getting greedy.
Paul Michael Garcia reads with a laconic, slow tempo that drives the tension effectively.
April 2, 2015
Kick-ass noir thriller! You know those horror movies where you want to scream "Don't give him a ride!" "Don't leave her alone!" "Don't leave the gun on the nightstand!" ? That's what you'll be doing as you read The Cold Kiss. Nate and Sara start making mistakes right at the beginning of the book when they accept $500 to give a guy who is coughing up blood a ride. They head off into a snow storm that soon becomes impassable, end up stuck at a motel where the power is out, and the guy they've given a ride to is slumped over in the backseat of their car and no longer breathing. They check his backpack and find a gun with a silencer and stacks of cash and what follows from there is unrelenting plot twists and tension as Rector throws one obstacle after another in the way of Nate and Sara as they try to get away with the money to make a fresh start on life. Great propulsive read that I didn't want to put down.
February 17, 2013
Ok I want to scream right now!! That ending really!? A part of me loves it and a part of me wants to just throw the book! Ok sorry.. I have a review to write.
The first and only book I ever read by John Rector was The Grove. One of the first books I ever got on my kindle and I really loved it. Not sure why I never picked up more of his books because wow is his work really amazing!
The Cold Kiss was a page turner from the very first page and I have been picking it up every chance I got even if I only had a min or two before having to go back to something else I was doing today because I just had to know what was going to happen next!
If you love a good Thriller pick this up ASAP!
The first and only book I ever read by John Rector was The Grove. One of the first books I ever got on my kindle and I really loved it. Not sure why I never picked up more of his books because wow is his work really amazing!
The Cold Kiss was a page turner from the very first page and I have been picking it up every chance I got even if I only had a min or two before having to go back to something else I was doing today because I just had to know what was going to happen next!
If you love a good Thriller pick this up ASAP!
October 9, 2021
This book was made for binge-reading: 43 short chapters (in a 285 page book), no long paragraphs, no long sentences, middle-school vocabulary, all action, and each chapter ends with a little chunk of bait. The story -- a guy finds a some crime loot and foolishly decides to keep it -- works every time; my favorite versions are The Red Scarf and No Country for Old Men.
It went down easy, but a few things gave me reflux:
It went down easy, but a few things gave me reflux:
The author likes to use Chekhov's flare gun: "... grab the iron poker beside the mantle and use it to stir the logs in the fire."
The identity of the dreaded killer is obvious to everyone except the characters in the book (process of elimination). And this Chigurh turns out to be a lousy shot.
The ending, stop at chapter 38 to avoid it.
August 13, 2010
My review: I absolutely loved this audiobook. From the beginning, author John Rector plots a suspenseful story about Nate and Sara who have fled Minnesota for a new life. Pregnant Sara is young and innocent while Nate has lived a rougher life, but together they vow to make it to Reno to wed and welcome their child.
The plot thickens when the couple agrees to take a man, Syl, along for the ride. Syl, a rough man, has an awful cough and after questioning the couple, drifts to sleep. Sara worries about his health and tries to convince Nate he needs a doctor. Nate is more worried about getting rid of the man as soon as possible and ignores Sara’s plees.
After a brutal snow storm strands the threesome at a small motel, Sara discovers Syl is dead. That’s where things get interesting.
This story takes so many twists and turns and Rector’s debut rocked my socks. I finished this audiobook in record time! I couldn’t wait to turn it back on and follow the story more. The Cold Kiss is packed full of suspense and I would definitely recommend it to our readers.
Rector’s characters are painted so vividly through his descriptions and set up the perfect scene. I can’t wait to see what he dishes out next.
Narrator review: Paul Michael Garcia is wonderful. His voice and tones for various characters made the audiobook even more wonderful. Garcia speaks clearly and proves himself by swinging back and forth between characters easily. Such a great choice in a narrator for this book.
This review was originally published on our website at http://www.audiobookfans.com
The plot thickens when the couple agrees to take a man, Syl, along for the ride. Syl, a rough man, has an awful cough and after questioning the couple, drifts to sleep. Sara worries about his health and tries to convince Nate he needs a doctor. Nate is more worried about getting rid of the man as soon as possible and ignores Sara’s plees.
After a brutal snow storm strands the threesome at a small motel, Sara discovers Syl is dead. That’s where things get interesting.
This story takes so many twists and turns and Rector’s debut rocked my socks. I finished this audiobook in record time! I couldn’t wait to turn it back on and follow the story more. The Cold Kiss is packed full of suspense and I would definitely recommend it to our readers.
Rector’s characters are painted so vividly through his descriptions and set up the perfect scene. I can’t wait to see what he dishes out next.
