Sunday, April 11, 2010

Cold Justice by Katherine Howell

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Copyright: Feb 2010
Pages: 329
Book Source: Library borrow

A teenage girl stumbles across the body of her classmate, Tim Pieters, hidden amongst the bushes. His family is devastated, the killer is never found.

Eighteen years later, political pressure sees the murder investigation reopened. Detective Ella Marconi tracks down Georgie Riley, the student who found the body, and who is now a paramedic. Georgie seems to be telling the truth, so then why does Ella receive an anonymous phone call insisting that Georgie knows more? And is it mere coincidence that her ambulance partner, Freya, also went to the same high school?

Katherine Howell has done it again and brilliantly. Cold Justice is a compelling, multi-layered read that combines "all that is good" from this author. Howell's attention to detail is once again, meticulous. The sights, smells, sounds and emotions of the paramedic scene are visceral, the next best thing to actually being there. When an author writes what she knows and a reader feels like a participant rather than an observer, I think it's safe to say the author has done her job superbly! 

I don't know how Katherine Howell ties the many threads of this finely crafted suspense into a cohesive and engrossing story that remains realistic but I guess I don't have to know; my job is to hang on tight and enjoy the ride. Detective Ella Marconi (from Howell's previous novels, Frantic & Darkest Hour) returns again in Cold Justice and is assigned a cold case, the unsolved murder of Tim Pieters and what follows is an insighful look at police procedure and the paramedic environment. We get an intimate view of the personal and work lives of Ella & paramedics Georgie and Freya and feel the pain of a family haunted by tragedy. With red herrings thrown in to keep the suspense high and the reader off balance this is one thrilling read! 

Aussie author Katherine Howell is on my official auto-read list so I was excited to learn her next book Violent Exposure, the fourth in the Detective Ella Marconi series, is due for release in December 2010. To find out more about this author and her work visit her website.

Click on the titles to see my reviews of Katherine's previous works FRANTIC (2007) & DARKEST HOUR (2008)



13 comments:

  1. You know I'm quite tempted to try this author. Maybe her first book though!

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  2. I would like to try this book myself. It sounds very much like an Elizabeth George book whose books stories are layered in a similar fashion and very compelling reading. Thank you for highlighting this.

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  3. YAY! A new mystery/thriller series to read. I especially love the ones with female leads. I'll be picking these up for sure.

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  4. Excellent review Teddyree!

    You make me want to read this author's books every time you post a review.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Hope things are improving for you..

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  5. Wow, this seems like a truly thrilling read!

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  6. She's done it again!!! yahoo...definitely an author that I have to try!

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  7. I am way overdue for a good mystery, and you've made this one sound so good I want to give it a go. ;-)

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  8. This sounds incredibly interesting. I love mysteries/thrillers. You might want to try Karen Rose. I love all the books she has written. I would rate all of them 4.5-5 stars.

    Adding this author to my reading pile

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  9. Thanks for the rec hon.. I love a decent thriller..

    E.H>

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  10. Frantic is on my wish list. Looks like a great series.

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  11. I love thrillers and this book sounds an amazing (thriller) book.

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  12. wow for another thriller books.
    But from the synopsis, the other two books give more thrilling parts

    Don't you ever wish to see all the scene in this book into motion pictures?

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  13. You're right Aleetha, I think Katherine's novels would make an exciting movie option :)

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