The setting of this book totally stole the show - it was so atmospheric. I thought the mystery was very compelling as well. I will definitely look out for more titles by this author.

“Cold Burn” is the second installment in A.J. Landau’s National Park Thriller series, after “Leave No Trace,” was published in 2024. This book can be read as a standalone, but this thriller series is so good, you should consider reading “Leave No Trace” first — it’ll give you a deeper dive into the backgrounds of the protagonists (why Gina likes to blow things up and how Michael lost his foot). Also, in a scene to remember, you get a park ranger defending himself by putting a rattlesnake into the mouth of the biggest, meanest bad guy. This time, we’re in Florida, and you can bet that alligators might be munching on bad guys.

Michael Walker is still a special agent for the National Park Service’s Investigative Services Branch (ISB), although no longer limited to the Atlantic area. He now can investigate anywhere, but his boss gives him tasks with political sensitivity.
Gina Delgado, an FBI agent formerly with the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, is now also “at-large,” and has been assigned cases with national security concerns, but she really has no clear idea why she’s investigating a murder in the Everglades.

Multiple scenarios emerge: in Alaska, an avalanche traps a USGS (US Geological Survey) research crew on a glacier; a new American submarine accidentally hits a salvage mine and drops to the sea floor; and Michael Walker has been sent to uncover why Tlingit artifacts are disappearing. In Florida, Gina is trying to identify a dead body and understand why this is a priority investigation. In the Bahamas, an Elon Musk competitor is trying to become the world’s first trillionaire and take a ride to Mars.

The action ramps up and seems to go off into a dozen directions (including some sci-fi rabbit holes) until the separate investigative threads both agents are pursuing start to entwine (fairly quickly for the reader) and Michael and Gina are working in tandem.

If you love visiting national parks and monuments, this is a terrific thriller that will make you remember vacation moments, now tinged with suspense. How many chewed up body parts were there below your airboat in the Everglades? Are your fellow cruise ship passengers shoplifting antiques from Native museums in Alaska ports?

The authors (“A.J. Landau” is actually the pseudonym used by Jon Land and Jeff Ayers) obviously have a lot of respect for the national park system, Indigenous tribes, people with disabilities, and climate science. With two great main characters, the plot, however complicated, benefits from the combined intelligence of Michael and Gina. Let’s see them in action again in another installment of the National Park thriller series, and there should be another animal (grizzly bear? Bison?) getting even with a villain! 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Only the Russian general’s ice blue eye color is mentioned.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But we have two very disparate landscapes. While Michael is dealing with frozen tundra, Gina is navigating through mangroves.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

Great characters, settings and plots/sub-plots Are difficult to create, but the authors have achieved all three. Set in amazing backgrounds the series continues to amaze. Reading either of these is guaranteed to entertain.

This is a new author for me and I would definitely read him again. Edge of your seat suspense, end of the world potential. It will definitely keep you turning the pages. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This third installment in the series is a remarkable literary achievement. From the outset, readers will be captivated by the engaging plot and well-developed characters. The protagonist, a formidable female, embodies unwavering determination in pursuit of justice.

The setting serves as a catalyst for the unfolding of the narrative, compelling the characters to confront their own challenges. The author’s creative writing prowess is evident throughout, showcasing their exceptional storytelling abilities. Readers will develop a profound sense of camaraderie with these unconventional characters.

It is not necessary to have read the preceding two books in the series to fully comprehend the narrative or develop an affinity for the story.

I really enjoyed the first in this series, and was eager for the next installment. Unfortunately, I found this one a LOT more technical than the earlier book, with much less focus on the actual mystery (which I'm still uncertain about), and that's where it lost me. This felt like The Hunt for Red October. There's a LOT of submarine tech and geological survey info and it really overwhelmed the actual investigations by both FBI and ISB, and that's where I struggled. I would just get back into the story, via the characters, when things would shift focus yet again and there would be dozens of kindle pages focused on subs and geology and climate change. I don't mind learning things when I read fiction (in fact I usually quite enjoy it), but I still need the story to be the focal point - and it wasn't here, at least not to my reading taste. This one wasn't for me...

My Storygraph review:

Having to raise this to a solid 3, because despite everything I said below being true, I immediately want to start the other in the series, so I guess something in it worked! 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

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Just a notch over 2.5 for me. An interesting story that I enjoyed. But phew does the writing leave much to be desired. Reads like a self published book with only a random friend as editor. 😬 So so many unnecessary pieces, especially in the beginning, which made it really hard to get into and left a sour taste in my mouth, despite eventually turning into a mostly good book.

I finished this one but I didn’t like the dual storyline I felt it jumped all over the place and took forever to get to the point . I also felt it was far fetched and like a hbo special. You have to suspend belief for this one .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

Cold Burn was an entertaining read but it had a lot going on. There are multiple stories and it jumps quickly between them.

thriller, national-park, prosthetics, artifact, art-theft, Park Ranger, Park Service, amputee, investigations, investigators, detective, unputdownable, smuggling, law-enforcement, suspense, Alaska, crime-fiction, action, FBI, murder, Florida, everglades, undercover, environmental, eco-systems, adventure, avalanche, determination, dramatic, disappearance, due-diligence*****

Alaska Thread: Agent Michael Walker is tracking a smuggling ring when he's sent to Glacier Bay National Park to investigate theft of Tlingit artifacts from museums. The glaciers are slowly melting causing new environmental problems and a group of students looking into climate effect on the Glacier suddenly disappear during avalanche.
Florida Thread: FBI special Agent Gina Delgado is investigating the murder of an environmentalist in the Everglades which eventually ties in with the Alaskan investigations.
There is lots of real science used in the story and the whole is fascinating and too close to plausible.
I requested and received a temporary copyrighted uncorrected digital galley from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Pub Date Apr 29, 2025
#ColdBurn by Jon Land; Jeff Ayers; A. J. Landau #NationalParksThrillerBk2 @stmartinspress @minotaur_books #NationalParkConservationAssnTeams @goodreads @bookbub @Kobo @librarythingofficial #MysteryThriller @barnesandnoble @waterstones ***** Review @booksamillion @bookshop_org #Suspense @bookshop_org_uk #WeatherThreats #Smuggling

Cold Burn with its many subplots that gradually merge to create an ending that is mysterious and Satisfying but very intense along the way, is a challenging read with hopes that this situation never materializes in our world today.

