Nate and Sara are broke -- and on the run from the past. When a shady hitchhiker offers them cold hard cash for a lift, they can't afford to say no. But very soon they'll be wishing they had. Because picking him up is about to become the biggest mistake they ever made -- and the price they'll have to pay will be greater than they could ever have imagined...
Cold Kiss
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'A well-crafted, tightly-plotted thriller which steadily cranks up the sense of menace page by page. You know something bad's going to happen, and you just have to keep reading... I really enjoyed it' --Simon Kernick
'Dark unalloyed menace from beginning to end... Rector is the best find I've made all year' --Tony Black
'Wonderfully compelling. Could almost see the film racing across my eyes' --Maxim Jakubowski
'Tense, taut, throat-grabbing. John Rector is far more accomplished than his years. Reads like a cross between No Country for Old Men and Deliverance. Terrific' --Eric Van Lustbader
'One of the best debuts I've read in a very long time' --Scott Phillips
'You're definitely going to want to read this. The prose is clean, the characters relatable, and the dialogue is tight as a drum... But what will truly keep you captive is the suspension-bridge-cable tension...' --Spinetinglers
'Dean Koontz fans will find much to like in Rector's debut, a contemporary thriller about a couple on the lam. Nate and his pregnant fiancée, Sara, who each have reason for fleeing their pasts, end up in a situation straight out of Hitchcock on their drive from Minnesota to get married in Reno... Rector takes a classic noir setup and makes the most of it through clever plotting and spare prose' --Publisher's Weekly
'Highly rewarding... I just couldn't stop reading... There's no better place to spend a few imaginative hours these days than Rector's snowbound motel' --National Review
'Portents of disaster accumulate like wind-driven snow... A sly and very accomplished first novel'
--Booklist
'Dark unalloyed menace from beginning to end... Rector is the best find I've made all year' --Tony Black
'Wonderfully compelling. Could almost see the film racing across my eyes' --Maxim Jakubowski
'Tense, taut, throat-grabbing. John Rector is far more accomplished than his years. Reads like a cross between No Country for Old Men and Deliverance. Terrific' --Eric Van Lustbader
'One of the best debuts I've read in a very long time' --Scott Phillips
'You're definitely going to want to read this. The prose is clean, the characters relatable, and the dialogue is tight as a drum... But what will truly keep you captive is the suspension-bridge-cable tension...' --Spinetinglers
'Dean Koontz fans will find much to like in Rector's debut, a contemporary thriller about a couple on the lam. Nate and his pregnant fiancée, Sara, who each have reason for fleeing their pasts, end up in a situation straight out of Hitchcock on their drive from Minnesota to get married in Reno... Rector takes a classic noir setup and makes the most of it through clever plotting and spare prose' --Publisher's Weekly
'Highly rewarding... I just couldn't stop reading... There's no better place to spend a few imaginative hours these days than Rector's snowbound motel' --National Review
'Portents of disaster accumulate like wind-driven snow... A sly and very accomplished first novel'
--Booklist
About the Author
John Rector's short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and won several awards including the Porterhouse prize. His first novel, The Grove, was a bestselling e-book and will be soon be published for the first time in print form. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska and is currently working on his next novel. Read John Rector's blog at http://johnrector.blogspot.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By M. D. Ripley
Format:Paperback
John Rector's "Cold Kiss" conforms to most of the conventions of the classic "noir" thriller, but not quite all. Where in true "noir" you know from the off that things are going to go horribly wrong for the protagonists, here John Rector offers a glimmer of hope and redemption for his two main characters. Nate and Sara are a young couple on the run from their past, innocently seeking a new start in life. Driving through mid-western America in a worsening snowstorm, they pick up a sickly hitch-hiker and no sooner have they found a snowbound motel in which to shelter from the storm, their passenger seems to die on them. He is also found to have rather a large amount of cash on him. On impulse, Nate decides to lose the body and keep the money and thus (innocently)starts a maelstrom of suspicion and violence, culminating in a very bloody climax.
If the plot does creak slightly in places and there are obvious nods to movies such as "Shallow Grave" and "Fargo", this is still a tightly-written, hardboiled little thriller which moves at a fast pace and you think it cannot possibly end happily. But does it?
If the plot does creak slightly in places and there are obvious nods to movies such as "Shallow Grave" and "Fargo", this is still a tightly-written, hardboiled little thriller which moves at a fast pace and you think it cannot possibly end happily. But does it?
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book after hearing a review on the radio and couldn't wait to read it. I was very disappointed as it had been described as a very gripping thriller and for me it just wasn't. As the story went on it I thought the plot got more unlikely. It is one of those books that you think is going to get better the more you read it but before you know it you are at the end and thats that!
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
this was my first book by this author-great fast moving book with well written style and plausible characters. I thought-great, new author to try again but....
