Running Cold by Susan Walter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Julie Adler is a former Canadian Olympic biathlete, who now resides in California with her husband, a successful businessman. The couple share a beautiful home, plenty of money and by all accounts, a healthy marriage.
That perfect facade is shattered though the day that Julie’s husband commits suicide. Left to pick up the pieces, Julie is reeling and as it turns out, he wasn’t quite as successful as he put on. Julie is left with essentially nothing.
Julie is heartbroken. She’s embarrassed. She doesn’t know what to do next. She can’t come clean to her friends, admit they’ve been living a lie, so she does what many of us would do, she runs away, returning home to Canada.
Back in Banff, where she once trained for the Olympics, Julie finds work as a housekeeper at a luxury resort. Just as she starts to feel she is getting some stability, a high profile guest is discovered dead in her room; murdered.
Julie was the last person seen, via hotel cameras, exiting the guest’s room. This makes her the number one suspect, but what motive could Julie possible have?
Meanwhile, Julie’s Californian girlfriends miss her. They think she’s gone to Canada to lick her wounds. They have no idea how dire Julie’s circumstances actually are.
Wanting to support Julie, they travel to Banff and end up checking into the hotel where Julie works. They think Julie is a guest there and she doesn’t correct their assumptions.
There’s so much is happening with this story. It is a complete whirlwind of action and well developed characters that gripped me from the start.
I listened to the audiobook, mostly on a solo road trip, and I gotta say, that 5-hours of windshield time flew by. I was so invested in this story.
You get a few perspectives, including the local cop investigating the hotel murder, Detective Monique Montpelier, who was a nice contrast compared with Julie, Remy, the hotel manager, and Izzy, Julie’s closest friend from California.
I loved all the perspectives and what they each contributed to the narrative. It was a detailed story and each perspective switch helped to put all the vast pieces into place. I felt it was very well executed by Walter.
I love stories that follow professional athletes, so loved hearing about Julie’s time as a biathlete. I totally understood her reasons for returning to her old stomping grounds after her husband’s death and really felt like Julie’s whole background contributed so much to this story.
I also loved getting Monique’s perspective. The local detective, with not a ton of murder investigation experience, being thrown into this high powered world.
It felt honest, and so captivating.
This is the first novel I have ever read from Susan Walter and I loved the way she delivered this story. It was so readable, from start to finish, pulling me in and keeping me on my toes. I loved the balance between action and mystery.
Towards the end, it got crazy. I’ll admit to not being as completely wild about the way it went in the end, as compared with the build-up, but it’s still a super solid 4-star action-packed Thriller that I would 100% recommend.
Particularly, with the Winter months closing in. I feel like this is the perfect cold weather Thriller. The Banff setting will transport you to that isolated ski town. Be sure to have your hot beverage at the ready.
Thank you to the publisher, Lake Union Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
This has been a standout Thriller for me in 2024. I urge y’all to check it out!