A review by brooksie03051
A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall 

Pub Date: Feb. 4th, 2025
DURATION 9 Hours, 48 Minutes Macmillan Audio

Genres: Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Adult, Suspense 

Getting engaged after a very fast courtship and meeting the future in-laws should be great until it isn't. When your husband to be comes from an elite ridiculously rich and powerful family, they don't just let anyone join, and Connor's family has a reputation to uphold. They also may have a few skeletons in the closet, but so does Theodora. 

They arrive at his family's very isolated winter retreat where they spend every Christmas. No close neighbors, no cell service, and snow storms can trap them there for days. Piece of cake right? Although it seems someone had been sending her anonymous messages saying "Stay away from Connor Dalton." before they arrived it seemed the family was not pleased that he was bringing her to spend the holidays with the family. 

Theo ignored the threatening messages on her phone, but at the lodge, she noticed footprints in the snow outside the cabin window and more messages that were clearly from someone at the property. Which family member has it out for her when they don't even know her? Someone in his family does not want her to become part of the family. She also has a sense of deja vu about this place, yet she is certain she has never been here and grew up across the country with her adoptive parents. When she gets a tour around the grounds she notices one of the cabins that none of the family use and she notices there is a familiar-looking dragonfly on the building. It looks similar to the one she has tattooed on herself. When the family is tight-lipped over the empty cabin and what happened to Connor's father, she decides to check out the cabin and finds something that should not be there. A photo of her as a child with Connor's father on this land. She doesn't remember much of her childhood since she was adopted at a very young age and therapy wasn't helpful to get her to remember what happened to her birth parents. All she knows is she was adopted by two strict and religious people who were difficult to live with and to this day she has a recurrent nightmare that seems to be linked to her childhood before she was adopted. 

She has a traumatic past, one that she has yet to tell her future husband. Now that this place is sparking strange memories, it seems like she will need to talk to Connor to try and figure out what is going on and save her relationship because his family is making it very difficult for her to feel wanted in the family. The Daltons have a reputation to uphold, and they also have secrets they don't want outsiders to find out. Theo continues to get threatening messages and the more she pokes around, the more danger she seems to be getting into. The Daltons are rich, and powerful and will do anything to cover their tracks. Her poking around the past may not just cost her relationship, it could cost her life. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio ARC of this book prior to its release in exchange for an honest review. This book was fast-paced, had the mystery and suspense I love in thriller books, and had a surprising final reveal of what actually happened when the FMC was a little girl. I highly recommend this for mystery thriller lovers. It was a good time.