Cold Springs: A Novel

by Rick Riordan

Book Overview

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series The Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony award-winning Rick Riordan delivers a spellbinding novel of a man on an edge... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553579975
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.0" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Wow!

I'm a big fan of the Riordan's mystery series, and don't usually like stand-alone thrillers. This book is different. It's one of the best reads I've picked up in a long time. I don't buy many books (usually preferring library checkouts), but had to buy this one, and surprisingly it was completely worth it. I couldn't put it down towards the end. The characters are believable and sympathetic; the story compelling. And best of all, it kept me guessing throughout with some questions answered all along the way. Highly recommended!

ORIGINAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

This is my first Rick Riordan book and suffice to say, it is a stunning combination of complex plotting and characterization. Full of secrets. Deception. Lies. Murder. Revenge. Grief. You name it..it's here. Interesting that Riordan chose not to give us our protagonist's first name. He is known only as Chadwick, and that may indicate the kind of personality Riordan wanted us to identify with. The cast is full of unique and uncompromisingly original people: the young Mallory, victim of a cruel childhood disaster, now drug-ridden and sent to a "reform" school in Texas; John and Ann Zedman, her divorced parents; Norma, Chadwick's ex-wife; counselor Olsen; escort Kindra; the Melrose family; David, a [***]-kisser; etc., etc. Riordan weaves his plot intricately and pulls a few surprises at the end.A very good book, one to be enjoyed by fans of the genre and others.

Something for everyone.

Fabulous book. Action packed enough to satisfy thriller-readers, with enough psychological studies to satisfy people who like character-based books, with twists and turns galore to satisfy people who are trying to figure it all out. I changed my mind every couple of pages on the "who did it" -- even though I got one part of the "why done it" right. Not a laid-back meandering book, even though some of the language is very descriptive and poetic. Something for everyone.Beth

Don't stop reading. Don't relax.

I really like Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre books. Tres is a great guy and a great character. Even in the deepest mysteries or most desperate straits, he always strikes me as someone who's basically in control, and a fun guy to hang out with.The characters in "Cold Springs" aren't like that.If the Navarre stories are fast-paced and entertaining, "Cold Springs" is edgy and uncomfortable. All of the characters are tense and troubled. All their lives are dark and desperate. And with one or two exceptions, none of them were ultimately particularly easy to be around. Even Chadwick, our hero, is battling too many demons ever to feel comfortable with. In fact, I never felt comfortable in this story at all, never able to relax, and never certain about what might be around the next corner.I loved it."Cold Springs" has all the intricate plotting we've come to expect from Rick Riordan. Suspicion points at one character, and then another. Nobody seems trustworthy, not even our hero. But when you finally reach the resolution, most everything falls into place. As you read this, keep in mind the subtitle on the front cover: "A Novel of Secrets." Secrets are always being revealed -- right up to the very end.Riordan's plot is complex and winding, but his characterizations deserve praise too. As I read this, I was reminded of Tolstoy's famous opening line, "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Here, every miserable, troubled person is miserable and troubled in his or her own way, and each of them, including the several teenagers, is true to life (or at least convincing to someone like me who has mercifully avoided that kind of misery in my own life). And unlike the Navarre books, this story is told in third-person, and from multiple viewpoints. Riordan thus not only had to create characters whose actions are believable, but whose thoughts and emotions are believable too. That's much harder to do, and my hat's off to him because I think he pulled it off.Rick Riordan has done a great job. He's one of the few authors, and certainly the only novelist, for whose next work I'm always impatient. Though "Cold Springs" paid off the wait, it also whet my appetite for whatever's coming next. But first, I need to sit back and let the tension ease out a little bit. This was a nerve-wracking ride, and I think I need a rest.

Another Great Riordan Read

WOW!! Riordan has done it again. I was skeptical at first to get Cold Springs, Riordan's first book away from the Tres Navarre series. However, now having read Cold Springs, I feel that it may be Riordan's best book to date. Once you pick it up you won't want to put it down. If you like Rick Riordan's previous books or are just looking for a good suspense/thiller novel then get this book!