Another winner from Kate Alice Marshall! Full of family secrets and tension, A Killing Cold and its eerie winter atmosphere kept me captivated from start to finish.

Connor and fiancee, Theo (also known as Teddy) go to his family lodge in the mountains as it's beautiful in the snow. Theo loves Connor but still has nightmares about her childhood as she was the "devil child" and remembers an "antlered" man. She's shared none of this with Connor, hoping to put it behind her but at the lodge she finds a note on the windowsill that reads, "You shouldn't have come." Who could possibly know about her past and why torture her about it now? Later she finds a picture of Liam, Connor's father who committed suicide and she recognizes him! How could these two families be connected?? It's a thrill-ride to the finish!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Unfortunately I found this one to be quite boring. There were interesting elements for sure, but it just seemed to drag on and on and parts of it you really had to suspend your disbelief.

I really enjoyed Marshall’s other two adult novels, so I was excited to dive into this one! It was super twisty and hard to put down. Certain elements in the last act of reveals dragged on for me a bit but overall a really good read

I love Kate Alice Marshall, she is my go to author for unreliable and unlikable characters. This book was tense and isolated from the beginning and I was suspicious of absolutely everyone and everything. Kate knows how to keep you on your toes and keep you guessing. However, I have to say that I felt like there was too many reveals in this one. Sometimes less is more. Overall, I still had a really great time with this book and these characters and I will continue to read from this author.

It was a very good suspenseful story with an ending I never saw coming. I especially loved the setting and feeling she weaved into her writing I just felt like I was there.

This newest novel from Kate Alice Marshall is so full of twists that days after finishing it my head is still spinning. The cold isolated mountain setting and family drama made this an absolutely perfect winter read. Then throw in was our main characters amnesia and slow piecing together of her childhood to make this a completely engrossing read. This is definitely my favorite of the three books I’ve read by Marshall!

I started reading the digital version of this and then switched to audio which is narrated by Karissa Vacker. She did a phenomenal job and I would highly recommend the audio route!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc via Netgalley and Flatiron Books for the arc via Netgalley!

Eating: 4.5/5⭐️
Pub day: February 4, 2025

Wow! The twists and turns of this book were wild and I loved every single minute of it! HIGHLY recommend this one!

A Killing Cold is a slow burn thriller that is perfect to read in the cold season of winter. The setting is just as important to the story as the characters. Theo is a young woman meeting the family of her ultra rich fiancé for the first time at an isolated compound complete with a luxurious lodge and multiple cabins. Connor appears to be the perfect man but did he have an ulterior motive in arranging to meet her? Theo is also dealing with having no recall of her early childhood except for pieces of dreams. However, something about the family compound is familiar even though she grew up on the other side of the country.

I really enjoyed how the story came together, with the present day mixed with Theo’s memories. There were a lot of characters to keep track of but it all became clear at the end. It was a slow, satisfying reveal.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Flatiron Books for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Thanks to Flatiron Books for the gifted copy!

About the book: Theodora Scott is invited to Connor Dalton's family estate for a retreat. Before she goes, she receives a text to stay away from Connor, and when she's there, mysterious footprints show up outside her cabin window. Nightmares and flashbacks become more vivid and Theodora is left wondering if her relationship with Connor isn't the first connection she has with the Dalton family.

My review: I have absolutely loved Kate Alice Marshall's thrillers over the last few years, but this one takes the cake! I was hooked from the first chapter and binged it in one day. A KILLING COLD had just the right makings for a perfect thriller: the shady, rich Dalton family, the setting of their remote camp in the winter, the amnesia due to childhood trauma leaving some gaps that were revealed throughout the book, and a subtle love storyline. This book is a total winner - make sure it's on your list!

I devoured this book in less than 12 hours if that tells you anything!

Theo arrives at her fiancee's family palatial estate in Upstate New York to meet them for the first time. Theo is nervous to meet them, but not for the typical reasons. Connor doesn't know about Theo's traumatic past, but as the weekend wears on, secrets kept by Theo and Connor's family are revealed, forcing everyone to evaluate who they trust.

The pacing in this book was exquisite. It clipped at an almost frenetic pace, but it never felt too fast, it kept me turning pages. Every chapter left me wanting more.

Theo was an empathetic but also intriguing character. As I learned more about her past, I wanted to know more about the secrets the Dalton family were hiding.

The reveal at the end left me shook, which is how every good thriller should end.

I had sky-high expectations for this, as I do for anything Kate Alice Marshall at this point. I do prefer her YA books to her adult thrillers, but they're always a shocking ride. This one fell a bit short and flat, all things considered: I found it the least shocking of her thrillers, and I found myself guessing the twists and hoping there was more to it (there was not). I also at times couldn't stand the main character's ridiculous decisions, so that made reading it a bit less fun than I prefer for thrillers. It still read super-fast and had a great winter setting, though.

