Book Review: "Cold, Cold Heart" by Tami Hoag

This was such an unusual mystery/thriller. But by the end of "Cold Cold Heart", the book became so great that I'm happy that I believed in Tami Hoag's prowess as an excellent writer and plowed through.

"Cold, Cold Heart" had an unexpected slow start. Now, don't get me wrong, in this case that's not a bad thing. I found it quite refreshing to not know exactly where this mystery was going for several well written chapters.

The book opens with the reader meeting Dana Nolen, a kidnap victim of a serial killer named Doc Holiday. She becomes the only victim of this vicious killer who lived. Dana isn't the same person now though. After surviving torture and struggling through rehab, she still has little memory of the ordeal that changed her life forever. 

Tami Hoag's book spends about half of it's pages teaching us about Dana's new life and what it means to be a victim of a serial killer. We learn of the lasting scars, both psychological and physical and what it's like to have PTSD. Throughout this interesting meandering through Dana's new life we also learn about her past life and the people who she grew up with. In that learning the reader discovers that there is in fact a mystery to be had after all. When Dana was younger her best friend disappeared and was never heard from again. Could she have been one of the first victims of Doc Holiday? Could there be such a cruel coincidence? What happened to Dana's bestie? Now that we're invested in Dana's life, this mystery pulls us hard into wanting to know what happened, if only to help Dana heal from the trauma of wondering if her own torturer also killed her best friend.

I absolutely loved the way Ms. Hoag wrote this thriller. It was so refreshing for an author to find a new and unique way of leading the reader into the mystery.  You get to love the main character first. You care about her and want her to be ok, all before the main mystery pulls you into it's spiderweb of twists and turns. This is a five out of five star book and so well worth the read. I hadn't read Tami Hoag for a few years and now I'm going to go back and fill in my reading with the books I've missed. If this book is any indication of what I've missed, I'll have a plethora of mysteries to fill my spring and summer reading. Tami Hoag's "Cold, Cold Heart" is being released January 13, 2015 so let this terrific mystery keep you warm on those cold January nights.
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