COLD WOODS by Karen Katchur

This book is definitely one of the best I have read. Though it’s a very touchy subject matter. Full of heartbreaking violence(between the lines so to speak) and family who are in a way hiding horrendous things behind closed doors. This book touches on alcoholism, domestic abuse, child molestation, and in my opinion pure evil. It shows what happens when a person has had enough. When you think you are going to die, actually know beyond a doubt that you will die if you don’t do something. This book can trigger things so be warned, but it’s also a fantastic story of how things played out. Filled with such a great ending. I figured out part of the, who did what, but not all by any means. I actually just had an idea of who may or may not have killed Lester.

Trisha comes home after being gone thirty years. One of her best friends mother had died and she wanted to reconnect and help her friend, Dannie. She was also running from her very sick and abusive husband. She was use to the best of things but she also had a bad problem with drinking. It helped to ease the pain she was in and from what I read it seems her husband may have helped to turn her into an alcoholic. He’s a very bad man and Trisha wants nothing more than to get away from him. She’s never told him about where she lived with her mother so she felt she was safe. Trisha and her mother didn’t have the best relationship either. Her mother did quite a bit of drinking also and had always been working when Trisha was young and needed her most. She was alone with her stepdad, Lester. Lester was a full on alcoholic who loved putting his sorry hands on young girls. Trisha felt it was all her fault. That she deserved what happened to her. This is unfortunately the way victims do feel. Lester had called her a tease and other things and she was afraid to tell anyone, even her best friends.

Trisha, Dannie and Carlyn met the day Trisha’s family moved to Bangor, Pennsylvania. On second street in a side by side house. They had left Chicago for this new start. The three girls because best friends right off and it seemed they would do anything for each other. They had a bond and were as different as any three could be. But they were there for each other up until each went their own way after high school.

A whole lot happens in this book. A lot of it very ugly yet told in a way that made the story what it was. When the story starts a body has been found and eventually identified as Lester. There are two main cops in this story who keep on the case until the very end when someone finally admits to the crime and tells why. Believe me they had every reason to do it.

Things had changed so much between the three friends that when Trisha came back it seemed they would never be friends again. But they are there for each other despite the distance and time. Dannie and Carlyn never left the town other than Carlyn going to college. Trisha of course had run fast and far to escape everything. Even though there were problems the three girls, grown women not, stand together. Dannie’s mother had died and they helped her, along with their mothers, clean out the house. They eventually seem to get over the hurt and resentment that started way back in the mid eighties. Their mother’s had become the best of friends also over the years. Sharon, Trisha’s mother and Linda, Carlyn’s mother were still very upset over losing their friend Evelyn, Dannie’s mother. Each of them had been left single mothers who would do anything for their girls.

This book is one that will definitely make you do some serious crying. It also has a couple of funny parts but not many and they are small. I cringed in so many places. From the young Trisha’s abuse at the hands of her stepdad to the awful horrible cruel treatment at the hands of her husband. The only one who truly loved Trisha was Scott, her high school sweetheart. But that ended also when she left town. She just didn’t feel she was good enough for him. He was a very kind and good boy who grew up to be a policeman and a great dad.

This book had some great characters in it. I didn’t read the first book, River Bodies, but will now. This is a stand-alone but from what I read it would be great to read the first one to get to know Detective Parker Reed more. To find out exactly what happened that made him the way he was. He’s a good cop and a very good human being. He seems to honestly care about what happens to Trisha and her mother. Even to her friends. He tries hard to get Trisha to not go back with her husband. Will he succeed with that. There is no romantic feelings between these too, Parker and Trish. He just knows that in domestic violence cases things don’t always end well. He wants to help. He’s fighting demons of his own yet always seems to reach out and help others. To me he is an all around good man who started liking a character in the first book.

Even with all the hurt and heartache in this story it’s well worth the read. The thriller/mystery of this book will keep you turning pages until the very surprising arrest and ending. The who and what will surprise you. It did me mostly. One I did think of but was not sure. It was so well written and had me hooked from the very first page. It’s told from different time periods and settings or from what is happening at the time. You will want to know who did what and what is going to happen to Trisha.

I am very glad I read this book. It is one that in many ways haunted me and will for a while. I cried so hard in places. If you have ever had an alcoholic stepdad who loved to touch you it may trigger those feelings. I personally was able to cry and work my way through it. I rooted for Trisha and actually all the characters who were touched by the things Lester did to prevail.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Tomas&Mercer for the ARC of this book in exchange for my complete and honest review.

I give this one 5 stars. I also recommend it to anyone that loves a good mystery/thriller.