Title: Cold Heart Creek
(Detective Josie Quinn #7)
Author: Lisa Regan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Detective
First published: December 2nd 2019
Publisher: Bookouture
Finished reading: November 19th 2019
Pages: 377
“But her mind went there anyway because the moment you told your brain not to think of something, that was precisely what it conjured.”
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Detective Josie Quinn series is one of my favorite detective series and every time I discover a new installment is coming out I get that feeling of Christmas having arrived early. I’ve been a fan of this series ever since I read the first book almost two years ago… It’s been a long and intense ride for Josie Quinn, and it seems like trouble keeps showing up around the small town where she works. Not that I’m complaining, as each new appearance of trouble means a new Josie Quinn book and a promise of another formidable and addicting ride. Cold Heart Creek is no exception, and already the seventh book that manages to hit the detective thriller nail right on the head. Want to know why?
The first thing you have to know is just how compelling each book is. I know it might come over as a bit of a book reviewer cliche, but you will want to clear your schedule before you pick up one of these books… Because once you read the first chapter, you will forget about your pending tasks and keep turning those pages until you suddenly reach that final page, look up at the clock and realize hours have past. With a superfast pace, lots of action and suspense and a compelling plot, time will fly as you will become fully addicted to whatever shocking case Josie Quinn and her team encounter next… And I literally finished Cold Heart Creek in one sitting.
There is also no denying the power of being able to meet up with favorite characters again. I have been rooting for Josie, Noah, Gretchen and the others since the beginning and I’ve really enjoyed seeing them grow over time… And getting to meet up with them again is always a fantastic feeling. Technically, you could read Cold Heart Creek as a stand-alone, but you will be missing out on the background of the different characters and you might not understand some comments about events that happened in previous books. That said, the main storyline and two cases Josie Quinn and her team investigate in book seven shouldn’t be a problem to follow without that previous knowledge… Although if you are a fan of thrilling and intense detective stories, there really is no excuse to just read them all and enjoy the ride before diving into the newest Detective Josie Quinn.
There isn’t too much focus on the personal development of the main characters this time around. Instead, Cold Heart Creek mostly focuses on not one, but two cases that might or might not be connected… The story will grab you from the very first chapter, as Lisa Regan manages to lure you in with the promise of another disturbing and thrilling story. I’ve mentioned in the past that if you look critically, things can be said about the credibility of the plot and things being slightly over the top, but I personally don’t mind as the story reads lightning fast and is 200% entertaining and addictive. I really enjoyed the cult element in Cold Heart Creek and just how big of a role it played in the plot in general; the scenes in the woods were particularly well described and really made the setting come alive for me. The plot itself has many twists and turns and events that will definitely manage to catch you unawares… If you are a fan of fast and intense detective thrillers with a very high entertainment value and pack a punch, I can highly recommend both Cold Heart Creek and the Detective Josie Quinn series in general.
You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.
