Lots of drama in this psychological thriller mashup.

An oft used trope is involved here -- innocent young woman is taken to meet wealthy future in-laws at a secluded mountaintop retreat in the middle of winter. Theo doesn't know her fiance, Connor, very well as they've had a whirlwind romance. His entire family is there to celebrate Christmas but Theo knows she's going to be tested. Immediately upon arrival, and in addition to threatening messages she has received on her now useless phone (no signal), Theo feels that she's actually been to this place with the cabins in the woods before.

As the suspense is supposed to build, you will have to suspend an incredible amount of disbelief at the coincidences and plausibility of the plot. I might have been more invested had I liked any of the stereotypical characters. I couldn't even fake that much interest in Theo or feel empathetic to her situation. The endless red herrings, Theo's angst, and the repetition of the fact that her memories are hazy got on my nerves. Sure there were revelations as the secrets and lies were finally revealed, but I bet you guessed most of them already.

This is the second I've read by this author and doubt there will be more. There's just nothing new to see here. It wasn't a bad book per se, but it was just too similar a story to so many others I've read.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book, both provided by the publishers. The narrator was OK but her attempts to voice all the characters sometimes fell flat and the extra oomph she put into the really dramatic scenes seemed a bit too much. This is a production that could definitely have been enhanced by a larger cast.

I listened to the audio of this (narrated by Karissa Vacker), and it pulled me in right from the first few minutes.

One-sentence summary: After a whirlwind romance, Theodora Scott is engaged to the wealthy son of a powerful family, but when he brings her to his family’s isolated winter estate, the secret warning she’s been getting to stay away from her fiance leads her to uncover dark family secrets that some might kill to keep hidden.

I LOVE all things gothic, and the setting, pacing and characters in this story have a feel that scratched that itch. This is a slow-burn mystery, but even though the breadcrumbs were dropped steadily and gradually, there was an eeriness to the tone and situations that kept me hooked right from the start. The well-defined and flawed characters – along with the setting – were the stand-outs for me, and there are plenty of great twists that will keep thriller fans happy.

This is my first time reading anything by Kate Alice Marshall, but after reading this, I’m thinking I need to get my hands on What Lies in the Woods!


Thank you MacMillan Audio for the advance listen!

This is the perfect winter thriller!

When Theo goes home to her finances family to meet them for the first time, things feel and look familiar. I am usually not a big fan of the "i dont remember my past" troupe, but this one had an interesting twist. Just proves again that rich people will do anything to cover up a secret.

As for the audiobook, I thought the narrator did a fantastic job bringing this story to life!

Thank you NetGalley! This book had me by the first pages. The twists and turns provided one shock after another. I could not put it down

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC audiobook! I thoroughly enjoyed the slow burn of A Killing Cold. Mysterious, intriguing and not TOO scary. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

I always enjoy this author. Listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator. The story felt a little slow in the middle and I had a little bit of a hard time following the characters. Liked the ending and was really glad Connor stayed a good guy

I have to admit, I love Kate Alice Marshall and her books but this book didn’t give me the vibes that her others did. Although I did enjoy the narrator minus the multiple characters played by one narrator, she was great. As for the book, it felt like there wasn’t the exact thrill that Kate usually brings to her books. This could possibly be due to listening to the audio with multiple characters versus reading the book with multiple characters, and I’ll be able to tell when I receive my physical book in the mail on release day.

After a whirlwind romance, Connor Dalton is taking Theodora (Theo) Scott to meet the family. The wealthy family owns a mountainous winter retreat. She has no recollection of her earliest years, but her memories start to come back while at the retreat. She quickly discovers the family may not be all they seem and are hiding secrets.

This was a fast paced locked room thriller that kept me turning the page! Everyone is a suspect and you are never really sure who to trust. It took me a little bit to remember the relationships of the large cast of characters, but they all had their own voices. I listened to this on audio and loved how Karissa Vacker made the book come to life. This is an enjoyable read for a winters night.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

With this release, Kate Alice Marshall is officially in my top 5 favorite thriller authors. I devoured the audiobook in one sitting! I adored Theo and Connor. All the twists kept me on my toes and I think the best part was the setting. Reading this while its freezing outside was perfect. The only thing that would have made the experience better would have been if it was snowing while I read.

I will read whatever book this author comes out with. Can't wait for the next one!

Kate Alice Marshall's A Killing Cold is a chilling (pun intended) thriller about a woman who doesn't remember her past until pieces come back to her on a winter retreat with her new fiancé. Theo Scott doesn't have a family of her own and Connor is optimistic that this vacation will bring them all together. Unfortunately Connor's wealthy family has a long history of lies and dangerous secrets.

