What a story! Cold Pursuit by Nancy Mehl is another home run read. I was immediately engaged by the definition of synesthesia right before the prologue and knew this book was going to be a different kind of suspense tale—one that is truly unique and unforgettable. Boy, was it ever! I love that readers get multiple perspectives in this story. Brian is the villain, and he suffers from schizophrenia, synesthesia, abandonment issues, and seriously untamed and uncontrolled anger. His segments are well-written, sometimes heartbreaking, and consistently creepy, sinister, and weird. River and Tony, our heroes, are former FBI special agents, now private detectives. Book one is their first case as private eyes, and they are a little hesitant regarding how to do this job. As behaviorists, they rarely ever went out into the field, but now it’s a significant part of the job. I enjoyed joining River and Tony on this journey to finding their detective legs. I fully understood and bought into their personal anxieties and second-guessing. It’s got to be really hard being part of a major policing institution and then being two people on their own attempting to solve cases with minimal resources and only the brains God gave them. Their first case is a doozy! I was hooked and hated putting this book down. As I do with every Mystery or Suspense novel I read, I tried to solve the crime myself, but Cold Pursuit got me good. There are a few twists and turns I just did not see coming and could not anticipate. I loved it! It made the reading all the more fun. As with all Mehl novels, the themes presented are timely. I particularly liked pondering the question of Brian—if he had not been abandoned by his family, regardless of his schizophrenia and synesthesia, would he have turned out differently? I always think about nature versus nurture. We are who we are (nature), but how much impact does nurture really have on a person? You can find countless examples of good families raising good kids, good families raising kids as best they can but turn out kids who are monsters, bad families who turn out amazing success stories, and bad families who destroy lives. It really boils down to the individual and what the individual chooses to do as an adult. Sure, nature and nurture are both important factors in the making of a person, but ultimately, it is a matter of free will and what individuals choose as people with free wills. Cold Pursuit would be a fun novel to discuss in a book club setting because of the many timely themes brought up throughout the story.

Cold Pursuit is an excellent Suspense story. A great start to what promises to be another gripping and well-told series by Mehl. If you are a fan of Suspense novels, then I highly, highly recommend this story. You will not want to miss this book!