Bea Reviews Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag

Publisher: Dutton
Format Read: egalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Challenges: COYER | NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
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Blurb from goodreads:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag delivers a shocking new thriller

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.

Bea's Thoughts:

Oh my. This was an intense, often dark book. During the first few chapters there were several times I almost put the book down and walked away. Not because it was bad or boring but because I wasn't sure I was strong enough to cope. But I persevered, the story pulled me in, and I flew through the remainder of the book, losing an afternoon to the world Hoag created.

The blurb uses the words 'harrowing' and 'dark filter' and the blurb is 10,000% accurate. And yet, once I was pulled in, I was captured, I couldn't stop reading. I tried to imagine myself in Dana's shoes and I couldn't, it was unthinkable. Dana was sometimes hard to connect to or relate with but her voice and perspective were unique and gripping. There's a mystery in the book but it's secondary to the main story of Dana recovering and more importatnly, reclaiming her life and her identity. The old Dana is really and truly gone and every one, including Dana herself, has to learn who the new Dana is, and is not.

There seemed to always be a certain disconnect simply because she wasn't the same Dana she had been when those memories had been made. 

Relationships were no different. The relationship Before Dana had with Roger Mercer was going to seem like it belonged to someone else, because it had. After Dana was her new reality, and After Dana saw the world through a much darker filter. 

"Cold Cold Heart" is a gripping tale of loss, grief, identity, connections, memory, personality, fear, hope, and love. It'll make you think and feel and philosophize and be grateful for all of the good in your life. This has been one of the best books so far this year and will probably make my top five for the year. I've convinced several of my co-workers to read it. :) Now, it's your turn.

Go read this book!