A review by myrdyr
Cold Grave by Kathryn Fox

2.0

I used to really like this series. It has been a few years since I read anything by Fox, and this reintroduction was a disappointment. It's been so long that I don't know if the issue is with me or with Fox, but the magic was gone. First of all, I didn't like the third person point of view. It didn't make me feel connected to the story or the characters, but the main reason I stopped reading it was the preachiness of the writing. I have never been on a cruise, and now, thanks to Fox, I never want to. I realize it is important for people to shine a light on the injustices in this world, and as someone who has traveled to third world countries for warm winter vacations and has struggled with some of these same moral and ethical dilemmas I get it; however, I wanted to read a murder-mystery/thriller, not get lectured about the evils of the cruise line industry. At first, I kept reading because I was curious about cruise ship operations, but eventually that wasn't even enough to keep me going. Her prejudices were so obvious that I actually started to wonder about the veracity of her claims since this is a work of fiction, and, as far as I know, Fox is not an investigative journalist. It seemed like she was writing with a barely concealed agenda of trashing cruise lines, and it really turned me off. While I am sure there are certain cruise lines that operate questionably, I doubt they all have the nudity, sex, rape and violence that seem to permeate this cruise within the first 2 days. I made it to page 99 before giving up. Moving on...