I'd read Susan Walter's grocery list tbh. Everything she writes is so twisty and fun. I can spend an afternoon doing nothing but reading one of her books and it'll be the best day.

I'm always a sucker for a thriller with an Olympic subplot and this was no exception. Perfect for these chilly months, you'll want to add this to your fall/winter TBR asap!

This was a solid thriller, but no much mystery.

Running Cold follows Julie Adler, a former Olympian, as her life is turned upside down following her husband's suicide. Julie had been living a life of luxury in California but she's left with nothing following her husband's death and she retreats to Banff, where she once trained for the Olympics, Julie wants to start a new life but when a prominent hotel guest is murdered at the resort Julie is staying at she's forced to fight for her life as she becomes the prime suspect.

This thriller kept me turning the pages! The story includes multiple POVs but was easy enough to follow. I really liked the setting descriptions in Banff, Canada and learning a bit about skiing and the Olympic biathlon. There just wasn't quite enough mystery for me and it was pretty clear what the end result was going to be. However, this didn't deter me from finishing and overall I liked the book.

I started Running Cold while sitting in the sun by the beach/pool in Fort Lauderdale last week. However, the book transported me to its setting of Banff, which I visited last summer. Banff is such a beautiful location, and I could visualize the lobby, stores, and restaurants of the Banff Springs Hotel, as well as the gondola up Sulphur Mountain 😍 I am not the best with heights, but I surprisingly enjoyed this gondola. A few days before I rode it last August, the gondola had lost power and some people were stranded overnight at the top! I'm very glad that didn't happen to me.
Running Cold is a fast paced thriller which I didn't want to set down. Julie, the female main character, is a former Olympian (in the biathlon) and her husband is found dead near the beginning of the book. They had met and married in Banff, and Julie returned after her husband’s funeral. The author gives the reader enough additional information that they know more than any of the individual characters, and it is entertaining to see how it all plays out.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for early access to Running Cold in exchange for my honest opinion. I especially think readers who've been to Banff will enjoy this one!

his new release from Susan Walter is aptly named. Set in the charming ski town of Banff, this one just might give you frostbite. I know some hot chocolate was sounding pretty darn good as I read the snowy mountain scenes today. Here are some things I loved about this chiller:

⛷ Julie Adler Weston is a former gold medal winner in the Olympic biathlon. That sport takes tremendous strength, discipline, and agility. She has been training for this crisis all of her life!
📚 Short, punchy chapters from multiple viewpoints (Julie, friend Izzy, wannabe beau Remy, CRMP detective Monique).
👮 The author's great respect for the work of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police made my heart happy as a wife and mom of US police department members.
🥰 Reconciliation among friends is demonstrated throughout. Julie gets a little much needed help from her friends and learns not to be so self-reliant.
💎 This was such a gem of a read that I will be sure to check out other books by this author.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

For Julie Adler, former Olympian now living in luxury with her husband in California, the sick of Jeff's suicide is barely fading when she discovers that he left her penniless. Ashamed to tell her friends, Julie is drawn back to the comfort and familiarity of the mountains in Banff where she trained. She finds lodging and a housekeeping position in a nearby resort run by an old friend. When a difficult guest is found dead and Julie becomes the number one suspect, she must rely on her knowledge of the area to evade the police until she can find the truth.
There were plenty of thrills and surprises in this book that read more like a movie. The beautiful yet harsh setting in Banff and the impending blizzard just added to the tension. I was flipping pages, unable to put the book down until the exciting and satisfying conclusion. This was my first book by this author, but I plan on picking up more!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Winter Olympics, Christmas, small town, snow storm AND a murder mystery? Yes, f*cking please!

This book was love at first synopsis and I was not disappointed.
If you love the Olympics and a fun fast-paced thriller (with lots of nature & wintery/christmass vibes) sounds like a good call, this book is for you.

Let me tell you why.

"Running Cold" follows the events of Julie Adler's life who has her life thrown upside down when her husband is found dead in their sunny Californian mansion leaving her penniless and heartbroken in the aftermath of his suicide. Feeling so lost and uncomfortable with the truth of her situation & what her friends were going to think of her/her husband, she turns to the only thing that feels remotely right: going back to the only place she truly belonged to, her mountain town in Canada.

From there, a story that first carried whiffs of healing & getting back to one's feet quickly turns into a cat-mouse run followed by multiple deaths where she is never safe and she has to use all her will, strength & instincts cultivated in her Olympian years to survive and clear her husband's name.

Did I mention that all this happens in a very snowy town dressed for Christmas in Canada?

Yep, this book has all the vibes and I absolutely loved following this story. This is the perfect Christmasy read if you love thrillers/murder mysteries & have a soft spot for the Olymypics.

There were a few ways this story was weaved together that made it extremely satisfying for me. let me point out a few:

1. Down-to-Earth Main Character:
Even though Julie lived in luxury for the last few years of her life, she is no stranger to a hard life and working hard to make ends meet. It's so nice to see how comfortable she is in this new position and how it helps her process her grief. She is a gorgeous woman and a talented one who could easily have fallen into egoic behaviors but who remains grounded in reality.

