Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

LIke another viewer, I had the opportunity to read multiple Kindle First selections for the month of June, thanks to a few friends and family. Before this book, I had read two other selections and was disappointed with both. I was not really looking forward to this one but out of respect for my fellow reader friends, I obliged. I am glad I did. Cold is categorized as an "Espionage Thriller" and it is that, but it is a bit unusual. Written by a British author, it is inundated with British colloquialisms such as "I might have twigged you're not a psychiatrist" and exposes British lack of personal knowledge of American culture and geography. For instance, Mr. Sweeney thinks that the mountains in Utah that tower over Salt Lake City are "the Rockies." For those unfamiliar with the western United States, the mountains in Utah are called the Wasatch, not the Rockies. When someone says they are in the Rockies, they might be located in the next state east of Utah called Colorado, in places like Denver or Aspen. The author also portrays one of the characters called "Zeke" as a Mormon hick and hillbilly who says things like "So stop what you're doing to the poor brother YON." He also describes Zeke as speaking with a "hick" accent. For the Brits, hillbillies are generally rural mountain people typically living in the Appalachia mountains, not the Wasatch mountains. Normally, I don't ignore this and I found the cultural misplacement confusing in the beginning because the author jumped the location and characters around. It was disorienting to figure out what he was trying to portray. But, once I figured out what was going on, I ignored the faux pas of the author and concentrated on the story and found a good book. At first, the book started with very graphic violence and a sex scene which caused me to pause. Because I was already disoriented from the displaced cultural references, I almost put the book down when the graphic violence kicked in. I'm glad I didn't because the story and writing improved and became quite entertaining. There are many subplots going on with hints to tickle the reader into finding out how they are related and what was going to happen next. It held my interest enough that I woke up the next morning, bleary-eyed and tired, because I had to stay up half way through the night just to find out what was going to happen next and how the issues were going to resolve themselves. I originally was going to give this book a four-star rating mainly due to the rocky (sic) start in the beginning, but changed my mind and decided to rate it five-stars. Why? Because after I finished reading "Cold," I know that I will remember this book! I read so much that, too often for most books, as soon as I finish, I forget what the story was about and later forget that I had even read that book. Not so with John Sweeney's "Cold." This book is just different enough that it sticks out in my mind. I might just buy the next in the series when it comes out. So, if you are undecided what to choose for your Kindle First selection, try "Cold." This is a much better pick than the other offerings I've read for June's Kindle First selections.