Narrator review: Paul Michael Garcia is wonderful. His voice and tones for various characters made the audiobook even more wonderful. Garcia speaks clearly and proves himself by swinging back and forth between characters easily. Such a great choice in a narrator for this book.
This review was originally published on our website at http://www.audiobookfans.com
August 11, 2010
THE COLD KISS was told in the first person and almost entirely in dialogue. The character development was weak and I found I didn't care what happened to anyone in the novel. The twist was obvious early on. I was disappointed, in as much as the novel was described on the book jacket by other authors as being like NO COUNTRY FOD OLD MEN, or A SIMPLE PLAN. THE COLD KISS doesn't begin to compare to these two novels
July 27, 2010
Two words: Riveting and disturbing (or disturbingly riveting).
October 25, 2012
Great roller-coaster-ride of a debut novel. Very suspenseful and relentless. Loved the ending.
August 9, 2010
Money is the root of all evil...
"The Cold Kiss" is one of those very rare finds, a great novel that jumps off the shelf at you when your at the store to buy something else, the kind of novel that "finds" you. For me it's always nice to find out how great a new author is on my own, starting with their debut!
Many reviewers and authors will often say that great characters make or break a novel, bad characters with a strong story usually ends in a mild read, whereas great characters can often keep a mediocre story alive. Luckily this novel has great characters, a great story and a fast paced plot that will keep you turning page after page all night long.
Ask yourself this question "would you give a very ill, but friendly stranger a ride, if he was going your way?" Yes, no?
Ask yourself another question, "would you give the same very ill, but friendly stranger a ride if he offered you $500?" Yes, no, maybe?
This is the dilemma that the main characters Nate & Sara face at the beginning of this story. Most people would probably say no to giving a stranger a ride, but everyone's life situation is different. Life is all about choices and every choice has its consequences. As it's often said, one bad decision leads to another.
The amazing characters, nail biting plot and dark tone are just three reasons why I loved this book. Throw in a meth lab, a few betrayals, double crosses, a hitwoman and a great ending on top of that.
If I had to compare this book to others, it would have to be "A Simple Plan" by Scott Smith, "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy and "Caught Stealing" by Charlie Huston.
I highly enjoyed this great debut novel and can fully recommend it to noir fans.
Enjoy!
"The Cold Kiss" is one of those very rare finds, a great novel that jumps off the shelf at you when your at the store to buy something else, the kind of novel that "finds" you. For me it's always nice to find out how great a new author is on my own, starting with their debut!
Many reviewers and authors will often say that great characters make or break a novel, bad characters with a strong story usually ends in a mild read, whereas great characters can often keep a mediocre story alive. Luckily this novel has great characters, a great story and a fast paced plot that will keep you turning page after page all night long.
Ask yourself this question "would you give a very ill, but friendly stranger a ride, if he was going your way?" Yes, no?
Ask yourself another question, "would you give the same very ill, but friendly stranger a ride if he offered you $500?" Yes, no, maybe?
This is the dilemma that the main characters Nate & Sara face at the beginning of this story. Most people would probably say no to giving a stranger a ride, but everyone's life situation is different. Life is all about choices and every choice has its consequences. As it's often said, one bad decision leads to another.
The amazing characters, nail biting plot and dark tone are just three reasons why I loved this book. Throw in a meth lab, a few betrayals, double crosses, a hitwoman and a great ending on top of that.
If I had to compare this book to others, it would have to be "A Simple Plan" by Scott Smith, "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy and "Caught Stealing" by Charlie Huston.
I highly enjoyed this great debut novel and can fully recommend it to noir fans.
Enjoy!
September 29, 2011
I was a tad disappointed with this book. I loved how it began with descriptions of how the man at the counter coughed. Some pretty decent visuals. Ugh. The build up was pretty decent but it began to implode when "everyone" jumped into the scheme. His descriptions of the cold landscape and of some rather brutal killings were......unique and quite visual. The ending was a bit of a cop out, though. Why go to all the trouble of describing the characters (except for the girl-didn't get why she was so crazy in love w/ the narrator.) only to have it end the way it did.
October 16, 2011
I really enjoyed this book! It is a very fast paced book and I found it hard to put down. So hard in fact that I finished it in 2 days! As with any John Rector book the creepiness factor is definitely there and I found myself cringing at some of the descriptions. I really came to like the protagonist and the story line kept me guessing. I loved the ending and was very happy overall with this book. Moral of the story..don't pick-up weird freaky hitchhiker dudes..no matter how much money they give you!
