I loved Cold Burn. It had likeable protagonists. There was a ton of action and several twists and turns. I liked that the National Park Service Police were included in the story. I could not stop reading. I had not read book 1 but I will be while waiting for a book 3.

The writing duo of AJ Landau has given us another exciting and complex thriller in Cold Burn, the second book in their National Parks Thriller series. Most of the action takes place in two very different national parks: Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska and Everglades National Park in Florida. I have been to both places so I was really intrigued to see how they would be linked in this story.

Michael Walker and Gina Delgado are both back in this book, which I was happy about, as they are interesting characters who worked well together in book one, Leave No Trace. Walker is an agent with the Investigative Services Bureau of the National Park Service and Delgado is an FBI Special Agent reporting directly to the White House. As with the first book, each chapter starts with a quick fact about the location.

Cold Burn is a complex story with a lot of twists. It also highlights the Tlingit culture and environmental issues. I found the constant bouncing around a bit frustrating but all chapters are clearly labeled so there was no confusion.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The National Parks thrillers provide a cinematic and thrilling glimpse into law enforcement in remote and environmentally interesting locations. Cold Burn follows characters in both remote Alaska and the steamy Everglades. The science of a newly discovered fuel source is just believable and provides high stakes action for the plot. I highly recommend Cold Burn. It reads like a movie and is just super fun.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

🌲 Cold Burn: A National Parks Thriller by A.J. Landau, Jeff Ayers, & Jon Land
Nature never forgets—and in this shadow-laced thriller, neither do the ghosts that haunt its borders.

Cold Burn plunges readers into the wild crucible of Yellowstone, where beauty masks brutality and the forests breathe with secrets. Co-authors Landau, Ayers, and Land sculpt an atmosphere so taut with tension, it crackles like pine underfoot. This isn’t your average eco-thriller—it’s a masterclass in suspense, a collision of procedural grit with primal survivalism.

🔥 What Sets It Ablaze:

- A Protagonist With Fire in Her Veins: Investigative agent Tahira Gunther is as layered as the terrain she navigates. She’s not just solving a case—she’s unraveling the knots of her own past, which bleed into the threats of the present. Her sharp intellect and emotional grit make her one of the most compelling leads in recent thrillers.

- The National Parks as Character: Yellowstone isn’t just a backdrop—it’s an active force. The authors elevate the setting to mythic levels, transforming geysers, boiling springs, and blizzards into narrative accelerants. The landscape becomes a living organism: untamed, unforgiving, and unforgettable.

- Plot Twists Like Fault Lines: This novel doesn’t march—it prowls. Beneath its eco-conservation core lies a conspiracy with geopolitical weight. The pacing is merciless, switching gears from quiet dread to explosive action with elegant brutality.

- Real-World Echoes: Cold Burn thoughtfully engages with issues like environmental sabotage, corporate corruption, and indigenous sovereignty. The thriller’s pulse is fiction, but its heartbeat is undeniably real.

🧭 Ideal For:

- Fans of C.J. Box, Nevada Barr, or anyone drawn to thrillers where the wilderness is as lethal as the villain
- Readers craving female protagonists who wield strength without clichés
- Those curious about the intersection of environmental advocacy and national security

Cold Burn doesn’t just satisfy your thirst for thrills—it throws you into whitewater rapids and dares you to find your footing. With evocative prose, razor-sharp dialogue, and the aching beauty of the American wilderness under threat, this is a story that scorches, heals, and lingers like the scent of woodsmoke in your clothes.

Cold Burn was the first that I read in this series, but you didn't have to read the first one to get engrossed in the story.
Michael Walker is investigating in the National Parks a series of thefts. He is in Glacier Bay National Park and the writing makes you feel like you are there, even though I have never traveled there. Also in Florida, FBI's Gina Delgado is tracing murder of a science intern to people trying to mess with the Ecosystem. She gets pulled into a submarine that has very bizarre deaths of the whole crew. Are what Michael and Gina working on the same folks? It's a race to save the planet!
I loved it, fast paced and mystery galore. The imagery depicted in the National Parks was wonderful.

I am a National Park Enthusiast! I absolutely love visiting National Parks, reading about them and researching them. I immediately wanted to read this book because it is based in 2 National parks, neither of which I have visited. While I did receive an e-arc of this book, I ended up being behind and having some extra audible credits and listened to it. I do believe that I lost some of the story due to listening rather than reading this book. There were times that I felt distracted. This book is the second in a series, I did not read the first one but I do not feel like it impacted my ability to enjoy this book.

