Cold woods : Northampton County novels #2 / Karen Katchur.

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Title:

Cold woods : Northampton County novels #2 / Karen Katchur.

Author:

Katchur, Karen

ISBN:

9781542093040

Edition:

First edition

Publication Information:

Seattle, WA : Thomas & Mercer, 2019.

Physical Description:

313 p.

Series:

Northampton County Novels #2

Abstract:

"When the long-buried bones of a man turn up in the middle of December, Pennsylvania homicide detective Parker Reed knows he's in for a cold case. Trisha and her friends were teenagers when Trisha's step-dad went missing. Now, thirty years later, his remains have been found in the mountains. The women have always known there was more to his disappearance than meets the eye, and they must confront their grim past. Secrets can stay secret a long time in the lonely Appalachian foothills--but not forever. When Parker and his partner identify the remains, their investigation leads them to Trisha's childhood home. But the deeper Parker digs into the crime, the more he realizes that the truth isn't always simple. In fact, it's so complicated that even Trisha and her friends don't fully understand what really happened in those cold woods."--Amazon.

Subject Term:

Cold cases (Criminal investigation) -- Fiction.

Secrecy -- Fiction.

Female friendship -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Pennsylvania -- Fiction.

Genre:

Suspense fiction.

Detective and mystery stories.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Fiction Book Paperback	120791002771226	F KAT	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Buried bones of the past rise to the surface in this chilling mystery from the bestselling author of River Bodies .

When the long-buried bones of a man turn up in the middle of December, Pennsylvania homicide detective Parker Reed knows he's in for a cold case.

Trisha and her friends were teenagers when Trisha's stepdad went missing. Now, thirty years later, his remains have been found in the mountains. The women have always known there was more to his disappearance than meets the eye, and they must confront their grim past. Secrets can stay secret a long time in the lonely Appalachian foothills--but not forever.

When Parker and his partner identify the remains, their investigation leads them to Trisha's childhood home. But the deeper Parker digs into the crime, the more he realizes that the truth isn't always simple. In fact, it's so complicated that even Trisha and her friends don't fully understand what really happened in those cold woods.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Katchur's weak sequel to 2018's River Bodies limps through two entangled plots, one contemporary and the other set in the mid-1980s. After three decades of putting up with a sadistic husband in Las Vegas, Nev., Trisha Haines escapes to her childhood home in a decaying eastern Pennsylvania town. Her return coincides with the investigation of Parker Reed, a local homicide detective, of a set of human bones found in the woods near the Appalachian Trail. Flashbacks reveal the abusive relationship between the victim and Trisha, her mother, and two of her friends from adolescence. Each of the principal characters had to live with a single overworked and traumatized parent. Workmanlike prose and a trite subplot involving the troubled Parker undercut this sad tale of domestic abuse and violence. Still, Katchur deserves credit for showing how parental sins are inexorably visited on the next generation: everyone knew but no one did anything. Agent: Carly Watters, P.S. Literary. (Aug.)

Kirkus Review

When the remains of Lester Haines are found 30 years after his disappearance, his bones won't be the only things uncovered in a small Pennsylvania town.Trisha didn't like her stepfather, Lester, and neither did her friends Carlyn and Dannie. Even as 10-year-olds, the friends felt that Lester was creepy; did Trisha have much more of a reason to think that of Lester? However, after Lester disappeared, the girls grew apart, and Trisha moved to Las Vegas. There, she got involved with a very rich and very abusive man. The only thing bringing her back to this small town is the death of Dannie's mother, but when Lester's bones are found and identified, many secrets are about to be unburied, too. The author (River Bodies, 2018, etc.) checks off all the boxes in creating the various charactersloneliness, abuse, self-doubt, rejectionbut readers may find themselves skimming as each thought or emotion is analyzed for just a little too long. She also ascribes very adult perceptions to children: Does it make sense to say of a 10-year-old, "But the longer she stared, the more she began to see something else in Trisha, a kind of vulnerability hidden beneath her tough exterior, something she carried deep inside her"? The parallel storyline about the life of the man investigating the mystery adds little spark.At the end, readers may feel that justice has been served but that their time could have been better spent. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.