Customer Reviews

Cold Heart

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Houston Police Officer Mickey Ascherfeld suffered the horrendous death of her parents as a teen. Years later in Houston, Mickey once more faces a merciless foe that leaves her brutalized and unsure what to do. When Mickey receives a letter from old friend inviting her to Alaska she finally decides to go.

Four years later, McCray, Alaska is proving to be a healing refuge to the woman who now pursues stained glass as an outlet for pent up stress. The tiny settlement provides the slow pace of life that Mickey needs to get her life back together. Then without warning the town oddball Eldred Hoskins ensures Mickey's life will take another drastic turn. She must use every bit of police training to keep herself and a local teenager alive.

Writer McGrew has outdone himself with his first foray into writing. COLD HEART is a fast paced work filled with short snappy chapters presenting a tale that is mostly confined to a time period of four hours. The tightly drawn, fear-inspiring suspense thriller is jam packed with gore, chills, a maddened killer and a bit of a surprise as to what has set old El off. The inaccessibility of the hamlet lends to feelings that escape is impossible and that the people living in the area must either find a way to stop the mad man or be annihilated.

Some characters are not fleshed out as completely as might be. What might have led to El's frenzy is not foretold in subtle clues. The surprise causation for El's behavior is not quite as trustworthy as would be, had a few perspicacious hints and red herrings been tossed into the mix during the period leading up to the rampage.

Writer McGrew does throw in an abundance of turns and twists. The book is sure to please all who enjoy a good suspense filled, action packed read. Despite the small omissions surrounding El and his lapse of reality COLD HEART is an entertaining read, perfect for a winter afternoon in front of the fireplace.

Reviewed by: molly martin

I thought the book was just great. Chandler is an exceptional writer that keeps you engrossed from cover to cover. I can't wait to read the next one. Keep them coming Uncle Chad!!

One of the hardest genres to write in, I believe, is that of the thriller. Pacing, suspense, believability and *thrills* are very difficult to carry off in a novel-length work, and McGrew has done that spectacularly with this, his *first* published book!
The novel has a real cinematic quality to it (thanks to the author's descriptive prowess), and begs to be turned into a Hollywood screenplay. Yet at the same time, the interior depths of Micky, the heroine, as well as that of the killer (who is developed more slowly, adding to his menace), shows a real versatility in writing style.
The pace never lets up, helped along by the inspired device of shorter chapters, and I must make use of the hackneyed "a book I couldn't put down". As it happens, it's true, as I just went several hours past my bedtime in order to finish it!
I haven't been so engrossed in a novel in a long time, and I'm just amazed that this is a first effort. If Mr. McGrew's next book is anything like this one, we're going to be hearing his name for a long time to come.

Encouraged by an Amazon friend to try this book, I could not put it down! It rates five starts for its incredible pacing and the twists and turns it takes through the Alaska landscape.

Micky is a cop who has had a lot of tragedy and death in her life. She escapes Houston to the other side of the world, to visit her friend Damon in Alaska. Fade out and it's 4 years later and Micky is still there, losing herself in the art of stained glass. Everyone knows everyone in the small outpost of McRay, so when the killings start, it seems surreal. There's no serial killer here, just a madman on a spree.

Young Dawn Glorianus is the first witness to the murders being committed by Eldred, who has always been somewhat of a cipher to the other folks in McRay. The story, with an intense pace and deadly violence moves on from where Dawn's mother is killed. Micky is forced to deal with her fears of death and violence in order to save lives, but nothing prepares her for the twist of fate she finds when she learns why El is killing.

Cold Heart, McGrew's first novel, came out only in paperback (remember Grisham?), but it is such a tense and exciting read, it should create a following for the next paperback, Night Terror. McGrew, if he can continue in this vein, promises to be one of the exciting young authors of the future. Unlike many new authors, he doesn't sacrifice characterization for action -- and Micky, Dawn and Damon are thoroughly sketched, with interesting supporting characters sprinkled throughout the chapters.

A real gem of a book, really could not put it down once I got started!
And a real plus was the author's dedication, which was memorable:
"Oh, hell, they're all for Rene".

Young, burned-out ex-cop, Micky Ascherfeld has had a tough life so far. Murder follow her around like her shadow. Three people close to her in fact have been murdered before her eyes. But it's the sheepish way in which she has dealt with these murders that seems to haunt her almost as much as the actual murders themselves.

As fate would have it, she faces yet another deadly encounter. This time in the remote wilderness of McRay, Alaska, where she has retreated from civilization with her best friend Damon. With no major roads in or out of McRay, (accessible only by small air strip) the small bush town has only a handful of residents. It is here that Micky makes some unusual and enduring friendships. But who can she really trust?

When a mad man begins to kill and mutilate the residents of McRay, it is up to Micky to confront the demons of her past and try and save herself and Dawn, a terrified young girl.

Chandler McGrew has written one hell of a suspense thriller. This can not possibly be his first book! He has mastered the art of getting inside a character (I speak mainly here of Dawn, who basically steals the show from the main character Micky) and makes the reader feel as though they are there and these horrifying things are happening to them! It's been a long time since I read a book that actually gave me a nightmare.

The time line in Cold Heart is exciting and unusual. The story spans mostly over a period of 4 hours with short chapters making it a fast-paced and enjoyable read. Mr. McGrew's suspenseful, narrative voice is perfection, and he keeps us on the edge of our seats with a bang of an ending! Chandler McGrew has another book due out called Night Terror published by Bantam Books. Can't wait to read it.

