An amazing novel! The characters are well-drawn and truly pull at your heart strings. I couldn't put the book down till I reached the final chapter. Highly recommended.

Loved this new to me mystery writer. I loved the setting and main character and felt this book had a fast paced plot and good character development.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

A cold case, discovered bones, and long dead secrets. Detective Parker Reed does some fine sleuthing in this second installment of the Northampton County series. Once I started this book, I had a had a hard time getting anything else done.
Many thanks to Thomas Mercer and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

the book started out good and then went downhill. felt too long and too monotone and even the twist felt like the same thing, predictable. wanted to like this more but didn't

When Tisha returns home after a couple of decades the unfinished business of the past comes to the forefront of this story. Three close friends who fell apart, or did they?

People are complicated and sometimes wounds can be seen on the outside, but sometimes the worst of them are hidden on the inside. The author unravels a mystery, but who is the criminal and who is the victim?

This story kept me going until the very end and I was completely wrong about everyone. I did not see it coming. A great read!!

Thought this book was fantastic! Very well written and fast paced throughout. Would love to read more from this author in the future and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC!

This book is better than the first one in the series. There is more character development. The pacing is faster. The mystery is better plotted and builds up tension and suspense. I will definitely continue to read this series and author. I enjoyed the writing style in this one.

I received this ARC through Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley.com, to Thomas and Mercer, and to Karen Katchur for this opportunity.

Trisha returns home after 30 years. Her relationship with her mother and her childhood friends has suffered but she's working to make amends. Times are tough, as they always have been, and they are about to get complicated by a cold case that just surfaced again. Detective Parker has uncovered bones in the mountains and has discovered that they belong to Lester, Trisha's stepfather. The Detective is working through old interviews and is talking to everyone who knew Lester when he disappeared years ago. Everyone thought it was a missing person case but apparently there is more to the story. Trisha, her friends, and their family members are sticking to their stories. No one knows what happened to Lester, but no one is upset that he's gone because the world is a better place without him.

In my opinion, this book is a huge step up from the first book in the series. It was fast-moving, exciting, and impossible to put down. The suspense was fantastic and I had no idea what the conclusion would bring. I'm so glad I took a chance on the second book in this series and I hope there are more to come. I can't wait for the next one.
Highly Recommended!!

Cold Woods is the second book in the Northampton series by Karen Katchur. I read the first book last year because it took place not too far away from where I'd gone to college years ago. When I stumbled upon the second book in the series on NetGalley last week, I immediately requested the book as I'd really enjoyed the first one. While the two book are part of a series, you can easily read them separately, but as I always recommend, read them in order to have the best possible experience.

The weather is often not a friend to crime. Sometimes it distorts the time of death or covers a body for decades, but at others, it can be helpful for preservation of clues. Katchur latches on to this theory and shares an explosive suspenseful thriller about a ~30-year-old murder. Everyone assumed the victim had just run off, but the truth was hidden in the deep snowy woods... along with two key clues and a myriad of problems. Three women each with a daughter. Their husbands or fathers left years ago for various reasons. The women helped each other, but their daughters weren't sure what to do. One escaped. Two stayed. Of those two, one accepted her fate, and the other fought it. Fast-forward to the present when one of the mothers has passed away. Then the dead body is discovered in the woods. Who is he? Who killed him? What secrets are these six women hiding?

The connection between the books is Detective Parker. In the first book, he fell for a witness and compromised the case. Now, they're together, but something isn't working out properly. He's afraid of screwing up again. His new partner doesn't want to let it happen, but she's got her own baggage. As they investigate the case and learn to trust one another, history might repeat itself somewhere along the way... and it's usually not a good thing. Wow! What a roller coaster ride where I truly couldn't decide which of the six women killed the victim. Even though one has recently died, the story is told in two different time frames, so we have a stronger picture of what happened 'back then.'

All I can say is my gender is full of creeps! I know stuff like this happens in reality, and often it's so fictionalized we don't quite know truth from lie, but honestly... why are men often drunken idiots? I'm a happy drunk. Not that occurs frequently, but still! I felt for the women in this story. A single man had an effect on so many lives, any one of them could've been the culprit and I would believe it. Ultimately, the truth comes out, but not necessarily to the right people. I love those kinds of dramas -- when someone confesses to protect someone else, and it may or may not be true. When we finally get the full story, it was highly satisfying... kudos to Katchur for delivering a palpable sequel that kept me guessing the entire time I read the book.

