Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. I would give this novel 3.75 stars if I could.

A Cold Whisper is an eerie, atmospheric thriller with a chilling premise, though it took a while to fully pull me in. The book had variable pacing—some sections moved quickly, while others dragged, especially in the beginning for me. The writing felt clunky and overly descriptive at times, making certain passages hard to follow. I found myself rereading sentences to make sure I understood them. This is the biggest reason I can’t give the book 4 stars.

The novel provides pieces of Rose’s backstory, but I wished Lily’s character had been explored more deeply. Still, the mystery kept me engaged. Around 75% in, I had predicted a big part of the twist, but this actually kept me more intrigued. I wanted to finish to see if I was correct. While I found some plot points predictable, there was still a decent twist, and the tragic ending left an impact.

Overall, A Cold Whisper is a solid, if slightly uneven, psychological thriller. Readers who enjoy slow-burning mysteries with dark family secrets and a haunting atmosphere may enjoy this one.

In my opinion, the book started slowly. I felt like the beginning dragged, but that could just be me. I don't often enjoy books told from different points of view or multiple narrators and this one is told by three. However, after getting through the beginning of the book, it became something I couldn't put down. I kept feeling like I was missing something or that everything wasn't what it seemed. I HAD TO KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! I read a lot of thrillers and it isn't often that I am surprised, but Casey Dunn delivers!

Thank you to NetGalley, Casey Dunn, and Severn House for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

This book begins with a story about two sisters and what one decision can do to make things go spiral... it's told from multiple points of view. Mostly the two sisters Rose and Lily, but also the two detectives, Daniel and Hunter. Which are two half-brothers.

The book is easy to read. The first chapter is a prologue that will make you want to read more! What happened that night. That is the question Lily wants answers to.
A medium-paced story will grab you by the throat and you don't want to stop reading. It is a very well thought story, incredible and intriguing. In the end, it all comes together. My goodness, the end was not quite what I was expecting.

A thriller about secrets, relationships and the consequences of one final decision...

I really found this book to keep my on toes, Lily, Rose and Daniels perspectives give totally different points of view and allow you to build a picture of what happened before BAM, Casey Dunn throws in a plot twist no one sees coming!

This was a great book! It held my interest throughout. I had no idea what was truly happening with Rose and Lily until a few chapters until the end. When I got to the end, I needed to know more! I highly recommend this book and hope there is a second one!

Great plot and a truly surprising twist of events, unlike anything else I’ve read. I enjoy reading multiple POV stories, however it threw me off a bit that only Rose’s POV was written in first person.

Trauma, survival, and revenge. With A Cold Whisper, all of these themes are woven throughout a story centered around the difficulties of the foster system. Lily and Rose escaped their toxic homelife situation the middle of a snowstorm as children. Having been separated, the girls grew into women who carried the trauma of that night on their backs. Both women take very different paths to deal with this difficult time in their past. Years later, more teenage foster kids are going missing during a similar snow storm, unknowingly drawing both women back to the scene of the crime.

The concept of this book s0unded really interesting, but unfortunately, I struggled to get through it. I felt that by the end, some of the character storylines were a bit unrealistic and jumbled. in a way that made it slightly hard to follow. I wish the author kept it just the two girls as narrators, because between the time jumps, and the varying points of view, it got a bit overwhelming.. The first half of the story was more engaging to me as we see how Lily becomes entangled in the Foster system as her job, but there are a lot of drug references due to Rose's lifestyle.

Thank you to NetGalley & Severn House for the advanced Kindle copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley for having this available to read.

I cannot get into this one. To many points of view. I just need a story told by one person. 2 at most. When it starts to get to crowded I lose so much interest.

DNF.

I went into this without reading any reviews and I love doing that now because I got to experience what s great novel this was without any preconceptions. It was so good. A bit of a slow burn that keeps you excited and guessing the whole time.

A Cold Whisper presents an intriguing premise with a narrative that meshes themes of trauma, family, and the search for truth. The story follows Lily, a social worker haunted by her past and the mysterious disappearance of her sister, Rose. While the plot has the potential to be compelling, it fell a bit flat for me. The back-and-forth between Lily’s present life and memories of the past could have been more fleshed out to enhance emotional resonance.

The setting of the snowy woods creates a chilling atmosphere that complements the story’s darker themes. However, the pacing felt uneven, with some sections being slow while others felt rushed. This inconsistency affected the overall flow and made it difficult for me to stay engaged.

While the ending attempts to provide closure, it leaves lingering questions that might frustrate some readers. Overall, A Cold Whisper is a decent read with a haunting premise. It offers moments of intrigue. It’s a good read for a light psychological thriller and is worth a look.

