𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅...𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚.

I've lived in the Deep South all of my life. The weather is pleasant for me about four days of the year, and the rest of the time, it's unbearably hot and humid. When I read Dante's 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒐 in college, I was so intrigued to discover that the closer Virgil and Dante get to the Ninth Circle, the colder it became. Where was the hellfire I had heard about all of my life? The poem says that Satan beats his wings, creating an icy wind that continues to freeze the ice surrounding him and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle. I never thought of Hell being cold until I read that poem, and Susan Walters solidified that idea with RUNNING COLD.

When you read the synopsis, the plot sounds like a standard thriller, but I'm here to tell you there is NOTHING standard about this book. Julie Adler is reeling from her husband's suicide, and even worse, she founds out that her husband has left her penniless. Confused and uncertain of her future, Julie returns to the place where she felt most like herself; Banff, Canada, which is a world away from the big cities of Toronto or Vancouver. A charming, idyllic ski town where she once trained for the Olympics, now, thanks to an old friend at the Banff Hotel, provides her work as a housekeeper.

The inciting incident in the plot is the murder of a difficult hotel guest who had a recent run-in with Julie. And when she's seen on hotel security entering and leaving the victim's room at the time of the murder, Julie is the prime suspect. She can't risk being detained while she's trying to figure out what happened to her husband, so she goes on the run.

The landscape, terrain, and below-freezing temperatures are all completely foreign to me, but the author paints such a vivid picture for the reader with her contradictory descriptions; inhospitable yet welcoming; stark yet magical, that I could see the little puffs of breath escaping from Julie's mouth, and the frost on her eyelashes weighed down my own.

If you haven't read this author yet, you are missing some incredible plots, devious characters, and mind-blowing twists. I'm so proud to promote Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse and this author! Her book will release October 8, 2024.