In the Cold (Berkley Sensation Special)

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written - couldn't finish the book
Review: Everyone once in awhile, I try a new author and am pleasantly suprised. This was not the case here. The dialog was incredibly boring - sprinkled liberally with "Um" and "Uh-huh". Character development was also pretty dismal. After reading a few paragraphs about them, the hero and herione do sound like losers. It's hard to generate any sympathy for them. Stick to the best - Nora Roberts, Sandra Browne, Elizabeth Lowell, Catherine Coulter, Susan Elizabeth Phillips to name a few. Their stories flow smoothly, dialog creates anticipation, their use of the english language to create their stories mesmerizing.

Rating:
Summary: From: Romance Reviews Today... Stunning Plot Twist...
Review: Former Newark undercover cop Chris Judge left the force under a cloud as some Mafia money went missing and though not proven Internal Affairs believe he probably took it. Chris stole the cash to help his wheelchair bound best friend. His friends and his ex-wife worry with good cause about his mental health as Chris suffers from severe depression over the money and his two years underground.

Chris is about to prove they are right to worry. He points a loaded gun to his head when he receives a drastic call from Ashley Marin. Twenty years ago, Chris saved a then teen Ashley's life from kidnappers Davey Potts and his now deceased father. Apparently, Potts just got released from prison and has abducted Ashley's teenage daughter. A frantic Ashley believes only Chris can save her child. Reluctantly, Chris agrees realizing he has a reason to live starting with saving the life of the teen and soon falling in love with the mother who has worshiped him for two decades.

Though the reason for the kidnapping is ludicrous, the story line is a taut investigative romantic suspense. Chris is a complex individual suffering from extreme guilt for not just stealing the money, but for turning in people that had become his friends while undercover. Ashley has revered Chris since he saved her life, but knows she also loves her hero. However, it is her anxiety over her daughter that makes the tension so palatable and believable that the audience will feel a bit of a letdown when the real reason for the abduction surfaces.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: taut investigative romantic suspense
Review: Former Newark undercover cop Chris Judge left the force under a cloud as some Mafia money went missing and though not proven Internal Affairs believe he probably took it. Chris stole the cash to help his wheelchair bound best friend. His friends and his ex-wife worry with good cause about his mental health as Chris suffers from severe depression over the money and his two years underground.

Chris is about to prove they are right to worry. He points a loaded gun to his head when he receives a drastic call from Ashley Marin. Twenty years ago, Chris saved a then teen Ashley's life from kidnappers Davey Potts and his now deceased father. Apparently, Potts just got released from prison and has abducted Ashley's teenage daughter. A frantic Ashley believes only Chris can save her child. Reluctantly, Chris agrees realizing he has a reason to live starting with saving the life of the teen and soon falling in love with the mother who has worshiped him for two decades.

Though the reason for the kidnapping is ludicrous, the story line is a taut investigative romantic suspense. Chris is a complex individual suffering from extreme guilt for not just stealing the money, but for turning in people that had become his friends while undercover. Ashley has revered Chris since he saved her life, but knows she also loves her hero. However, it is her anxiety over her daughter that makes the tension so palatable and believable that the audience will feel a bit of a letdown when the real reason for the abduction surfaces.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: From: Romance Reviews Today... Stunning Plot Twist...
Review: IN THE COLD is a taut, suspenseful thriller that pulls you in and doesn't let
go. The tension builds from the first page and keeps mounting until the end,
where a stunning plot twist will leave readers reeling. Well-drawn, complex
characters add to the story's intensity. Ashley is a loving single mother who
must continually fight the demons of her past. Her neuroses seem very real, an
authentic aftershock of the trauma she endured. Chris is a fascinating
character, flawed and conflicted, but with a core of goodness and honesty that makes
him sympathetic and likable.

