I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Cold Springs
by
Rick Riordan
suspense in Paperback edition that was published by Bantam Books on March 2, 2004 and has 416 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, The Red Pyramid, The Lost Hero, The Throne of Fire, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The Serpent's Shadow, House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus, The Hidden Oracle, The Sword of Summer, The Hammer of Thor, The Ship of the Dead, The Dark Prophecy
Cold Springs is a standalone suspense novel that moves between San Francisco and Texas.
My Take
Wow. Just goes to show that money…the having or not having…has nothing to do with happiness. Two marriages falling apart. Ages-old friendships on the line. An inside look at how those in charge of a boot-camp-style school break the child down and build them back up…from the child’s perspective. A look at such a place’s results and the issues surrounding them. The hopes and dreams of people who truly want the best for children to those who are caught up in their mind’s delusions.
The first half of the story was so sad and hopeless that it was difficult to continue. Three-quarters of the way through, the pace really picked up and I wanted to know how well Mallory would do, if she would go on to the next level. I had to know what the secret was that Race and Mallory were hiding. If Ann were exonerated. What would happen between Norah and Chadwick. What was David Kraft’s role in all this? Riordan also wrote interesting personalities for the four different law enforcement entities involved — I loved Sergeant Damarodas! He could be an interesting character for a series of his own!
The Story
Based in the San Francisco Bay area and the hill country in Texas, Cold Springs follows a former schoolteacher turned delinquent escort attempting to purge his guilt and the ghost of his teen-aged daughter who died of a heroin overdose by helping young people in trouble. An old army buddy runs a boot camp in the Texas hills where parents send their troubled kids and Ann, a friend from his former life, calls and asks him to pick up her daughter, Mallory. Race’s mother has just been found murdered and the only suspects the police have are Mallory and Race.
Mallory is doing heroin just like her babysitter, Katherine, had done before she overdosed and now Mallory is running with the younger brother, Race, of the dealer who had hooked Katherine.
To complicate matters, John, Ann’s ex- and Mallory’s father, has been blackmailed continuously since Katherine’s overdose and the blackmailer has stepped up the pace. The plan is to take down everyone involved in Katherine’s life and death