August 21, 2013
Really enjoyed this one and found it very hard to put down so it only took a couple of days to read. Tremendous at creating a scary atmosphere of dread and impending doom for the lead characters. Almost 5 stars but while I enjoyed the ending, I would have preferred the story to finish at the creepy motel where it was set and found the Part III tagged on the end slightly unsatisfactory. Will definitely search out other books by this author though and the proposed movie of the book should definitely be worth seeing.
October 28, 2012
This was my first Rector read and I loved it! It was as if i sitting in the theater yelling at the screen, "Don't open that door!". The couple keeps making decisions that you know are going to lead the down the wrong path. The interesting part was they kept taking turns making these decisions, instead of one character making all the wrong choices. Loved it!
July 18, 2019
Een thriller met de nodige spanning. Leest zeer vlot. Maar ondanks het "in een ruk uitlezen-gevoel" toch geen top score voor mij.
A thriller with the necessary excitement. Reads very smoothly. But despite the "read in a jiffy" feeling", it is not a top score for me.
#3wordresume on instagram.
(to keep drawing and to practice at it - which i like also)
A thriller with the necessary excitement. Reads very smoothly. But despite the "read in a jiffy" feeling", it is not a top score for me.
#3wordresume on instagram.
(to keep drawing and to practice at it - which i like also)
January 28, 2017
Creepy guy, lots of money and mystery, two lovebirds running away for love in a snowstorm, trapped at a hotel with strangers. Recipe for some interesting reading. Short easy read and very enjoyable. The ending? Well...can't spoil it for you, you'll have to read it for yourself! (worth it)
September 9, 2012
Kept me turning pages.
September 25, 2023
The Cold Kiss by John Rector is a crime mystery novel set during a snowstorm in Nebraska.
Nate and his pregnant girlfriend Sarah are driving down from Minnesota to Omaha in order to get married and start their new lives when they decide to give a lift to a random hitchiker, Syl in greed of some easy money. Little do they know that he is dying and holding a secret over him as well. When they stop at a random motel because of the roads being blocked, they don't realise how much this is going to affect their lives and change the course of everything.
The plot for this one was a fairly used one however the noir aspect to it all gave it quite a mysterious aura. The characters were complicated and all dealing with their own demons, there were quite a few crossroads for Nate and Sara and watching them make one bad decision after the other and be helpless was what made the book a good one.
The ending was very surprising as well. I enjoyed it a fair bit to say the least.
3 stars.
Nate and his pregnant girlfriend Sarah are driving down from Minnesota to Omaha in order to get married and start their new lives when they decide to give a lift to a random hitchiker, Syl in greed of some easy money. Little do they know that he is dying and holding a secret over him as well. When they stop at a random motel because of the roads being blocked, they don't realise how much this is going to affect their lives and change the course of everything.
The plot for this one was a fairly used one however the noir aspect to it all gave it quite a mysterious aura. The characters were complicated and all dealing with their own demons, there were quite a few crossroads for Nate and Sara and watching them make one bad decision after the other and be helpless was what made the book a good one.
The ending was very surprising as well. I enjoyed it a fair bit to say the least.
3 stars.
November 29, 2023
This is an interesting book to review. The whole time, it felt like a lesson in wroth or an example of a workshopped book. Like it was deftly demonstrating lessons. But also like when you're watching what your parents call their hi-def tv, and it probably is, but also, the settings are off, and so the lighting is horrible. You can see what looks like a set every time you look at the screen. Of course, it is a set! But it ruins the overall illusion.
This book is "textbook perfect" worn a languid pace. Something is always happening, thrusting the plot forward, and yet everyone moves so slow. It's predictable enough that one of the characters comments on how like a plot their scenario is! And she was right. And yet, the reader probably already noticed.
Anyway, the seams of this novel are all seen straight, but damn if you can't help but stare at every last thread. As the book ended, you just see that last moment coming.
It would be a good textbook/example for a creative writing class. And yet, it's not great. Perhaps it's like one of those meal kits. It's all right there, but there ain't no love in it.
This book is "textbook perfect" worn a languid pace. Something is always happening, thrusting the plot forward, and yet everyone moves so slow. It's predictable enough that one of the characters comments on how like a plot their scenario is! And she was right. And yet, the reader probably already noticed.
Anyway, the seams of this novel are all seen straight, but damn if you can't help but stare at every last thread. As the book ended, you just see that last moment coming.
It would be a good textbook/example for a creative writing class. And yet, it's not great. Perhaps it's like one of those meal kits. It's all right there, but there ain't no love in it.
April 29, 2018
het was een goed boek, met verrassende momenten erin.
September 10, 2022
I was bored the first 200 but the ending was fine it wasn’t good but it was fine.
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