2. Olympics
I would ADORE having more books exploring this theme as there are so many amazing plot lines that can grow from here. I love the way trauma was weaved into it & how her excellence made it actually feasible for some actions to have taken place. Some very extreme actions felt realistic & I loved how the author explored it. Also, I love the grit, will and strength that working towards an Olympic medal can embed in someone.

3. Cozy Christmasy/Wintery vibes
Self-explanatory.

4. Nature, Nature & Nature
I love when books connect deeply with the forces of nature and the way the character was so in tune with it was so satisfying. The weather & nature felt like a character of their own, setting the tone to every single new scene setup.


This book was extremely fun and I devoured it faster than I normally do.
There were a few points that I wasn't a fan of (mainly how some chapters ended with an ominous sentence that became old and annoying very fast) but overall I recommend it. A solid murder mystery with refreshing themes.

Add this to your Christmas reading list, you will not regret it.



Thank you Netgalley & Lake Union Publishing for offering me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Another fabulous book by Susan Walter; 4.5 stars! Running Cold is a crazy, wild, entertaining, puzzling soap opera right from the beginning. It’s serious with drama and mystery, but there are also some comical bits too.

Julie Adler’s husband has just committed suicide, but in her quest to figure out how to move on, Julie discovers secrets that have her questioning just how well she actually knew her husband. She returns to Banff, Alberta, where she once trained for the Olympics, in hopes of getting her feet on the ground, but misfortune follows her there. The story is told in the first person by Julie, her best friend Izzy, her friend and hotel manager Remy and police detective Monique. Running Cold is a quick, gripping, unputdownable read! Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the digital ARC.

Running Cold by Susan Walter started out at a quick pace and I had trouble putting it down, always a good sign!!
This book kept me guessing all the way until the end.
This was a very suspensful read overall, it had me hooked straight away. The twists and turns definitely kept me reading!

This was one of those books that you can't put down. It was Thrilling, fast-paced and with a heroine that you root for. Julie's life was ripped apart when she found her husband dead in their bathroom, from an apparent suicide. After his death Julie returns to her past life and get's a job as a hotel housekeeper. One of the hotel guest was also found dead and that changes everything for Julie. She is now the prime suspect. She made shocking discoveries, secrets were revealed and she was on the journey to save herself. This story will keep you entertained until the very end. Highly recommend.

3.5 stars

Thanks NetGalley for the free advanced copy. This was an excellent read.

This is the second book I’ve read from this author and she’s quickly becoming a favorite! I loved the setting, characters and storyline. This book kept me guessing and there are twists and turns the whole way through. The setting in the mountains makes this a perfect fall/winter read. This one will hook you from the very first chapter and keep you guessing until the end. I definitely recommend checking this one out.

It was still a hot and humid summer when I read this thriller taking place in a ski town in Canada. It was the perfect immersive read to make me forget about everything. From the start I could feel there was more to what was happening to Julie and boy was I right.

Her husband commits suicide and she realizes he blew all their money and that is just the start to her problems. Dead bodies seem to follow her from CA to Canada.

It’s gripping and pulse pounding and kept me guessing. I connected with Julie and wanted to know what was causing her bad luck.

Toxic friends and an old friend/potential new beau povs gave me plenty to think about as I tried to guess what would happen next.

This played out like a movie in my head. The rich atmosphere. The polarizing characters. I enjoyed this one from start to finish.

With a full cast of narrators, the audiobook is a great listen. Selah Victor, Erin Moon, Jess Nahikian, and Braden Wright bring the story to life and make it easy to follow. There was never any doubt who was narrating the chapter and is one of the reasons this seemed so movie like.

It’s the perfect popcorn thriller to read this spooky season.

I picked up Running Cold because I really was looking forward to the premise of the story, and the setting of Banff in Canada. But it didn't work for me at all. I struggled with the writing style from minute one - overegged similes shoe horned into page one turned me off instantly - "her cheeks shone shiny red like Christmas tree ornaments" and "Izzy's eyebrows merged like fuzzy skis in snowplough" are two that gave me the instant ick.

After that I struggled to connect at all to the story sadly. I became easily distracted, the characters lacked depth and the plot felt contrived. It felt like there was too little story for the page length given and with everything else going against it I skim read a lot and skipped sections and didn't feel like I'd missed out.

Sadly lacking the atmosphere, thrills and intrigue that I'd hoped for, this one was a big miss for me and I probably won't try other works by the author based on the writing style.

1.5*

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a digital review copy of "Running Cold" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Sorry to say that this wasn't the book for me. It read more like a hybrid of mean girls meets RHoAnywhere, and I didn't care for it.

Julie has just lost her husband under tragic circumstances, and then she finds out she is left without any of the money she expected to find. Chapters in Izzy's PoV reveal that she has secrets that none of the other "friends" are aware of. I didn't appreciate the cattiness and entitled attitudes of the women, all along hiding their true circumstances.

