Customer Reviews

Cold Burn (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Catherine, Warrick and Nick are in Las Vegas investigating the murder of a woman whose body was discovered in Lake Mead National Forest. Grissom and Sara travel to upstate New York for a forensic conference where they stumble upon a dead body in the woods next to their mountain hotel. And then a blizzard hits and they are cut off from the outside world. Collins handles the background information on the characters without being tedious and although this is the third book in the series, I think it can stand alone. Both of the cases in this book are excellent but the makeshift lab they set up in Grissom's hotel room is particularly ingenious. I have enjoyed all three of the CSI books, but I think Cold Burn was my favorite. I look forward to more CSI stories from Max Collins.

When a park ranger discovers the naked body of a woman in the Lake Mead National Park, the Las Vegas CSI team is called in to investigate. With Grissom away at a convention, Catherine Willows heads up the unit to try and discover why this woman's body would be left in such a public place - as if someone wanted her to be found. Catherine, Warrick & Nick do not know who the Jane Doe is, but they know that she was suffocated and then frozen after she died so they have no idea how long ago she was killed. When they discover that she is Missy Sherman, the housewife who disappeared without a trace over a year ago, they try to sift through year-old clues, jog old memories and find some suspects. But, in the end, they are forced to rely on small bits of evidence to track down the killer...

Meanwhile, in New York, Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle were lucky enough to make it to their hotel before a blizzard snowed them in. With the convention cancelled due to transportation issues, Grissom and Sara settle in to enjoy a weekend of rest when they stumble across the body of a man who has been shot and then set on fire in the snow. After a grueling stint guarding the body in the blizzard, a Canadian CSI teaches Sara and Grissom how to investigate clues in the snow. But with no backup and no crime lab to process the clues, Grissom has to use every bit of ingenuity he possesses to track down the killer before the blizzard ends and his killer is turned loose...

I found this third book in the CSI series to be every bit as entertaining as the other books and the TV series. Collins does a great job at keeping the personalities of the TV characters consistent in the book and I can almost visualize how they would film the TV episode while I am reading. I enjoyed the Las Vegas plot with Catherine, Warrick & Nick more than the New York plot with Grissom & Sara, but it was interesting to find out how people process clues differently due to regional differences. If you enjoy the TV series you should enjoy the books - another great read by Collins!

I've read all of the CSI books by Mr. Collins and I think this may be the closest to the series out of the lot. I thoroughly enjoyed the case Catherine, Nick and Warrick were working on. It had many suspects and several revelations that made me raise my eyebrows in surprise.

The Grissom-Sara case, on the other hand... well, let's just say I think Mr. Collins has gotten into those 'cozy mysteries' he had Sara reading in the book. It was slow, in my opinion. Extremely slow. By the time he finally got into the clues that led to solving the case, the reader had already deduced what had happened. But let's face it... not every forensics case can be an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride.

I still say people should definitely buy this book. The characterization was great and the surprises in Catherine's case made up for what Grissom's lacked.

Fans of CSI and shippers alike will rejoice in this book...The title Cold Burn has alot of irony in the story, and a weekend of Sara and Grissom away in NY isnt too bad either...very well written by the way

This was the first of this series I've read and I was very impressed with how closely Collins stayed to the TV characters and how wonderfully descriptive he was. It was almost like sitting through a show, only to have the gift of not missing a single syllable due to the kids becoming loud or the phone ringing. It was so well written, it was like I was a part of the team. I highly recommend this book to all mystery lovers, but esp. to CSI fans!

I loved Cold Burn! It stayed with the characters and storylines. It was a great book and was clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked that we were following a case in two different states. I also enjoyed the information we learned from the Canadian Mounty about crime scenes in very different weather and circumstances than Las Vegas. I believe that was the reason we were getting the 'lessons' from New York even though some people found the 100 pages of guarding a dead body boring. We already have the desert and the beach. Who knows, maybe they will create a CSI: Canada series and we can have a whole different set of crime scene scenarios. Sounds good to me!

If you love CSI as much as I do, you will love this book.

This was the first book of the CSI series that I decided to read in my spare time and I just loved it...Max Allen Collins is a brilliant writer! I finished the book in 2 days i like it so much

Here's a little background on the book

Grissom and Sara go to a Forensics Convention and encounter a major blizzard that traps them in the hotel and they find a dead body in the woods and they and a few others have to guard the body on 2 hour shifts until the blizzard ends

Warrick, Catherine and Nick find a dead body in a state park that was wet but wasn't swimming and later figure out that she was frozen and also found another body in a landfill

That's all i'm gonna tell ya! I don't wanna ruin it for you so if you wanna find out what happens buy this book now, believe me you won't regret it!

Great book, just like an episode of the show. It is great already knowing the characters...when the author describes character quirks, you can actually picture EXACTLY what he is talking about
I love CSI and I loved the book

I should start out by admitting that I've never seen an episode of CSI. I'm no a television person these days. On the other hand, I'm a forensics addict dating back to the grand old Glory days of Quincy. So I grabbed a couple of the Max Allan Collins series in the hope of even more grand autopsy scenes and sifting of the fine details. Cold Burn is the first of these I've read, and I find it something of a middling effort.

The story is actually two stories. Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle attend a forensic science convention in the wilds of upstate New York. On arrival they are greeted with a corpse and a record snowstorm and must battle the elements and the inconvenience of a nearly empty 5 star hotel to discover the sordid tale behind the killing.

And back at home in Las Vegas, Catherine Willows and the rest of the team are up to their ankles in defrosted bodies. A year after a young woman disappears, leaving behind a devastated husband. Her body turns up in a nature preserve. Remarkably well preserved, as she has apparently been kept frozen for all that time. Suspicion shifts from the husband, to friends, and wandering whackos, and another corpse makes an appearance. Somewhere out there a chilling mind is playing fatal games.

I didn't care much for the winter hotel story. Most of the plot was about guarding a frozen crime scene. Once the investigation actually starts it runs on auto-pilot to a very predictable conclusion. The Las Vegas story was better, but was marred by the distraction of the first story. The end result is a novel with a very flat affect.

Television has a great advantage over a novel. Good acting and direction can overcome a second rate plot. So a novelist has the disadvantage of having to bring life where none has been before. Cold Burn simply never clicks on its own. Perhaps those who have seen the TV series will find some spark that I don't, but I can only rate this story as 'OK,' but without big wows.