There better be a third installment. I'm not hugely fond of the detectives, but the author's writing style, connections between characters, minute focus on details, witty yet troubling dialog, and innate understanding of why people do the things they do... all coagulate as a riveting story I couldn't put down. I read it in three hours without taking any breaks longer than a few minutes to refill a water glass or nod when someone asked me a question in my house. "Leave me alone, I'm reading a good book," I once countered. When that happens, you know it's solid writing and story development. When's the next one?

Tricia's hated stepfather disappeared when she was only eighteen, now though, back home for a friend's funeral, she is middle-aged and conflicted because his remains have been discovered. She is saddened by the hostility she experiences from those closest to her but knows everyone has secrets which need to remain buried and intends to stay close enough to make sure that happens.

This is a very good book, seen from various viewpoints and timeframes. The childhood Tricia moves onto the same street as her new friends Danielle and Carlyn and their mothers have never left. It is like reading about a small, gated community with the differences between the lifestyles of the late eighties and the current day written about in such a way that the two timelines flow into and out of each other effortlessly.

Cold Woods is the second book in what I hope will be a longer series and the lead detective, Parker Reed, still traumatised from his previous case, is a likable character who isn't defined by what happened but not quite ready to face it either. He has a new partner and they learn a little about each other as they sift through clues stretching back over thirty years.

I read a lot of psychological thrillers and usually get at least part of each book solved correctly this time however that didn't happen. I was surprised by the denouement which was one of quite a few things I didn't expect.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who read the first book or enjoys a good psychological mystery which isn't as cut and dried as it may seem.

Good mystery. I liked the setting, and really good character development. I enjoyed the thread of sisterhood through out the book too. I was surprised to find out who was guilty in the end. It keeps you wondering. This book really shows the way we can make assumptions about people, and beat ourselves up, and live in misery when none of it was true. This story came full circle, the truth was out, and everyone was set free. I hope Trisha spoils herself and all those around her rotten.

I LOVED reading Cold Woods by Karen Katchur. Still jolted by the spin and turns of the book. Bones are found in a mountain, a cold case is reopened threatening to ruin the lives of many and all for a man who no one missed.The residents on Second Street, in a small town in PA have moved on with life or more like have ran away from that harrowing night they have tried to forget. Cold Woods is not just a cold case murder mystery. It's deeper. The characters explore wounds that refused to heal, haunted by those painful memories from childhood, each faced off with a shattered relationship.

I really liked how the book went back and forth between past and present. It made for great storytelling and it showed how the pain of growing up changes us.To me the book was especially interesting when it explored the friendship between Trisha, Dannie and Carlyn. Seeing them grow from innocent girls into fractured women was the best part of the book. The only part I didn't care for was the detail technical terminology during the murder investigation.

This book had a good deal going for it.
It was an interesting story.
It had a great twisty ending
It told the story from the present, with flashbacks to the past, which I love. I always feel like I am getting two stories for one.

However, I had a few problems with it:
I felt like I was missing something I should have known. Maybe I needed to read the first book first?
I did not like the present story. I did not like the main character. I just felt cold distant vibes from her story. I understand why, but I personally need to relate to a character to truly enjoy a book.

I can't pinpoint why, but I wanted to like this book more than I did. I could easily put it down and then come back to it. The story was good and it was well written and I think many people will like it. But did you ever meet someone and not like them, but you can't pinpoint why? That's how I felt about this book. But you should read it, and decide for yourself.

I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read an advance copy of this. It did not influence my opinion.

