Cold Town

by Sarah Diamond

Thirty-seven-year-old Terry Fielding is having a lot of problems—the terror of losing his job, a wife who moves further away from him each day, and recurring memories of a little girl named Katie, who died 27 years ago. When he meets Rosina, an enigmatic nightclub hostess, all that stops mattering. Nothing matters but the time they spend together—the long nights in cheap hotels where they lie awake and talk about everything. Corruption. Amorality. Escape. But is Rosina really Terry’s soulmate? Or is there more to her than meets the eye? By the time Terry find out, it may be too late.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Sarah Diamond groeide op in Weymouth (UK). Ze studeerde Engelse literatuur aan de Reading University en werkt fulltime als copywriter in de reclamewereld. 's Avonds schrijft ze ladythrillers, ofwel spannende chicklit. Ze wilde altijd al schrijfster worden en schrijft al vanaf haar dertiende. Diamond debuteerde op haar 24e met The Beach Road (2000), die meteen aansloeg in de pers. Ze stopt veel van haar eigen leven in haar werk. The Beach Road is grotendeels gebaseerd op haar eigen schoolperiode. Haar beste ideeën bedenkt ze niet, ze komen gewoon in haar op, vooral op winteravonden. Diamond hoopt ooit een wereld bestseller te worden en daadwerkelijk te kunnen leven van haar boeken.
De schrijfster heeft advies voor chicks, die ook een roman zouden willen schrijven: heb geduld. Het is niet leuk wanneer je eerste pogingen niet lukken – maar ook haar eerste schrijfsels werden afgewezen. Dus niet paranoïde worden als het niet meteen lukt!

Reviews

[Lizzie Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terry and Maria Fielding have been married for eight years. He in advertising with a career going down hill, she in Credit Control, a rising star.

Faced with his growing inadequacies in both his childless marriage and his job, coupled with the threat of possible redundancy, Terry becomes increasingly reluctant to go home, and to escape, he takes refuge in a Soho Club. Here he meets the exciting and enigmatic Rosina, a hostess with whom he becomes totally fascinated and who he comes to believe will be his salvation. But Rosina is obsessed with secrets in her own past and can, or does she want to, provide the support and understanding Terry needs as he clings desperately to his sanity?

As Maria comes to understand that her work promotion carries a price, and as she struggles to understand Terry’s silences, she devotes more and more of her tine to Lisa, her sister’s child, with whom she becomes obsessed to combat her growing feelings of isolation.

Conscious of guilt over their childless marriage and unable to communicate with Maria, Terry becomes more inward as he wrestles with a terrible secret in his past, that of the murder of his sister when he was a child, a secret he thought he had buried, but that now fills his every waking hour.

Written from both points of view, with vivid glimpses into the past, this is a powerful story of two people trapped in normality with abnormality creeping closer and closer each day. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thirty seven year old Terry Fielding is having a lot of problems. The terror of redundancy. A wife who is moving away from him further each day. Recurring memories of a little girl who died twenty seven years ago. Then he meets Rosina, and nothing matters anymore only his time he spends with her.

My Thoughts:

This is the second book by Sarah Diamond that I have read and I feel that this is not as good as Rescue Me. This book was all about obssession. Terry is obssessed with his past and with everything else going on around him, he becomes on the verge of a nervous break down. When Rosina appears on the scene all he wants is her and to escape, but everything is not what it seems only Terry can’t see it till it is too late.

For what the story line was, this book was a little bland. The story itself is quite good but the book lacked something. I felt I was been dragged along with Terry and just felt like shouting out at him to get a grip. Which in turn just got me annoyed.

I didn’t really enjoy this book although I did finish it. I have read a lot better books with a similar theme.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho hum. That's what I'd say about this book if asked. There's such a great big crescendo building throughout and the a great hid letdown at the end. Really? He doesn't even so the deed that he's been building up to. Doesn't even take out Rosina (who was obviously Christine but I thought maybe MPD). His wife lives a happily ever after even after he takes a swan dive off the bridge. Even after he leaves all his inheritance to the bimbo. He deserved to die but I think I would have preferred a suicide by cop scenario.

I get the feeling that Diamond is trying to write in the same vein as Yorke, unfortunately she fails to do so. Captivated my interest for awhile, but I wanted to skip paragraph after paragraph just to see how it ended. Not sure it was worth all that extra effort though.

[Nicolle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't exspect him to kill himself in the end :O

[Urwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

bad husband,good wife