Synopsis:
Agent Michael Walker returns when multiple deaths at Glacier Bay National Park are just the first steps in a potential global disaster. In Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park, a frozen woolly mammoth is uncovered by a geological survey team. When all of them are found dead at the site of the thawed-out carcass, National Park Service ISB special agent Michael Walker is called in to investigate. In Florida's Everglades National Park, FBI special investigator Gina Delgado traces the murder of an environmental science intern back to another U.S. Geological Survey team's ongoing experiments that are decimating the fragile ecosystem. Beneath the icy waters of Alaska's Elfin Cove, the crew of a stranded Los Angeles class attack submarine is wiped out by a mysterious contagion, inexplicably causing their lungs to freeze. The link between these apparently disparate events lies in a deadly, prehistoric microbe that killed the mammoth the same way it did the USGS survey team in Glacier Bay and the crew members of the submarine. A microbe that a rogue billionaire is desperate to attain, and a Russian strongman will do anything to weaponize to achieve even greater, wide-ranging power. Fighting a battle on several fronts-militarily, intellectually, and biologically-Walker and Delgado are running out of time to stop a devastating attack that would reshape the entire world

This book had a lot of non-stop action going on in multiple locations. There was a lot of scientific and geological information being shared. It was hard for me to keep up with. I loved the story, the characters of Michael and Gina. But what I loved the most was learning about Glacier Bay, the Everglades and the Tlingit culture. It really makes me want to visit these locations more!
Thank you to NetGalley Minotaur Books and the author for the opportunity to read this book. My opinions are honest and my own!

Cold Burn is the second book in the National Parks Mystery series by A.J. Landau and takes place in Glacier Bay NP and Everglades NP. Having been to both places it was neat to read about them in a mystery series. Like the first book in the series, this one is equally as fast paced and a quick read. I’m interested to see where the series heads next.


Thank you @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

Delayed ARC review!

This is the second book in the National Parks Thriller series. There were things referenced that I assume were from the first book but they all were mostly explained so I didn't end up too confused, just missed more background knowledge on things.

I like mystery and thrillers but this was a little different than what I usually read. I liked the national park aspect and as I read it, it felt like it was a show with all these details and the mystery of finding out what happened and with all these characters that worked for the government.

I enjoyed it overall, but it's not my usual taste and I probably wouldn't read more in the series. I would recommend giving it a try if it sounds intriguing to you- it's available now!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this e-ARC.

Cold Burn is thriller with main characters FBI Special Agent Gina Delgado and National Park Service Agent Michael Walker. Gina is looking into a suspicious death in the Everglades and Michael is tracking the theft of sacred Indigenous artifacts. When their cases overlap, they uncover a disturbing conspiracy which take us from the icy wilderness of Alaska to the swamps of Florida.

There are a lot of characters in this book. The plot sometimes gets complex about scientific explanations which go over my head and there are quite a few smaller plot threads within the main one about environmental concerns, political corruption, and cultural preservation which some may find overwhelming.

There really is a lot going on in this book but there are some predictable moments as well. Overall, it is a good read if you like the FBI and Detective thrillers. Bonus points for taking place in state parks which makes for a great scenic visual imagery to enhance the story. While it says it is book #2 in the series, I did not read #1 and had no problems following along so it can be read as a standalone.

Cold Burn is a fast-paced, twisty thriller that hooks you early and doesn’t let go. The plot moves like a wildfire—lots of action, political tension, and just enough character depth to keep you invested. Think spy drama meets near-future crisis, with a sharp, cinematic feel.

It’s definitely one of those books that feels like it could be a movie, and while it leans into familiar tropes, it does them well. Perfect if you're into high-stakes government thrillers with a bit of a tech edge.

Quick, gripping, and totally bingeable.

These books are so fun and quick I'm really enjoying this series. I love the facts about the Parks Service and the history of these spaces. It will be interesting to see how the authors deals with the massive changes to funding and support from the current administration (if they do at all) in future books. The character development is a bit thin, but that's not why you read these books. It's fast paced, always exciting, and I like that they have set up a larger over arching conspiracy that be explored over subsequent books. I scored it a little on the low side because of the treatment of Indigenous people. It did feel like the authors were trying to be respectful of this community, but just missed the boat. The noble savage and magical native tropes are strong here. The authors have a note about fictionalizing this community and not wanting to speak for them, but this feels like a cop out. Having Indigenous sensitivity readers or consultants would have been far more meaningful, and may have saved the book from relying heavily on stereotypes. I will keep reading these and buying these for my library, but I sincerely hope the authors consider how the depiction of Indigenous folks are portrayed in this series. The series being about National Parks, I have to assume this will not be the last time the complicated relationship between Indigenous people and the Parks comes up in these books.