Cold Woods is a story about a childhood friendship, about a violent man (more than one in fact), and about the secret of a murder which they all managed to keep buried for over 30 years.
I’m sorry to say I found nothing I hadn’t already read in this story. While I liked the flashback scenes, I was less fond about the present ones. In fact, too many details, especially about the main character, Trisha, made no sense to me: what’s the “debt” her husband referred to, what’s her father’s story, why does he lack humanity so much, how did she stay in this relationship for so long… all the violence toward women and girls in this book felt awfully gratuitous, unexplained, as if to shock readers and make sure they got it that they’ve got some real bad guys there. But what’s their stories? *shoulders shrugging* And what was Scott doing in the woods? *shrugs* What went wrong with him and Trisha when they were kids? What’s their story in the present? And Palmer? He gets a confession and takes it for the truth? And his partner is also okay with that? They seemed better than that. And Scott’s okay with that, too?? I have so many more questions. We know next to nothing about any character (perhaps because it’s part of a series??), so much so that I didn’t care about the final “twist”. At this point it felt way too coincidental…
On the bright side, it reads fast and easily, and as a standalone. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Karen Katchur did what view authors are able to do, stump me on the ending of a book! What a journey of twists and turns into unexpected places and emotional ups and downs! Take a walk and a run with three best friends into the past and to the present that was absolutely shaped by their choices when they were younger. A great read! A could not put it down thriller!

Unearthed buried bones also expose old secrets and past traumas.

It's December and Pennsylvania Homicide detective Parker Reed has been called to the scene of a "cold case" when a dog unearths bones. When Parker and his partner identify the bones as a man who disappeared thirty years ago.

Trisha has returned home. There she is reunited with her Mother Sharon, and her childhood best friends, Dannie and Carlyn. She has spoken to any of them since she left town when she turned eighteen. Before they all get the chance to become reacquainted, Detective Parker Reef and his partner show up and inform Sharon that the remains found have been identified as her long missing husband, Lester. Trisha and her friends were just teenagers when Lester went missing.

This is the second book in the Northampton County series. It will work as a stand-alone novel but there are some parts that will be more understandable if you read the first book in the series, River Bodies first. Either way, this book was good, as in I-sat-and-read-it-in-one-sitting-good! I enjoyed reading more about Parker Reed and watching him investigate this cold case. But this book isn't entirely about him, the reader is shown the lives of Trisha, Sharon, Carlyn, and Dannie as well. Katchur gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of these characters to show their motivation, their relationships, their emotions, hardships, and thoughts.

I enjoyed the Detective work done in this book. It was believable and well thought out. Katchur provides the reader with the detective’s thoughts and theories and why they made the decisions they did. I found this to feel very authentic and added in my enjoyment of the book. I always enjoy doing my own detective work while reading. I also love a good mystery. Buried secrets - bring them on! I'm in!

Captivating, well written, perfectly paced, well developed characters and with an interesting plot, this was a fantastic edition to the series. I have a feeling that Katchur is just getting warmed up. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Childhood friendships are often a touchstone in our adult lives. This particular small town cop and mystery novel builds upon those friendships, something that happened to several of the friends, and how it impacted their life choices. Strong characters and good pacing make this an enjoyable read, once you get past what one parent is/does.

Cold Woods offers a different take on mystery/crime in a couple of ways. You would think the main character would play a larger role but instead, the author concentrates on the three friends and their families...and this makes the mystery more interesting. What actually happened to Trisha's stepfather? There are a number of secrets that come to light as the novel unfolds. The conclusion was also a bit unusual, but I liked it.

Read in March; blog review scheduled for July 30, 2019.

NetGalley/Thomas & Mercer
Mystery/Crime. August 13, 2019.

It’s been three decades since Trisha’s father disappeared. Only a teen at the time, there was little she could do, but she never believed he walked away voluntarily. Now remains have been found, remains that prove to be those of Trisha’s long missing father. Homicide detective Parker Reed is assigned the cold case and begins his investigation close to home, with Trisha and the home she grew up in. I’ve read that people who have a loved one disappear feel like they die a little more with each days that passes with no word about what really happened. So is it better to get the worst possible news, that your loved one is truly dead, or to wait (and hope) for a happier outcome? In Katchur’s book, not knowing may have been the better choice for many concerned in this dark and twisted tale

COLD WOODS is Katchur's second novel featuring detective Parker Reed. But the real star of the story is Trisha, a hardened woman in her forties who returns to her hometown to attend the funeral of a family friend, but when recently discovered bones are revealed to be those of her stepfather, Trisha does her best to control the situation, not wanting past secrets to ruin her life. Trisha is also trying to escape her abusive husband, but a person can only do so much ... Great characters, great plot, sophisticated writing. I really enjoyed Katchur's previous book RIVER BODIES and COLD WOODS was even better. Can't wait for the next one.