By LouiseV
Format:Kindle Edition
This book had lots of potential. The plot is simple and the prose sparse. No unnecessary long winded descriptions,no padding. In my opinion 2 key ingredients for a good book. The story started off great and had me hooked from the beginning. The first 3rd was really good and I believed that everything I had read was possible,given a little bit of imagination it could happen. Then things start to slide. I think Rector gets a bit over confident that he has reeled in the reader sufficiently not to loose them, because suddenly we have one implausible event after the other. I won't go into details as not to spoil for others but some of them are so far fetched that I lost interest in the book.
Also the ending was far too neat and tidy for my liking and again over done on the believability aspect.
It's a real shame because the idea was great,and the style of writing impressed me. Rector should have kept it simple. He tried to hard to pack too many twists and turns into a relatively short novel. As is almost always the case(not only with books) quality is far better than quantity.In the case of 'The Cold Kiss' too much of the latter too little of the former.
Also the ending was far too neat and tidy for my liking and again over done on the believability aspect.
It's a real shame because the idea was great,and the style of writing impressed me. Rector should have kept it simple. He tried to hard to pack too many twists and turns into a relatively short novel. As is almost always the case(not only with books) quality is far better than quantity.In the case of 'The Cold Kiss' too much of the latter too little of the former.
By schoolescort
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
this book had me captivated from the very first page. powerful on the edge of your seat stuff. the characters were very well drawn and the story just flowed, just couldnt put it down and read it in two sittings.
By Helen Fog
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've never read a book by this author, and was pleasantly surprised!
The 2 main characters Nate and Sara are 'interesting' from the start of the book and entice you into their story.
John Rector paces the book very well, leading you in gently at the beginning, keeping you interested through the middle and picking up the pace towards the end.
Its a definite page turner and would make a great film! The ending could be of mixed opinion....some wouldn't be happy with it but I really liked it.
A definite bargain for £1.99!! I will look for some of his other titles as I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
The 2 main characters Nate and Sara are 'interesting' from the start of the book and entice you into their story.
John Rector paces the book very well, leading you in gently at the beginning, keeping you interested through the middle and picking up the pace towards the end.
Its a definite page turner and would make a great film! The ending could be of mixed opinion....some wouldn't be happy with it but I really liked it.
A definite bargain for £1.99!! I will look for some of his other titles as I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
By maryscot0509
Format:Paperback
I read this book in record time and that's purely because I just had to keep turning the page to find out what was going to happen next. The dialogue was quick and punchy and I like that. I don't mind long descriptive passages in some novels but this book didn't have these and it didn't need to. The conversation alone created all of the atmosphere you needed and set the backdrop and scene perfectly. How your opinion changes about the characters as the book progresses is fascinating and goes to show we all judge books by their covers (excuse the pun), it's human nature. The ending is brilliant and I hear the book is optioned for a film - if Hollywood get their hands on it I hope they keep the ending. It would make a great film.
I would recommend this book for a quick but an unputdownable read. Get lost in the story and the characters and ask yourself the question - "what would you do if you were Nate & Sara"!
I would recommend this book for a quick but an unputdownable read. Get lost in the story and the characters and ask yourself the question - "what would you do if you were Nate & Sara"!
By Julia Flyte
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Nate and Sara are driving through snowy America, hoping to make a fresh start in Nevada. Along the way, they are persuaded to pick up a hitchhiker called Syl who offers them $500 to take him to Omaha. As a blizzard sets in, they are forced to stop at a motel in the middle of nowhere and things abruptly take a turn for the worse. Their hitchhiker is no longer breathing and his backpack contains a sizeable amount of money - enough to give Nate and Sara the fresh start that they badly need. However there's a body to dispose of and then there's the question of who Syl was so desperate to get away from in the first place...
Right from the start this book grabs you and there's a strong sense of menace which builds throughout. I could almost hear the creepy soundtrack playing along, ratcheting up the tension. In the second half the plot becomes increasingly improbable and I also felt that the author missed the opportunity to really build up the villain more than he does. Nevertheless it's a highly readable thriller which is very hard to put down. I devoured it in a day.
This is my first John Rector novel. He has a sparse writing style that's very similar to Neil Cross and indeed this reminded me of Cross's books.
My thanks to reviewer Thriller Lover for bringing this one to my attention.
Right from the start this book grabs you and there's a strong sense of menace which builds throughout. I could almost hear the creepy soundtrack playing along, ratcheting up the tension. In the second half the plot becomes increasingly improbable and I also felt that the author missed the opportunity to really build up the villain more than he does. Nevertheless it's a highly readable thriller which is very hard to put down. I devoured it in a day.
This is my first John Rector novel. He has a sparse writing style that's very similar to Neil Cross and indeed this reminded me of Cross's books.
My thanks to reviewer Thriller Lover for bringing this one to my attention.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new and powerful voice in fiction.
There's plenty to like about The Cold Kiss. As one of the characters remarks, there's something of an old-fashioned whodunit feel to things when a group of strangers become... Read more
Published 19 months ago by nigel p bird
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thou shalt not steal?
I found the setting wonderfully claustrophobic and I loved the way little twists were eked into the plot throughout the book. Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2010 by Raven
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a story!
I loved this story, although I am not sure what the title has got to do with it. Great suspense all the way through, and just when you thought it can't get worse, it will. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2010 by Bookworm
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