#AColdWhisper #NetGalley @severnhouse

There are so many emotions running through me with this book. First, when I picked it up, I didn't except all that happened in the novel. The sisters, Lily and Rose, were so damaged by their mom, and each other, I couldn't help but feel sorrow for them.For the foster kids, I wept for them, several times, When all they wanted was someone to love them and to have a real chance at a life. I know that people have to be responsible for their own actions, but sometimes trauma just changes a person for the better, or for the worse. Anyone who ants a psychological mystery needs to pick it up, but I believe that there should be a trigger warning about this book. I know what it feels like to have been abandoned by someone, though they would not call it that. and it brought up memories for me. Luckily I am working through them, and am not like Lily or Rose. This will tug at heartstrings and will surprise you.

A psychological thriller that delivers an emotional story. I did find the plot a little predictable but if you like mysteries I do think you would enjoy this one!

This is a story about trauma and survival. Two sisters run away in a snowstorm, but one of them leaves the other out in the cold and disappears. Lily, the sister who was left behind, becomes a social worker to help children like herself. Rose, the older sister who abandoned the other, became drug addicted and down on her luck, forever guilty of leaving her sister.

There are twists and turns that took me by surprise, and other twists that were predictable. Writing this in a dual timeline helps the reader to understand why each girl turned out how they did and the ways they dealt with their trauma.

Entertaining, atmospheric and dark, this book will certainly entertain you. Thank you, NetGalley and Severn House for the opportunity to read this 4-star book.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was great and the characters were well developed. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

What a great book! I absolutely loved how twisty and clever this one was! I was totally engrossed from beginning to end and would definitely read from this author again, So, so, so good!

Thank you Severn House and Casey Dunn, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley

I enjoyed A Cold Whisper and do recommend as a decent mystery. Took me 3 days to finish.

I rated as 4 stars since it had a nice flow which made it easy to read. Storyline was entertaining, the characters were fleshed out enough to picture, and she did get me with the twist…which I am usually one to figure them out. I reduced the rating down from five because a couple of scenes had extra details at the end when retold as a memory, which were not just omitted during the original but altered. I feel as though those could have been handled with a little more care. This will probably be one I will purchase as a gift for friends.

3.5 - I would recommend A Cold Whisper to readers who enjoy thrillers that center around the trauma of the foster care system. As a whole, the book is depressing, and abuse is rampant throughout. The ending of the book was one of the better twisty endings I have read. However, for a book under 300 pages, I think there were too many individual side plots that were unnecessary or poorly integrated, which means there were some loose ends or elements where you had to suspend belief to make sense of the ending.

Thank you NetGalley, Severn House, and Casey Dunn for the ARC of this book.

SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

What Worked for Me
While I can see how seasoned thriller readers could predict the ending, I was 75% surprised. Both the author and society is driving you to suspect that the sister who is a drugged up sex worker has something to hide. Rose's story is a stereotypical portrayal of the impact of abuse in the foster care system, while Lily's story is more subtle. I liked the character portrayals of both sisters, and would have liked to see those developed more throughout the story.

What Didn't Work for Me
While I could see psychologically how the ending played out, I didn't buy into it 100%. If Rose wanted to make sure Lily had a good life, why not stick around to monitor? And if you were constantly around, wouldn't you know that your sister is a serial killer? I also wish that Daniel and Hunter had a backstory that was more integrated into the main case (like if one of them started to suspect someone was targeting foster children) or Easton's case. They have too much page space to be two cops whose sole purpose is getting duped. The last main issue I had was the setting. I didn't need to be told over and over how cold it was or how often Lily checked her weather app. A more integrated setting would have made this literally and figuratively a chillier story, and could have given clues into Lily having an alternative motive to the weather app. Overall, I feel like this story lacked a masterful intertwining of plot.

I really had a hard time with this one. There were too many individual stories that didn't really connect. The characters were not very likeable and were very shallow and self centered. They experienced trauma but it didnt seem to fit their behaviors. As far as mysteries go it was disappointing and really didn't do anything different. There was so much extraneous information that you lost the story itself. I found myself bored, lost and struggling to finish it.

I just finished a great new thriller. A Cold Whisper by Casey Dunn was a page tuner that kept me up way past bedtime to finish.

A Cold Whisper checks all the boxes for a psychological thriller—trauma, a missing-person mystery, and chilling atmosphere—but it doesn’t bring much new to the genre. The dual timeline structure, following Lily in the present and Rose in the past, is engaging, and the cold, eerie setting adds to the tension. However, the plot follows a fairly predictable path, and while the story is well-paced, seasoned thriller readers may find the twists easy to spot.

That said, the novel still delivers a solid, emotional journey, especially in how it explores trauma and survival. Fans of The Child Finder or The Overnight Guest will likely enjoy the familiar themes and suspenseful moments. While it didn’t completely blow me away, it’s a decent read for those who enjoy atmospheric thrillers with a dark, emotional core.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.