Everyone in Connor's family seems to be hiding something. Trouble follows his brother everywhere he goes, and his sister seems desperate to have a private conversation with Connor without Theo around. Even his grandparents seem determined to make Theo's stay as uncomfortable as possible. To complicate things further, one of the cabins brings memories of Theo's traumatic childhood rushing back, and a photograph confirms her worst fears....

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this audio book that kept me.hokding my breath for the entire thrill ride. The narration definitely made this nail-biter all the more captivating.

Theo and Connor are engaged, even though they haven't known each other very long. When he invites her to his family's remote cabin estate for the holidays, Theo starts to feel like she had been there before. Through a series of strange actions, leading to even stranger memories of a place she feels like she knows, Theo starts putting the pieces together and it's not a puzzle she wants to remember.

I'm giving the audio version of A Killing Cold 3.75 stars, but the book itself, I believe deserves 4.0 starts. The audio felt monotonous and sort of drug on in places with little inflection in the narrator's cadence, but I think reading this novel with my eyes would have made for a good time. There were a lot of pieces that didn't seem to fit or make sense in some places, but it wrapped up nicely in a way that made sense. Even if the journey getting there felt forced at times.

Nonetheless, it was a good time and I would recommend to a reader that is new to this genre or likes lighter versions of this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Publishing for the Advanced Listener Copy of A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC. I loved this one so much that I bought a shelf trophy of it from BOTM.

Remote location thrillers are one of my favorites. Add in some family drama or a shady family and it is even more fantastic!

Theo and Connor had a bit of a whirlwind romance. They fell in love fast and he is now taking her to meet his family. And the Daltons a quite a family! She has some childhood trauma and amnesia due to that. She's getting some odd messages about the Daltons and starts having some memory flashes at their family compound.

This is fast paced and gripping. The Daltons are overall just an awful family and you are on the edge of your seat waiting for Theo's memories to come full force.

Karissa Vacker did an amazing job on narration and bringing this story to life.

If you love a good thriller, especially remote location with family drama, grab this one!

This was a solid 3.5 (rounded to 4 for GR) thriller! Thank you to the author, Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the narrator of this one (Karissa Vacker).

Theodora Scott is in a whirlwind relationship with Connor Dalton, after just 6 months they’re engaged. Shes going to meet his family at their annual winter retreat where they stay in the Dalton’s cabins. She knows his family is going to be skeptical of their whirlwind love. Before she goes she starts receiving anonymous texts telling her to stay away. When she arrives it all feels oddly familiar but she has no idea why.

This reminded me a bit of one by one by Ruth Ware likely because of the winter setting and secludedness. And to me also had vibes of the Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley except you know everyone is related.


Would recommend this one if you enjoyed either of those!

Macmillan Audio ALC
I have tried this author's previous adult novels, and they just didn't work for me, but I wanted to give her one last go, and I'm so glad I did because this was a winner! If you like a tense, locked room mystery set among a rich family with lots of secrets, I highly recommend this. The author did a great job of doing the forgotten memory trope while keeping it fresh and full of tension. I liked how this story slowly unfolded, and I truly couldn't trust any of the characters. I was hooked from beginning to end, and it was a satisfying story.
Karissa Vacker always narrates these kinds of stories so well, and I love how she builds suspense and mystery.

After a short, whirlwind romance Theo gets engaged to the charismatic (and rich) Connor. Connor brings Theo to his family’s private estate to meet his family. Theo is nervous because she’s been getting mysterious texts to stay away from Connor. Both Theo and Connor’s family have pasts that they are trying to hide.

I was instantly hooked by this book. I love when the main character is a female with a secretive past. The story keeps your attention by sprinkling breadcrumbs about Theo’s life along the way. The author gives you just enough information to keep you interested without allowing you to figure everything out. I liked the characters (as much as you can like flawed characters). Every character has their demons and is hiding something. I enjoyed how there was one major plot, who is Theo and what happened in her childhood. There are a few smaller plots but all of them are interconnected. The last few thrillers I read were very over the top, with a lot of red herrings. It was nice to read more of realistic thriller. The tension builds nicely throughout the book and plot was even paced but a little slow. Everything is wrapped up pretty nicely in the end, I didn’t find any major plot holes. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop on Connor, I figured there was no way he didn’t know who Theo was. That was my only issue with the book, how could all of this have happened by coincidence.

The audiobook narrator did a wonderful job. She was easy to listen to and follow along.

"A Killing Cold" is an icy mysterious where the frozen secrets are ready to thaw. Nothing stays hidden forever.

