Stone Cold Heart

a Tracers novel

Laura Griffin

Pocket Books

March 26, 2019

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Blurb: When local rock climbers stumble upon abandoned human bones in a remote Texas gorge, Sara Lockhart is the first to get the call. She has a reputation as one of the nation’s top forensic anthropologists, and police detective Nolan Hess knows she is just the expert he needs to help unravel this case. Although evidence is scarce, Nolan suspects the bones belong to a teenage climber who vanished last summer.

But as Sara unearths strange clues, she finds chilling similarities to a case from her past—a case that now threatens to rock Nolan’s community. While Sara digs deep for answers, the stakes rise higher as another young woman disappears without a trace. Investigators work against the clock as Sara races to discover the truth, even if her harrowing search brings her face to face with a stone-cold killer.

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SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

You would think that when an author hits #13 in a series that the reader would see signs of the series flagging, cliches creeping in, and fatigue, but Stone Cold Heart with its driving level of suspense and teasing romance between Sara and Nolan feels more like a book from a fresh new series.

I know that when I pick up a Laura Griffin novel that I had better have hours set aside because I won’t want to stop reading and that was the case with Stone Cold Heart. The novel opens with the kidnapping of 19-year old Grace, with whom the reader immediately establishes a rapport. She’s the youngest on a bachelorette party and seems like she’s having the worst time ever and then when she tries to follow the pack into a bar, she’s carded but none of the other girls have cared enough to make sure that she got in. Her feet are blistered from wearing heels and she does the stupid thing we all say we’d never do but might be tempted to when we’ve had enough–get into a stranger’s car.

Enter Sara and Nolan. The one thing I can always count on with Griffin’s novels is that the leads are going to be appealing and they generally aren’t going to do stupid things. I loved Sara and Nolan. I loved that they had fun with each other and seemed to understand each other almost immediately. Nolan just seems so almost perfect (no one really wants perfect, right? 😉 ).

As always, the reader is treated to the Tracers side of things and gets a glimpse into the engrossing world of forensics and this time it’s forensic anthropology; although we do get a taste of the DNA and tech side as well.

To top that off, as the story moves on we get page after page of nail-biting suspense. In the last quarter of the novel, the reader feels–like turn off the phone, feed yourselves, no one interrupt me!

So, yep, in case you didn’t guess. I really liked this novel.

I’m sure I’ve said this before. If you haven’t read any of Laura Griffin’s Tracers novels and love romantic suspense, start this series now! Yes, you can read Stone Cold Heart as a standalone. There are recurring characters but it’s kind of like watching an episode of CSI: the show may feature one character but it involves all the characters.

So who would like Stone Cold Heart? Faithful Laura Griffin readers; readers who like believable romantic suspense; readers who like forensics; readers who like kickass heroines; readers who like almost perfect police detectives; and readers who like nail-biting escapism.

I received an eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

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rating:

5 out of 5 butterflies

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