Thank you Net Galley for the ebook copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I love this author’s writing!! The winter mountain setting was captivating and made the mystery/thriller elements of this story compelling. Theo’s own distrust in her past also made all of the plot twist reveals by the end catch me in surprise - I thought I knew what the sequence of events were until BOOM something came up and shook it all. The last half of the book is where it fully picked up for me and I had to stay up to finish it!

5/5 would highly recommend!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron books for the ARC!

Theodora Scott is recently engaged to Connor Dalton, a son of a very wealthy and powerful family. The "family" has invited the couple to their family camp in the mountains that they own in order to evaluate whether Theo will be a welcomed daughter-in-law or cast off as a gold digger. Theo is an ordinary girl who works at a bookstore. She has no family as she was orphaned as a child and then adopted by a severely dysfunctional family she no longer engages with. Theo also has been receiving threatening texts warning her to stay away from Connor. The longer the 2 are at the camp, the more they realize that everyone in the family is guarding secrets, including Theo.

This is a fast paced, domestic drama that is both suspenseful and chaotic. I found the characters to be relatable. I loved how the secrets were released slowly and yet seemed to be all intertwined. While the ending of the story was a mix of far fetched and predictable, the tension building up to the climax and shocking revelations made the read very enjoyable. Highly recommend!

Thank you Netgalley and Flatiron books for an advanced copy of Marshalls newest thriller! Theodora Scott is newly engaged and so excited to meet her fiances family at Christmastime. She is even more excited when she gets invited to their isolated estate in the woods. She receives an icy welcome, but that is the least of her concerns when she starts having memories of this estate that she has never been to before. While I enjoyed this book, was not my favorite of hers.

I have loved every one of Kate Alice Marshall’s books and this one is no different. I was immediately drawn into our FMC’s story, the past she couldn’t fully remember and just what kind of secrets were being hidden. Our MMC had a family full of unsavory characters and I really enjoyed not knowing who to trust. The final twist was truly jaw dropping - I’m not being dramatic when I say, I never would have guessed how this story was going to play out. And the way this author wrote it, it just worked! The slow burn type of pace definitely played up to what was going on in the story. I loved the isolated winter setting too!

Thank you to Flat Iron for the ARC! “A Killing Cold” is out January 14, 2025. This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

I read this in October & forgot to review it here and unfortunately I remember almost nothing about the book. Not a good sign lol. I do remember finding it similar to the family game by Catherine steadman which I absolutely loved but this one clearly did not do it for me. I loved this authors first book but all the following books I haven’t loved. Hopefully the next one wins me back

I was super excited when I received this ARC. I have read this author’s previous books and they were amazing. She has written one of my favorite thriller books of all time. No surprise Kate Alice Marshall delivered again!

Connor Dalton and Theodora Scott have a quick engagement and are going up to Idlewood to meet Connor’s family for a winter retreat. Theo has had a traumatic childhood and is unable to recall her formative years. She has certain images from her past but can't discern them. Once in Idlewood, she can't help but feel she has been there before. Her memory slowly starts to unravel, revealing terrible secrets from the Dalton family.

I was on the edge of my seat! This book was super fast paced and kept me guessing till the last second. So many twists and turns! I could not put it down! All the characters were super distinct and everyone looked suspicious. I would highly recommend reading A Killing Cold!

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller you'll enjoy this book. I liked the family secrets and the mystery of discovering what happened to Theo's mother. I think the audiobook was well done and I highly recommend it.


Many thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for my gifted copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Kate Alice Marshall is an auto buy author for me. I was so excited to get my hands on early digital and audiobook copies of this story. Five stars for this thriller/mystery with way too many secrets to count. It is the perfect winter read!

Theo Scott is in love with Connor Dalton. They have not been together long when they decide to get married. Connor's family has questions, and they want to meet Theo. Connor takes her home to Idlewood, his family's retreat in the mountains for the Holidays. Theo is nervous because she wants to make a good impression, but from the start, things are not what they seem deep in the mountains.

The twists come early and often in this tense, immersive story. You will feel cold throughout due to the incredible way this author puts you onto this mountain. There are secrets and dark corners everywhere. And just when you think you have something figured out, she throws something else at you.

The Dalton Family is a lot, to put it mildly. It is difficult for the reader to get a read on any one of them. And just when you do, you are thrown for another loop. This book is fast-paced, and you will have difficulty putting it down!

I really liked Theo a lot. She was honest, sometimes brutally so. She has so many secrets of her own, and she is truly just looking for a place to belong. Theo is one of the toughest characters I have read this year. I was rooting for her from the beginning.

If you enjoy audiobooks, this one is spectacular. Karissa Vacker does a phenomenal job voicing Theo as well as the other characters in the story. You feel all of the feelings that Theo describes. I highly recommend the audiobook for this one!

Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and listen to this one! It is the absolute perfect winter read. This one releases on February 4th, so preorder it today!