Rating: 
Summary: "Cold Case" a Bit Tepid
Review: Everyman-hero Alan Gregory has found himself among some odd playmates. A mysterious group headquartered in Washington D.C. who call themselves "Locard" (in honor of a 19th century French policeman) and specialize in solving old murders, have called upon Alan for some specific services. This peculiar society (why do I keep thinking of Peter Straub?) apparently has some clout as they can freely access old records, and investigate at will.Alan is to do "psychological" background on an unsolved murder of two teenage girls that took place a number of years ago in the Boulder, Colorado area. Wife Lauren is to investigate the legal aspects. With this rather unlikely premise, White gives us an intricate plot but not too many shocking revelations. I was impressed with his knowledgeable and precise description of just what happens when a character suffers a full-fledged panic/anxiety attack. It was so vivid; I suffered right along with him. My favorite Stephen White novel is "Higher Authority" where all his strengths (good plotting, strong characterization) are in place without the flaws of over emphasis on his wife's fragility, extraneous characters, and overly minute descriptions of how he gets from Point A to Point B (street directions, vehicle, scenery, road conditions, etc.). "Cold Case" is a little overlong, neither his best nor his worst, a fairly pleasant read with few surprises.
Rating: 
Summary: Cold Case: a hot read
Review: Exciting, interesting, and suspenseful describe the plot of this new novel. White's readers will not be disappointed in the eighth in this series. A conniving politician, an estranged husband, and a woman with a secret contribute to a complicated plot involving the murder of two teenage girls. The case has gone unsolved for years, until a group of experts that solve old or "cold" cases as a hobby decide to take on the case. Alan and Lauren are asked to be consultants for this group of criminologists and get more involved than they expect.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous read!
Review: Having read all of Stephen White's books in order, this was one of the fastest reads he's accomplished. It's so sad that it takes a year for an author to put together such spellbinding books and we read them in just two evenings! Great story, great read! Get all Stephen's books, they're truly a joy!
Rating:
Summary: Probably the Best Thriller Series Around
Review: Having read all of Stephen White's novels in chronological order (which you also should do if you feel like exploring his complete work), I was highly impressed with this eighth instalment of the loose series. Even though some of the plot is at times... well, quite predictable (anybody here who did not have an idea what would happen to the sympathetic Dorothy pretty quickly?), "Cold Case" nevertheless offers another exciting read from this gifted author. There are of course a lot of similarities to Jonathan Kellerman's L.A.-based Alex Delaware series, but Stephen White's very credible Colorado characters lend all of his thrillers deeper roots somehow. Like I said in an earlier review, opening up a new Stephen White novel is like visiting good friends. It's great to see the main characters being carefully developed with each new novel - and with Stephen White you can bet that the story is always interesting, profoundly researched and well written.
Rating: 
Summary: the worst book ever?
Review: I cannot believe that anyone would give a positive review to this load of garbage.What an enormous waste of my time!
Rating: 
Summary: Left me cold
Review: I had high hopes for this one, based on the book's description. I have experience in criminal investigations, and always have been curious about the psychology of crime. I thought that this book might blend these two topics together in a credible manner. I was left disappointed. The book starts out slowly, putting together a cast of characters involved in the investigation. I kept waiting for the pace to pick up. It didn't until the end, and then it picked up so much that it lost control and crashed. The most interesting person in the book was Dorothy, a reporter for the Washington Post. Quite a character. Unfortunately, her part in the story was short lived. The narrator (Dr. Gregory) had some obvious political biases. Many of us do, so that's fine. What's not fine is when the biases remove much of the mystery. Yes, there were some very surprising (bordering on ridiculous) twists, but the main villain was obvious from the beginning. The book is supposed to be a mystery, but it wasn't very mysterious. More careful editing should have been done. At one point, the reader is left to believe that the body of one of the characters is in a hotel room. Then, it turns out the character is "missing." This was clearly an error, and not a plot twist. Lastly, Stephen White is a psychologist. The hero in the book is a psycholgist. Much discussion was had in the book about psychotherapy of various people in the story. However, virtually nothing was intimated about the psychological state of the bad guys. It would have been interesting to know what psychological forces drove them to do what they did, rather than the old standbys of money, power, and sex. All in all a very disappointing read. 2 stars may be generous.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I had read one other book by White, Harm's Way, which was adequate for airline travel but Cold Case was really a disappointment.The plot could have been enthralling but it was ruined by thinly developed characters that were presented either as good or bad people. The writing was incredibly simple and most of the book became very predictable.This was not much of a read, and I wondered whether or not the title was selected to confuse potential buyers that it might be " A Cold Case" which is a book worth reading. Don't bother with this one.
Rating:
Summary: I Wish I'd Liked It Better
Review: I have to agree with other reviewers who say this book started out throwing off real suspense and enchantment (and some lovely ambiguity that misled me quite...) but the longer I read, the longer, I'm sorry to say, the book seemed, until it seemed at least 70 pages too long. (Okay--snotty question: how many times can a first person narrator be held at gunpoint without us figuring out that he survived to tell us about it? Snotty answer: Depends on how dumb you think the audience is.) There are some real pluses to this story--an intriguing setup, a narrator who seems potentially most interesting, and some lovely minor characters (I particularly liked Satoshi, the sister of one of the victims and a victim herself who refused to think of herself as a victim, which meant daily she performed an act of psychological heroism.) This writer has talent and insight, but I felt something went awry with the story--that perhaps, ultimately, plot highjacked character and credibility. The pace, which at first seemed pleasantly leisurely, became increasingly a problem to me. The writer's (at first) charming penchant for loving detail began to seem (sorry, don't mean to be cruel) like filler. I kept wishing some gutsy editor had made this book live up to its intitial promise. I had the feeling somebody let this writer--and his readers--down. Great start, though. I wished I'd liked the whole thing better. Maybe next time. Hey! Yes!
Rating: 
Summary: I'm sold, but have just one question . . . .
Review: I just finished Cold Case and, as a result, ordered almost everything else Stephen White has written. However, I've just got to know where I can find these "right-wing blonds on the cable news talk shows" he refers to because I don't believe I've ever seen one.
Rating:
Summary: On and On and On
Review: I love a good mystery. I hoped I'd discovered another author to add to my collection, but I really struggled to finish this one. Thought frequently of just giving up on it. Too slow moving, too far fetched, too often sliding into unreal and impossible scenarios. And most of all to be a good mystery writer I have a helpful suggestion. Leave out the left-wing liberal politics. That kind of tripe is a real turnoff. (You know not of whom you speak.)
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