This book gets a green light. Go for it!

I received a reviewer's copy of this novel, which can sometimes be problematic. Let me just say this: it went for the jugular and grabbed my attention in the first pages, and never let go. I read it fast, and finished with a big "Whoa!"

Micky Ascherfeld was a Houston police officer with an already tragic past when she and her partner endured a brutal attack which left her partner/lover dead. Fast forward 4 years, and Micky has relocated to Alaska to be near a dear friend, a burned out psychologist. The slow and simple pace of life in the tiny, pristine hamlet of McRay has been therapeutic and Micky has found fulfillment in creating her unique stained glass pieces.

And then one morning, a townsman named Eldred snaps and goes on a homicidal spree, bent on killing everyone in town. Cut off from her gun and all communications or means of transportation, Micky is forced to draw upon her police training and every grain of inner strength she ever possessed to stay one step ahead of Eldred and try to stay alive. There is a teenage girl named Dawn whom Eldred has missed and, once they cross paths, Micky is determined to protect Dawn at all costs. The rest of the book is devoted to the unfolding events of that one day and the diabolical game of cat and mouse with not only Eldred but with a wounded grizzly bear. Eldred's emotionless, passionless killing-machine persona makes him one of the most terrifying characters in recent fiction. While the nature of the story is of necessity violent, the strong writing and crisp dialogue keep it from being gratuitously so. The plot is original and the pace heartstopping, the penultimate ending along the lines of what the reader has been hoping for, the final ending a complete and total shocker.

There is an excerpt from Chandler McGrew's next novel in the back of the book, with the promise of "coming soon." All I can say is, not soon enough!

Thirty-one year old Micky Ascherfeld, the heroine of "Cold Heart," has had a hard-luck life. Her parents were murdered during a robbery in their florist shop, and Micky has always felt guilty for hiding during the robbery instead of trying to save her mother and father. Years later, Micky becomes a cop in the Houston PD, and she is once again traumatized when Wade Smith, her lover and partner, is brutally murdered.

In an attempt to bring some sanity back into her life, Micky drops out of civilization and takes up residence in a remote Alaskan town named McRay. There she pursues the art of making stained glass, which she sells, and life seems serene.

Unfortunately, for Mickey and the other residents of McRay, a psychotic and cold-blooded misfit named El (short for Eldred) begins a killing spree and he is determined to wipe out the residents of McCray before the day is over.

In his debut novel, Chandler McGrew has written a taut and frightening thriller. The brief chapters, understated writing style and quick pacing all contribute to the high level of tension, which builds as the killer proceeds on his deadly rampage. The action scenes are horrifying and gory. McGrew uses the Alaskan landscape nicely to create a claustrophobic atmosphere and a feeling that escape may be impossible.

The main weaknesses of the book are the thin characterizations (El's behavior is not satisfactorily explained) and in the implausible surprise that McGrew throws in at the end. However, throughout most of the novel, "Cold Heart" does deliver genuine thrills and it will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering who will survive in McCray when the "killing day" finally ends.

If you enjoy reading suspense novels, then you'll love this book. Cold Heart begins with Micky Ascherfeld, patrolling the streets with her lover/partner, when an armored truck crashes into them, sending their cruiser into a topless bar. The truck backs up and smashes them again. Micky manages to get out of the cruiser, only to suffer a nasty flashback of her parents' brutal murders as she is trying to flee from the psychopath that is now chasing her through the bar.
She survives the ordeal, but it has taken a terrible toll on her spirit. At the urging of a good friend (Damon), she visits McRay, Alaska. The story jumps ahead four years. She now lives in McRay, and everything is fine until the town oddball decides to go on a killing spree. Will Micky's past cripple her with fear again, or will she overcome it?
McGrew throws in plenty of twists, and the ending may surprise you. El was a good killing machine, but he wasn't very interesting as a villian. Damon, however, would've made an excellent psychopath since he made a living dealing with such. In that way, I was disappointed. But I give this book five stars because it is so entertaining. I found myself rooting for Micky and Dawn until the very end. Recommended.

Very gripping and disturbing book. The killer is protrayed very chillingly and empathy is generated for the heroine effectively. A friend who read it will not camp out in the woods anymore because of the book.

There is a lot of gory parts, but they're not gratuitous; they give you a more disturbing insight into the killer. Eagerly awaiting his next book

Micky Ascherfeld was only sixteen years old when she saw her parents gunned down in their store. Years later, as an as an adult she still is traumatized by that event. Although she managed to pass the police exam and is part of the Houston Police Department, none of her peers knows that she is still suffering from her ordeal. Only her partner and lover knows and a psychopath kills him before her eyes.

After her injuries heal Micky visits her friend in the small isolated Alaskan town of McRay. It is such a peaceful community that Micky stays, selling the stained glass work she makes so she will have income to support herself. Just as she is gaining recognition in the art world, one of the residents, El Hoskins, a psychopathic serial killer snaps and starts killing the residents one by one, doing unthinkable things to their dead bodies. Micky becomes aware of what he is doing and along with sixteen-year-old Dawn Glorianus, whose mother is the second victim, is determined to survive and stop him.

There is a lot of gratuitous and graphic violence in COLD HEART but if one has the stomach for it, readers will find it an engrossing reading experience. Both Dawn and Micky gain reader empathy for their determination to live despite the killing machine that is after them. El is one of the most terrifying villains since Hannibal Lechter.

Harriet Klausner