Cold by John Smolens (Mystery) ePUB+

“COLD is fiction to chill the soul—too revealing of human selfishness to be easily read, too well-written to be easily put down.”
—Selected for Amazon.com's Best of 2001

"Cold is a finely crafted, wild yarn set in the great north. John Smolens gives us a suspenseful tale in a style somewhere between Jack London and Raymond Chandler. A fine read."
—Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall

In the vast frozen reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, fierce winter storms can hit without notice. In the white translucence of one such blizzard, Norm Haas manages to escape from his prison work detail without detection.

After agonizing days of blistering cold, Norman finds himself at the farmhouse of Liesl Tiomenen, a solitary woman who gives him temporary shelter while keeping him at a comfortable distance with her late husband’s shotgun. When she tries to turn him in, he escapes again. Thus begins a riveting story of Norman’s journey back to his past, back to the woman he loved—and still loves—who betrayed him, back to his brother who helped put him away, and back to a dangerous web of family allegiances, deceptions, and intrigue.

On Norman’s trail is Del Maki, the constable of Yellow Dog Township, who is haunted by his own disappointment and loss. As he tracks Norman through the blizzard, Maki’s search becomes a form of personal salvation.

Nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, John Smolens’ Cold takes us deep into an intricate tale, where love, greed, and the promise of a last chance compel six people toward a chilling and inevitable reckoning.

“Set in Michigan's cold, harsh Upper Peninsula, this third novel by Smolens uses its frigid backdrop as the perfect setting for an astute examination of six lives wrecked by fate, betrayal and tragedy.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Smolens not only uses the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a backdrop, he also treats it as a character, silent, relentless, and cruel…well-written tale fueled by a sense of impending disaster.”
—Booklist

“A fascinating and disturbing novel.”
—Independent Sunday (UK)

“You'll swear the temperature has gone down a few degrees since you began reading the book.”
—Lansing State Journal