I can see from other reader's reviews that they really enjoyed it, so I know I in the minority here. I appreciate the author's time and willingness to share her work with us, I'm sorry that it didn't work for me.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

As I am familiar with this author prior works, I loved the audiobooks for Good as Dead. My personal favorite audiobook was Over her Dead Body, if you are looking for a bittersweet revenge it is the book for you. Prior to diving into this book, I knew that Running Cold was going to be a real winner. If youre looking for a fast paced/ intoxicating thriller than you will not be disappoint with this novel. From the immersive atmospheric setting to the ever-present trepidation, every moving plot quickly pulls the reader into its depths. Walter has a way of making her writing and towns within her books to come to live, as if you are in the town of Baniff and experiencing everything firsthand. This novel is told in MPOVs which as a result feels undeniably well-drawn and immersive. However, the tangled, intricately twists were what really drove the book home and had me flipping the pages.

Told in the format of short cliffhanger chapters that keep you on the edge of your seat, and flying through the pages this book of 317 pages could easily be finished in 1 setting if the person had the time to read. Even though the reader has an easy time working out who the villain is in this book, that doesn't take away from the suspense. IMO it adds another element to the storyline because one of the best thriller tropes IMO is a good ol' cat and mouse game of catch.


One of my absolute favorite scenes for a thriller trope, is an isolated, snowstorm environment, I also love that all of Susan Walter books, i believe start out in California or go there eventually. I think it adds some easter eggs throughout her writing styles.


Thank you to Susan Walter and Lake Union Publishing for my chance at an EARC of this wonderful book. Until next time Mrs. Walter.

Rating 2.5 stars
Running Cold by Susan Walter is about a former Olympian grieving her husband's recent loss. Wanting to escape, she returns to Banff, an isolated ski town where she once trained for the Olympics. Staying at a hotel run by a friend, she soon becomes implicated in the murder of one of the eccentric guests.

I enjoyed the premise of this story, the setting of Banff, Alberta, and the inclusion of Banff Springs. I became easily distracted, and the characters lacked depth. I couldn’t relate to them enough to get through, and I found them unrealistic. Some of the plot was contrived. The slow-medium pacing didn’t help; my mind wandered, and I skipped ahead, which wasn’t a good sign. 

Although described as a ‘heart-pounding story,’ it didn’t have that effect on me. It was a solid story but could have been executed better with a great atmosphere, especially in Banff's picturesque setting. Unfortunately, I found the murder mystery too clear, even from the beginning. Perhaps this was the intention; however, I would have enjoyed an unreliable narrator being misled and thrown off track rather than having it be the most straightforward and predictable answer. It was my first read by Susan Waters.

I paired the e-arc with the ALC for a fully immersive experience. It had an entire cast: narrators Selah Victor, Erin Moon, Jess Nahikian, and Braden Wright. I didn’t enjoy Izzy's character's narration; it was monotone.

I want to thank Lake Publishing, Brilliance Audio and NetGalley for the e-ARC and ALC for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

3.5 Stars

Julie’s life is ripped apart in Running Cold - and her journey to save herself is chock-full of swirling secrets!

The story is told from several points of view, but because each chapter has the name of whose voice we're hearing, it's easy to follow.

Was everything that happened entirely believable? Definitely not. Did that bother me? Definitely not! Running Cold is perfect for readers who appreciate an atmospheric book filled with suspense, as well as twists and turns.

Many thanks to both #LakeUnionPublishingand #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Running Cold. This book has an expected publication date of October 8, 2024!!

Running Cold by Susan Walter is set mostly in postcard perfect Banff, Alberta, during the icy depths of winter. Told in four parts in multiple perspectives, this is an addictive rollercoaster of a book. Though the mystery itself was not a surprise to me, the gorgeous writing and atmospheric setting made up for it. There are secrets and betrayals galore. I got lost in the story for the pure enjoyment of reading.

Former Olympian Julie is desperate to leave California after she is the one to find her husband's lifeless body from suicide. She drives to Banff where her home and heart are. She is stunned to discover their bank accounts empty. She is given a housemaid job by friend/manager at a luxury hotel but keeps it from her friends who surprise her with a visit. Meanwhile, a murder is committed at the hotel and she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. RCMP officer Monique is convinced she did it. But there is more in store one dark and stormy night. Julie must rely on her disciplined training, athleticism and wit.

The very first few words enticed me in a nanosecond. As a Canadian I know brutal blizzards as well as the incredible majestic Rocky Mountains. The level of bone chilling cold is described so vividly I could feel it. The pace is exciting and zippy.

My sincere thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this enthralling novel.

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Banff, a biathlete and murder! Julie's trying to pull herself back from the death of her husband and so takes a job at a hotel in Banff but then things go very wrong when a guest is murdered and she's the prime suspect. This uses multiple POVs which works through the various twists. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fast read.

See I much twists,turns,secrets,lies and so much more. I loved it. A definite recommend

Thanks to netgalley and publisher.. all thoughts and opinions are my own