Title: Cold Burn by Jon Land; Jeff Ayers; A.J. Landau
Genre: Thriller
Pub Date: April 29, 2025

Mysteries at National Parks
Multiple POV
#OperationColdBurn
Climate Discussion
Disabled Detective MMC

📖 Agent Michael Walker is battling smugglers when he's sent to Glacier Bay National Park. A team of scientists has vanished, and their disappearance signals the start of a potential global catastrophe. Walker must unravel the mystery before it's too late.

If you enjoy multiple POV, Sci-Fi vibes with a lot of scientific jargon and police/Detective crime novels, I think you'd like this one!

Have you ever read a book that had a whole section that seemed unnecessary? I felt this a couple times. Sometimes the multiple POV made it feel like we were going on side quests, and there's a lot of added information/science which felt mildly confusing/disjointed. Too much science for my (and many others) attention span.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
Intriguing plot with mystery and a bit of science fiction.
First part a little hard to sort until everything is tied together as the book goes on.

The glaciers are slowly melting, releasing organisms left behind in the permafrost. A billionaire seeks a new fuel source to send the first shuttle to Mars. Agent Michael Walker is investigating the theft of artifacts from museums. This leads him deep into danger as multiple people search for the secrets of the past.

Book 2 did not disappoint!

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Excellent mystery with an amazing beginnings.
FBI special Agent Gina Delgado is investigating the death of an Env Sci intern in the
Everglades, as National Park Inv Michael Walker is looking into the theft of priceless
native Alaskan artifacts from a museum in Glacier Bay while at the same time, a group
of students looking into climate effect on the Glacier suddenly disappear during am
avalanche.
The three stories seem unrelated until the threads start getting pulled in to the fabric
of the story and it rapidly becomes fascinating and totally riveting reading.
As the connection begins to surface, and the story takes on a life of its own.
Great suspense and action with charact4ers who are strong, totally relatable and
extremely interesting.
Will be watching for the next story by these.

4 stars

Another exciting entry into the Michael Walker and Gina Delgado series. They are both National Park Rangers. They investigate nefarious doings in National Parks.

But, Michael is sent to Alaska to investigate stolen Tlingit artifacts, Gina has a dead body on her hands in the Florida Everglades. How these two investigations come together is well planned and written.

I really appreciate that the authors showed the Tlingit culture the respect it is due. It is always refreshing to see details like this woven into the story line of the novel.

We have heroes and a megalomaniacal billionaire set to conquer the world. Can our two Rangers stop him before disaster strikes? I recommend this to anyone who likes adventure, thrillers and non-stop drama.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for forwarding to me a copy of this very good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Cold Burn by Jon Land; Jeff Ayers; A. J. Landau is the second in the National Park Thriller series. Agent Michael Walker returns, this time to Alaska where he is involved in finding out why an entire submarine crew died for no reason and a group of students disappear also. Then, in the Everglades, Agent Gina Delgado is involved in the murder of a student intern. As the two cases become intertwined, both agents rush to figure out why everyone is dying.

Are you in the mood for your next thriller? Pick up Cold Burn. You won’t regret reading this book. It was great.

At first, I was not sure what I thought of this book, as there were so many different plots that it seemed like overkill. There are several plots (deadly microbe, miracle fuel source) that could easily support a full-length story of its own. However, as the story progressed, the plots began to tie together better. It was an interesting approach to have National Park Service Investigator Michael Walker spend the story in Alaska, while FBI Special Agent Gina Delgado spent much of the story in Florida (although she ends up in Alaska as well), with their separate missions intersecting in very unexpected ways. I liked the mix of science (microbiology, ocean temperatures, freezing from the inside it, antibodies), history (changes in territorial control in Alaska, relations between the indigenous people and the US government), culture (Tlingits), and politics.

This was a fantastic read! I love a meaty book and this one was stuffed with so much goodness.

I’m an avid reader of suspense set in Alaska and was impressed right from the start at how quickly I was immersed in the location.

I also love to learn as I read and this one was packed with knowledge of life in Alaska and facts about Glacier Bay. Learning more about locations I’ve been to makes reading more enjoyable for me.

The characters were amazing - unique, well-rounded, and intriguing!

I think the thing that stood out to me the most was how much of the Tlingit culture was incorporated into the story. I appreciated the attention to their language, customs, and their struggle.

If I were to point out three things that irritated me they would be:

(1) that it took quite a while before the two threads (Alaska and Florida) were united. I’d almost given up by chapter 40.
(2) that it felt like the author was beating a dead animal with his repetition of facts. Yes, I even eye-rolled as I read. It wasn’t just once or twice, but multiple times. Overkill.
(3) that the facts immediately below the chapter titles took my focus away from the story and disrupted the flow. More often than not, they didn’t contribute to the chapter.

Regardless, this was a great, tension-filled read about a potential global disaster set in a part of the world I love to visit.

I was gifted this copy by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.