The Cold Calling [Paperback]

Will Kingdom (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

When Bobby Maiden is revived after dying in an accident, his memories are of a harsh place he doesn't wish to revisit. But his experience means that he may be able to reach a serial murderer who returns to stone circles, burial mounds, and churches in the belief that he is defending Britain's heritage.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Those looking for highly original novels that produce more than a few frissons of fear need look no further. -- Those looking for highly original novels that produce more than a few frissons of fear need look no further. Kingdom is a real find. --Crimetime Crimetime

About the Author

Will Kingdom is the pseudonym of Phil Rickman, author of the Reverend Merrily Watkins paranormal mystery series. He has been praised by KIRKUS REVIEWS as "A thinking reader’s Elizabeth George."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055214584X
• ISBN-13: 978-0552145848
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mystical mystery, November 9, 2006

By 

shirlan "Shirley Diederich" (Dayton,Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cold Calling (Paperback)

Like all of Phil Rickman's books ( writing here as Will Kingdom) this book had me up reading all night.Set on the Welsh Borders, it is very atmospheric and also full of suspense. Highly reccomended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thrilling ride..., November 28, 2008

By 

R. Lang (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cold Calling (Paperback)

Will Kingdom (aka the very talented Phil Rickman) has turned out a ripping yarn set in the mysterious Welsh borderlands.
With a cast of well-drawn characters, including the debut of jaded copper Bobby Maiden, readers can expect more of the witty, realistic dialogue that has become Rickman's hallmark.
A serial killer is on the loose and the body count is climbing. But these are no simple murders, with overtones of the supernatural guiding the killer's hand.
Atmospheric and entertaining, The Cold Calling will leave you thoroughly chilled and thrilled. Stirred, and definitely shaken!

5.0 out of 5 stars Phil Rickman writing as Will Kingdom, February 2, 2010

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cold Calling (Paperback)

Phil Rickman writing as Will Kingdom uses the same Welsh border background as he does in his Merrily Watkins mysteries, but his hero is a policeman rather than a parish priest. The supernatural elements in "The Cold Calling" are more `real' than they are in the Merrily Watkins novels, where the bogeymen are usually demystified at book's end (at least, most of them are.)

A serial killer who calls himself `The Green Man' is sacrificing victims at various British Stone Age sites, in an effort to purify the Earth. Police don't realize that the murders are being committed by the same man because a different weapon is used each time. When a self-styled shaman (who is also a cross-dressing ventriloquist) tries to clue them in, they toss him out on his ear.

In a second story line, a hit-and-run accident victim is brought back to life by an ER nurse, after flat-lining for four minutes. The revived victim is a police detective who has been investigating links between his chief and the local drug lord. By all rights, he should be brain-damaged, but he isn't--at least not in the usual sense of the term.

The third story line involves the feud between a TV archeologist, who investigates Stone Age sites for his show, and a retired teacher, who believes that the megalith near his village has sacred healing power.

Even though there are many characters and subplots to remember, the author defines each one so vividly, I had no trouble keeping track of what was happening. The only character who didn't really come alive for me was a spacey New Age journalist from New York, who travels to the Welsh borderlands in search for her missing anthropologist-sister.

As with all of Phil Rickman's supernatural mystery novels, I couldn't tear myself away from "The Cold Calling" until I had read straight through its 494 pages to the chilling climax.