Tina’s review of Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag
Dana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims. Nearly a year has passed since surviving her ordeal, but the physical, emotional, and psychological scars run deep. Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, plagued by flashbacks and nightmares as dark as the heart of a killer, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together. But home doesn’t provide the comfort she expects.
Dana’s harrowing story and her return to small town life have rekindled police and media interest in the unsolved case of her childhood best friend, Casey Grant, who disappeared without a trace the summer after their graduation from high school. Terrified of truths long-buried, Dana reluctantly begins to look back at her past. Viewed through the dark filter of PTSD, old friends and loved ones become suspects and enemies. Questioning everything she knows, refusing to be defined by the traumas of her past and struggling against excruciating odds, Dana seeks out a truth that may prove too terrible to be believed…
Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag tells us the story of a young journalist by the name of Dana Nolan who is abducted one day by a sadistic serial killer known as Doc Holiday. She is also his only know survivor, having killed him to make her escape. It is the story of how Dana struggles to piece together her shattered life while dealing with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, after being both physically and mentally scarred from her ordeal.
I have to say that I did struggle through the first half of the book. There seemed to be a lot of time spent on explaining Dana’s scrambled memories and her battle with the PTSD and the TBI. Although I totally understand the need to understand what the character was going through, at times I found it all a little overwhelming. I found the book to be more of a dramatic mystery more than the psychological thriller I was expecting. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the book because I did, I just find that I tend to go for those “edge-of- your-seat” type thrillers where the twists and turns have your brain working overtime. And although I thought this was a decent story, it just wasn’t one of my favorites.
I received this book through NetGalley for my review.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
This title is available from Dutton. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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