A snowy Retreat with deadly Secrets: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Synopsis

A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Audiobook Review

4,5 stars

Kate Alice Marshall’s latest thriller meets Karissa Vacker’s narration equals thrilling bliss!

A Killing Cold is a solid atmospheric thriller that kept me glued to my headset from start to finish. Perfect mix of family drama and psychological thriller to have you hooked from the start!

An orphaned woman with no recollection of her early childhood  is invited by her wealthy fiancé to meet his family in a reclused mountain family resort in winter. As soon as she arrives, she is hit by a feeling of dejà vu and broken memories of terrible events resurface in her dreams.

Who is Theodora? She doesn’t even know her true name.

Why has she felt like she knew Connor the first time they met before having their whirlwind romance?

Why is there a picture of her as a little kid in one of the abandoned cabins for the resort?

Why did she get threatening messages before coming to the resort?

Why do some family members she has never met seem shocked when they first see her?

What is hiding behind closed doors? What ugly secrets do these people hide?

And why did her fiancée bring her here, in what proves to be a hostile family and a deadly setting?

And what would you do to protect your family name and reputation?

So many questions!

I loved how Kate Alice Marshall built her story, slowly unearthing buried secrets, all linked to Theodora’s forgotten past. The Dalton are wealthy and they have dirty laundry. Theo’s arrival in their midst will be the catalyst to a dramatic reckoning.

Theodora working in a bookstore and having been raised by an abusive adopted family, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. What I couldn’t decide though was if Connor, her fiancée, was sincere or played a dangerous game with her.

As soon as they get to his family resort, the Dalton’s welcome is rather frosty. Between the outright hostility of Louise, the grandmother, the shock of Nick, Connor’s Uncle to the taunting behavior of Trevor, the brother, only Connor’s sister seems on Theo’s side.

When a mysterious and neglected cabin awakes dormant and tragic memories for Theo, she is determined to learn who she is and what truly happened to her mother, even if the price to pay might be deadly.

A Killing Cold was a chilling, fascinating and twisty read with family deadly secrets and twists aplenty! Between the many lies, the snowy isolation, threatening messages, unreliable narrator and the nonstop surprises I couldn’t/wouldn’t stop reading!

Well done Kate Alice Marshall!

Sophie