Theodora Scott, a child of adoption and a traumatic childhood, comes out the other side with no recollection of the early years and a trail of burned bridges on her way to freedom as an adult. Now freshly engaged to Connor Dalton, she is about to meet her future in-laws who are admittedly a tough crowd. Dalton is from a notoriously wealthy family where money and power are priorities and all must fall in step. Even though Connor knows his family can be difficult, closing rank time after time to protect the family at all costs, he decides to bring his new fiance, Theodora Scott, to his family's wintery estate, Idlewild. However well-intentioned, his love for Theo is insufficient for his family to overlook her past and ignore their short courtship. They think she's a golddigger plain and simple. Ouch.

His family treats Theo with severe judgment and visible contempt, not giving her the benefit of the doubt in any capacity. After her cold reception, Theo unexpectedly begins having snippets of memories from her past, making her debut to the Dalton family even more uncomfortable. Will they welcome her in or will her past serve to be too much to overcome?

The isolated winter haven provides the perfect backdrop for this snowy mystery. The plot is clean, crisp, and well-organized for the majority of the duration of the novel. Additionally, if consuming the audio version, the book is narrated by Karissa Vacker, who gives a top-notch performance that will keep you warm from the cold. She helps Marshall elevate the story even further.

The only hiccup is the last bit of the climb to the book's climax when it becomes fuzzy. The reader hits black ice, skidding into a snow bank causing momentary whiplash. We bounce swiftly between past and present, multiple characters, and memory versus reality-it opposes the smoothness leading up and makes it a turbulent experience but recovers nicely to close out the book with a sinister end.

Excluding the slippery moment, the book is a flurry of entertainment and is the perfect winter read curled up on your sofa. Grab a glass of wine, sit by the fireplace (or turn on a fireplace video on YouTube), and bundle up for a frigid thriller.

Stay warm out there, folks.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, & Kate Alice Marshall for the ARC in exchange for my honest and authentic review.

"A Killing Cold" was the perfect audiobook for me while working through a move (a lot of packing, going up and down stairs, etc.) and I finished it in two days!

It's the story of Theo, a young woman in love, who is meeting her fiancee's family, the Daltons, for the first time...and anxious about all that entails, particularly since Connor's family is rich and wary of their quick romance....and Theo *does* have secrets of her own.

Strange things start to happen at the Dalton's getaway, though, and Theo thinks some of her secrets are mixed in with the Daltons, but unveiling those secrets might help her figure out parts of her history that have been confusing and dark for years.

I was actually a little disappointed in the "reveal" (it wasn't particularly shocking), but I enjoyed the setting and the build-up of tension.

Book: A Killing Cold
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Mystery, Suspense/Thriller
Places Featured: Winter Retreat
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (rounded up)

Theodore Scott, orphaned and barely getting by, has secrets from her past. Connor Dalton has secrets that his rich family is keeping from him. When Theo and Connor meet through a friend there is an instant connection. Several months later, now engaged, Connor takes Theo to meet his family at their hunting residence in upper New York over the winter holidays. When they arrive, Theo senses a connection to this place and these people. There is something off about the Dalton family and they want no part of Theo being at their family gathering. As Theo remembers more about her past, she realizes that she may have been here before. As the story progresses, more information comes to light and there are many many twists in this story. Is Theo's life in danger? One has to keep reading to find out.

Karissa Vacker did a great job as narrator and the story kept me engaged.
4 Stars.

Thank you MacMillan Audio and Net Galley for an ALC of this book.

3.5 Stars rounded up.

KAM is quickly becoming an auto-buy author for me. Each of her stories are dark with lots of conflict--internal, external, and nature. A Killing Cold is no different--this time with a locked room mystery of a woman on a private mountain with an ultra-rich family with secrets that come spilling out of the snow.

The hook of the book basically covers the entire first half. She discovers that she's been to her fiance's family home once before when she was really young. From there it was guessing who the killer was/is.

I enjoyed it--a solid thriller. I think I've read too many of the locked-room snowed-in rich family thrillers to have enjoyed it as much as I could have though. I was frustrated with the beginning being the entire hook--I wish we'd gotten to the discovery faster and had more time with the mystery.

Overall, not a bad read. I think it's the least favorite of hers, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, which I did!

“The love of money is the root of all evil.”

The Dalton family embodies that biblical quote. I mean, yikes! Of course, with money, comes power, privilege, and the excessive need to control everything. The Daltons have mastered all of this.

Then comes Theodora, with her mystery and secrets, which rattles the Daltons carefully crafted façade.

Get them all together at the family’s secluded mountain retreat in the middle of a frigid winter, and all hell is about to break loose.

A KILLING COLD is a slow burn, atmospheric read that builds up to an intense and explosive ending.

I mostly listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the fabulous Karissa Vacker. As always, she held me captive within the story.

*Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook download, and to Flatiron Books for the free ARC!*