Just Talking Books

A Cold Dark Place was my first read of a Toni Anderson book. Thankfully it won't be my last!

What I liked: I enjoyed all the characters because they were believable. No one was really over the top with "special skills" or surprising insights. Mallory felt the most real to me as she is a rookie FBI agent and it shows in most of her actions and reactions. Her love interest, Alex, is mostly believable, IF, you can buy into the company he works for, The Gateway Project. Their interest and sexual awareness of each other is pretty immediate but again, it wasn't over the top.

The case/cases they are working on were intriguing to me and more than held my interest. There is a lot of FBI workplace politics going on which I totally bought into.  You can almost feel sorry for Mallory in her work situation but it doesn't stop her from her main quest; finding out who kidnapped her twin when they were nine years old. Eighteen years have passed and still Mallory is bound and determined to find and capture the villain.  

The plot line was not obvious but Ms Anderson slowly reeled out the clues with a few red herrings. I did figure part of the plot out but not all of it and that's a win for me whenever I'm reading a thriller/suspense book.

What I didn't like: While I enjoyed A Cold Dark Place, a few instances it felt slow but definitely not enough for me to put it down or give up. 

There are quite a few sexy scenes between Mallory and Alex for the romance fans and the suspense element is carried out very well.  I'm looking forward to reading more books by Ms Anderson.

Recommended for romantic suspense readers or thriller/suspense/mystery readers.