Cold as Hell picks up 8 months after the events from The Boy Who Cried Bear. Casey is 8 months pregnant and preparing for the possibility of a difficult delivery. When a woman is drugged and assaulted, Casey must investigate. While she is investigating, Casey and Eric find a frozen body, naked in the snow. Together, they must determine who is responsible for both crimes while questioning who they can trust in Haven's Rock.

This series is fantastic! I think Cold as Hell is my favorite so far from the Haven's Rock series and I would highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator is the same throughout the series and always does a great job in bringing the story to life. I was completely captivated from the first chapter, and I couldn't put this book down. I loved the character growth of Casey and Eric as they prepare for Casey's delivery and enjoyed how they worked together to investigate the possibility of a killer in Haven's Rock during a snowstorm. I am excited to see what is next for Haven's Rock in the next installment.

Cold as Hell is out February 18th.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio and St. Martin's Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What an intense opening. Kendra may have been drugged, and is being attacked, maybe? Maybe being followed? And then we begin the story.

No, this could be deemed my fault as a reader for jumping in with book number three… But in my experience, you can easily jump into a series like this, because the author usually circles back with a summary of what’s happened in the other books… However, this was fairly confusing. These people live in like a secret came in snowy Northern Canada, with no Internet, no cell phones, and everyone’s like a criminal… A little more background would’ve been helpful, because I was confused almost immediately. The story, however, was an interesting one!

Women are being targeted and left to die in horrifying ways in a small, secluded northern town. With a high risk pregnancy nearing 40 weeks, detective Casey Duncan must race against the clock to solve the case before she delivers the baby. Add in a few pregnancy complications, a serial killer, and some thin ice, and we’ve got ourselves a page-turner!

Winter is hanging on in Haven's Rock. Casey is now eight months pregnant and only allowed limited activity. When a resident is drugged, Casey knows she is the best person to figure out who did it. Thankfully, the resident was saved from abduction by another resident. Days later, a blizzard hits. And the next morning they discover another woman is missing. Did she get lost in the snow? Or is something more sinister happening? Casey starts looking at the residents- as it has to be one of them.

The overall plotline was intriguing- especially the culprit and their back story. However, I felt this was 95% Casey and her thoughts. Very little interaction with the other characters. Not my favorite. Or maybe the series has run its course. I do want to see how Casey and Eric handle a baby with their duties. So I'll for sure give it one more book before deciding whether it is time for me to move on.

Thérèse Plummer narrates. And she is a wonderful narrator. But she is too darn upbeat for Haven's Rock.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t realize I was starting with the third book in the series, which led me to miss some crucial background information. It was a strong thriller that kept me engaged, but I didn’t fully connect with the character’s journey.

I was surprised by how much of the plot focused on the main character’s pregnancy. Normally, I don’t mind it too much, but the details about contractions and delivery made me a bit uncomfortable.

I’ don’t think I’ll revisit the first two in the series. But The concept was solid, but the characters didn’t resonate with me as much, likely due to my oversight in starting with the third book.

The narrator, however, did an excellent job bringing the story to life.

Haven’s Rock is a small community with few residents. Detective Casey and Sheriff Eric, husband and wife, are expecting their non planned baby very soon. Living in a very remote area in itself causes concern for a possible early birth problem.

Determined to keep their community safe and dedicated to their jobs they find themselves searching for a killer abducting women and killing them in the snowy woods.

Cold As Hell is #3 in the Haven’s Rock series. I loved this book and would highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC copy for an honest review.

Cold as Hell
A Haven's Rock Novel
by Kelley Armstrong
Narrated by Thérèse Plummer

I received an ARC of this audiobook through Netgalley.

Trigger warnings: Serial killers, sexual assault, gruesome murder, gunpoint, child endangerment, and more.

This was an excellent 3rd book in the Haven’s Rock series. This book didn’t disappoint me at all. It was really quite perfect!

Kelley Armstrong’s Haven’s Rock is centered around a very small town of 70 people. They live without most modern conveniences like excess clothing, their own kitchen appliances, their own bathroom, internet access, access to more than one diner or pub. They live very off-grid and with very little light after dark. They squirrel themselves away for a variety of reasons where they need to disappear. It is for those that need protection from something. Maybe they witnessed a murder, are aware of a crime, found out something dangerous, etc.

A small town meant to keep you safe is great but not without it’s own unique set of dangers. If that sounds interesting to you - then I highly recommend this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The prologue really drew me into the story as it unfolded, chapter after chapter with intriguing characters. I guess this can technically be read as a stand alone but I would have liked to have known, this was part of a series before requesting it. I never read books out of sequence. There were characters already introduced in former books that I would have liked to know their origin. All in all, I liked the book and I’m also a sucker for a great cover!

This was an audio book I am writing a review for this advanced copy of Cold as Hell, by Kelley Armstrong.

The narrator was very good. It was easy to follow along and recognize the different characters. However this is may be a YA mystery because the dialog is very simple and repetitive and flips from first person often.

The story was interesting, the deep cold of Yukon was described so well it was a great read on a freezing day.

Thank you NetGalley, Kelly Armstrong and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read/listen and review this book.

3.75 stars, rounded up

Excellent audiobook narration! The narrator had great voice inflection and was able to do the female and male parts well.

Storyline:
Casey Duncan is expecting her first baby. She is the detective of Haven’s Rock, an exclusive sanctuary town where everyone who enters is fully vetted. The residents hardly ever leave this little town and all work together to operate it.
One of the few women who lives there gets killed pretty early on in the book and now the couple/few police officers are on the hunt to figure out who the did it.

The positives
- I like the sanctuary town idea.
- I like the narration.

The negatives
- I found the story to be too drawn out in the beginning.
- There were just too many characters.

Overall, it was entertaining enough, but could’ve been cut down by a couple of hours and it wouldn’t have changed the storyline at all.


Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and MacMillan Audio for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I really appreciate it!

This was ok! Starts off interesting and I love the description of the setting but I just struggled to connect and care for the characters.

Crime comes to a hidden town meant to be a sanctuary. When a woman is drugged and dragged into the woods screaming, she narrowly escapes with her life. Soon after, a body is found in the woods. This frozen body seems to be a case of hypothermia, but it isn’t, is it?

I made the mistake of not realizing that this was book three of a series when I began reading. This (quite obviously) led to me missing some important backstory. This was a pretty strong thriller and kept me interested but I didn’t completely love the character’s story.

I didn’t expect so much of the story to revolve around the MC’s pregnancy. I don’t normally mind it too much but it made me uncomfortable hearing about the contractions and delivery.

I think I would like to return to this book after I read the first two books in this series. I do think the concept was strong, but the characters didn’t quite deliver for me. But again, that probably is due to my mistake of not realizing this was book three.

The narrator did a fantastic job reading this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this audiobook.

TW: murder, death, pregnancy, torture, violence, stalking

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.