This is book 2 in the National Parks Thriller series. It is a police procedural thriller with interesting historical information about national parks mixed in.
I read both books. I do feel like it is best to read them in order but also feel like you can read the 2nd book as a standalone snd be totally fine understanding the story.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

Lots of action and suspense with well written characters. It did take longer than I expected for the storylines to converge. I really enjoyed learning about the locations, the science and especially the Tlingit culture. I found it added a lot to the story. I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

The idea of a thriller involving national parks seemed like a winner to me. I was hoping the second book in the series was going to win me over, but it unfortunately did not. I was close to DNFing the book, but stuck with it.
We followed FBI special investigator Gina Delgado, who is now directly assisting the President, and National Park Service investigator Michael Walker discover that they might be working cases that are connected to the melting of the glaciers releasing prehistoric organisms that could cause another extinction.
There was certainly a lot of action and fast paced situations. But there was also (what felt like) mansplaining and government acronyms that it distracted from the storyline. While I love a good thriller, this is not a series I will continue. I could potentially watch it as a tv series though.

Cold Burn was not my typical type of book, but I am so glad that I gave it a try. This story takes place in Everglades National Park and Glacier Bay National Park. FBI and national park agents work together to solve some mysterious deaths. The deaths in both parks are linked, even though they are thousands of miles apart. The deaths are tied to an even bigger plan to cause mass destruction. Will the agents be able to stop the attacks in time?

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this title for review.

I really enjoyed the multiple perspectives that this book is told from. Michael Walker is an investigator with the National Park Service, he is in Alaska where he is sent from one case involving people stealing artifacts from from museums to a different part of the state where a group of scientists has gone missing during a hike. The common factor linking these cases is that both involve the Tlingit community, a group of remote Native people, who keep to themselves and do not trust outsiders.

In Florida, we meet Gina Delgado. She is investigating the murder of a scientist intern, who is helping a team perform experiments in the Everglades National Park. Just as it seems like she is getting somewhere with her investigation, she is sent to a different spot - that of a vessel. The bodies of the crew who were onboard have been recovered, but all were dead.

It is up to Walker & Delgado to work "together" via phone calls, messages, and whatever other form of communication they can think of in order to find the connection between these cases and solve them. As they race to solve their cases, they are also battling present-day, power-hungry men who will stop at nothing in order to see their own goals become reality.

A.J. Landau's Cold Burn follows Leave No Trace as the second in a National Parks thriller series. The lead is National Park Service Special Agent Michael Walker, who has a prosthetic for his left foot. FBI special investigator Gina Delgado also works with him once again.

This one opens in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, where a geological survey team runs from an avalanche and encounters something worse. Michael is sent to Glacier Bay. Also, a nuclear submarine in Icy Strait, Alaska, is damaged by a World War II mine and transmits a request for rescue.

FBI special investigator Gina Delgado is sent to Alaska as well. She and Michael are up against a deadly prehistoric organism re-emerging due to global warming, a rogue billionaire, and Russian assassins and commando teams.

What a thrilling novel! Although I have not read the first book in the National Parks Thriller series, I did not feel that it was too hard to catch up on the characters in this second installment.

As a thriller lover, I appreciated the different setting and characters from more traditional thrillers. Hard to put down, and gripping!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy. Highly recommend!

The action never stops in this second National Parks thriller from the authors that are A.J. Landau!

I was expecting Michael Walker and Gina Delgado’s presence as the major players of course. But, was thoroughly and pleasantly surprised when we get the bonus reappearance of several side characters from the first book ‘Leave No Trace.’

I also very much enjoy the ‘pulled from today’s headlines’ aspect of this series. A masterful interweaving of todays headlines and topics with a fictional America, and how these things play out.

In this novel we get global warming, glacial melting and permafrost melt along with the rights of indigenous communities, the perils of the ocean currents and the war in Ukraine. Combined with a fictional Russian coup attempt and a defrosted prehistoric killer bacterium. Throw in a billionaire Space Mogul’s drive to reach Mars and stolen indigenous artifacts and WOW! What a story!

Only niggle I had was exactly ‘how’ Gina Delgado escaped the Everglades and is the poor USGS head of researching Project Coldburn still wading around out there!?!

Cold Burn is the 2nd National Parks Thriller by A.J. Landau featuring National Park Service Investigator Michael Walker and FBI Special Investigator Gina Delgado.
As I started this one, I was wondering how are these settings, Alaska and the Everglades going to come together in this fast paced thriller? Well they did and the authors give the reader quite a thrill ride making this happen. This story has a lot of moving parts, threats to the future of the world and a plethora of cliffhangers.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.