The book succeeds more as a work of suspense than it does as a romance. Out
of necessity, romantic moments between Chris and Ashley are at a minimum. While
I wished there could have been a stronger romance thread, its absence makes
the book seem more real. What mother whose daughter is in mortal danger is
going to take time out to sigh blissfully over the new man in her life? Ashley
never does, and each moment that she does allow desire or passion to override her
concern for her daughter's welfare is followed by torment and guilt that she
would let herself be so distracted from the situation at hand. Chris is more
inclined to let his feelings for Ashley show, but believes himself unworthy of
her because of his mistake. He doesn't feel he has a right to be with her,
especially without knowing if he'll allow himself to forgive and heal enough to
even pursue a future for himself.

For a taut, edge-of-your-seat thriller, with complex, interesting characters
and a dash of romance, IN THE COLD will keep you turning pages long into the
night.

Joanne Holbrook
Romance Reviews Today

Rating:
Summary: Ripped from the Headlines
Review: Lynn Erickson has opened up the bag of tricks yet again, and has given us a delightful love story and very suspenseful mystery. In the Cold chronicles the desperation that draws two people together, and follows them through the trials and tribulations in tracking down the very twisted and vengeful mind that has devised this plan of terror. The worst of Ashley's nightmares have stemmed from what happened all those years ago, and now they have come rushing back. The trail leads Ashley and Chris into places that neither thought they would ever go into again, and never in their wildest dreams would they have thought they would go there together. In the Cold is a romance with enough suspense to keep even the most avid of mystery buffs happy, and enough romance to keep the rest satisfied as well.

This June Release for the new Berkley Sensations line is one heck of a slam-dunk start! In the Cold is one book you definitely won't want to miss. Lynn has done it again with the "ripped from the headlines" story and the hero and heroine to match. The story is poignant, rich, and terrifyingly real as you are drawn into the twisted and evil mind and the trap that he has laid for his victim. Revenge is never pretty, but In the Cold is beautifully and dramatically written and the insight is bold and realistic. A real keeper, Don't Miss it!

Rating:
Summary: Ripped from the Headlines, with a Romantic Twist
Review: Noone knows the dark secret troubling ex Newark undercover cop Chris Judge. Everyone recalls his heroic rescue of Ashley Marin twenty years ago after three months in captivity at the hands of Davey Potts and his father. That incident changed both their lives. Now Ashley seeks Chris' help (though the two have not seen eachother for many years) to rescue her daughter from the same ruthless man who held her captive twenty years ago.

In a compelling and crisply woven tale Judge uncovers an unusual plot that leads to the perpetrator and old feelings are stirred once more. Though the motivations of the characters are at times questionable this is an enjoyable summer read.

Rating:
Summary: Summer pleasure
Review: Noone knows the dark secret troubling ex Newark undercover cop Chris Judge. Everyone recalls his heroic rescue of Ashley Marin twenty years ago after three months in captivity at the hands of Davey Potts and his father. That incident changed both their lives. Now Ashley seeks Chris' help (though the two have not seen eachother for many years) to rescue her daughter from the same ruthless man who held her captive twenty years ago.

In a compelling and crisply woven tale Judge uncovers an unusual plot that leads to the perpetrator and old feelings are stirred once more. Though the motivations of the characters are at times questionable this is an enjoyable summer read.

Rating:
Summary: Romance and Thriller combo
Review: When Ashley Marin desperately needs a knight in shining armor, the first person she thinks to call upon is the man who was that for her twenty years ago, Chris Judge. As a girl, she had been kidnapped, and Chris was there for her, rescuing her from the maniac who had imprisoned her in a mine. Now, when her attacker is back, this time taking her only daughter, Chris is her hope.

Ironically, her call comes just as Chris has given up all hope and is considering ending it all. His marriage is gone, his career wrecked by lies, and there seems to be nothing good in life. Then, Ashley needs him, and this soul scarred man finds a new purpose in life, and a love he had never imagined he would have.

As they play the desperate game of cat and mouse with Lauren's kidnapper, Chris and Ashley find themselves falling in love. They also uncover a much more diabolical plan is in the works to cause Ashley even more pain.

***** This tale is at once suspenseful and touching. It has all the good old fashioned romance you could hope for and is also refreshingly new. The plot twists will keep you just as chilled as the title implies. *****
Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.