the book of cold cases: true crime with a twist
- paigenherbooks
- Mar 24, 2022
- 4 min read
3.5/5
Okay, I'll be honest, I did in fact devour this book. Simone St. James has a truly riveting way with words that had me eating up every single sentence she threw my way. I enjoyed this book!! There were just a few things that kept it from a solid 5/5 for me, but overall this book was interesting! I loved trying to figure out the mystery while I was reading, and while my predictions were pretty spot on, it was still an engaging read overall.
Synopsis: In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes. Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?
SO. The Book of Cold Cases. She was a good read. I'll admit that. I'll talk about the things I really enjoyed before I dive into what kept her from 5/5 stars for me. Again, the story telling is fantastic. I was never bored with the book or the plot.
Total engagement the whole time.
The book surrounds our main character, Shea, who is this crime blogger by night and normal 9-5 worker by day (this is kinda relatable haha). I really did enjoy Shea as a main character. I thought she was pretty relatable, but she wasn't anything interesting. I don't think totally took away from the story at all, because the book almost played out like a "choose your path" type of game. I felt that Shea had enough personality to where it made sense the decisions she made, but also I totally felt like I was Shea and making those moves. It was like Shea was the character you were given at the beginning of a video game and she has a few scripted lines, but overall its YOUR choice what the character does next. Shea was great as a character to see the story though do to this. She didn't have too many opinions or things that would "get in the way" of the story progression. I genuinely liked this. I felt like I was there trying to figure out this murder mystery.
Beth Greer. I loved Beth's character. She was, first, iconic. With her stoicism and mysteriousness I just know I would have also been obsessed with her and this murder case if it was legit. The idea of the Lady Killer is so enthralling! Beth Greer was such a perfectly written character. You and everyone else in the book truly didn't know if she did it or not. You could justify that yes, she would definitely kill someone, but also I'm not sure if she actually did. I LOVED THIS! She was such an unreliable narrator as well! You never really knew if what she was telling was real or just what she thought was happening???? Overall, the characters were great! I loved the little romance with Micheal and the introduction of a family unit for Shea. I also loved the flash back of the slightly unhinged 70's family of the Greers. I ate it up!
Then comes the character of Lily. I found Lily equally enthralling and she had me hooked. She was scary in a way that only a crazy person really can be. BUT that being said, I thought that her ghost would be waaaaay worse and scarier than the small things she was doing around the house. I'm not sure if that's a metaphor or some thematic element that the author wanted. Lily hurt Beth enough in life that in the after life she just does small things to remind Beth that she is still there.
The books plot was also well written for the most part. My big pet peeves or dock for points you could say, were just a few things. First, MAJOR SPOILERS STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.....
I did not like the ghost factor.
I'M SORRY!
I just love a great TRUE crime. Like give me murder, give me death, leave ghosts out of it. In my opinion, having a ghost in a story sometimes is a cop out. I just felt like it was a weird flavor to the story that I just didn't jive with. I was glad though in the end that the ghost of Lily didn't kill anyone, but it was legit her. But then the whole haunting and moving things in the house???? Like all the characters just accepted that her ghost was haunting the house, NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
I just feel like I would've asked some questions.....and THEN !!! When Lily basically throws Shea over the cliff...HOW DID SHE DO THAT?? Those questions were never answered but just accepted. I also felt like the story was a little too see through? I felt like the author could have made figuring it out juuuuuust a little harder! I guessed how the story was going to end about 20 pages in and almost all of my predictions were right...I am never THAT right! I really enjoyed the story I just felt like more could have been done to complicate the story. Figuring it out was almost too easy!
Overall though, I really did enjoy The Book of Cold Cases, it was a nice little read. It was rainy most of the time that I read it, which gave the story even more ambiance haha. I would recommend this to people who want that. Just a little book to pass the time, nothing too deep but still enjoyable!
As always amigos, happy happy reading :)
paige <3
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