Customer Reviews

Cold Cold Heart

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have read this book at least three times. My father gave it to me about two years ago. I remember I couldn't put it down and for days later parts of it kept coming back to me. Not so long ago I started thinking about it again after reading some John Connolly and James Patterson and had to locate the book and read it again, that's the kind of effect this book will have on you. Elliot is up there on a pedestal with Connolly and Patterson and Harris with this book.
It does have some graphic detail and some very gruesome killings but what good is a book without detail??
Mike Culley was a Government agent but is now serving time for lying to congress. His wife killed herself while he was inside and he blames not only himself but holds a serious grudge against those who left him in there. He has a daughter that he has not seen, only because he would not let her come to the prison to visit him there. He gets his chance to be free early when the CIA (his old work buddies) come asking him to track a counterfeiter John Malik, which is the secret identity of a defector that he ran as an Agent in Place in Moscow before getting him out. The CIA convince Culley that he is the only one who can track Malik after he disappears with a wagon load of blank currency paper. They do not however tell him that they also suspect him of being a particularly gruesome and Cold-Blooded killer, one that has been cutting up and mutilating College Co-eds. So reluctantly Culley takes the case, but soon finds out what's really going on when a reporter recognises him. *Enter ex-cop Julie Houser* Together they try to track Malik down but the Plot can only get thicker. As their relationship develops, Malik finds out who is after him and sets about destroying Culley's life by taking the one and only thing that Culley holds dear.
Set at a blistering pace, Elliot doesn't let up for a second and the end result is a book that you will not be able to put down once you begin. Read it and See ;-)

From the beginning, when a widowed male, ex-CIA agent, meets a beautiful ex-cop (now a newspaper woman), who just happens to look like the girls the protagonist loves to mutilate, this book was predictable,filled with cliches and uninspired writing.
I skimmed and even skipped through most of the book and never missed a beat. Do not bother reading this unless you really enjoy romance novel plots under the guise of blood and gore to make it more palatable for some members of the male species. There are a lot of writers out there who do the same thing with a lot more class and who definitely have a better vocabulay. I enjoy a good murder mystery and thriller, which this definitely was not. I'm very grateful I picked it up at the library.

A Russian defector who is on a killing spree in the USA with FBI and police fighting each other over hunting him down while officially the CIA cannot be involved because the agency want to avoid embarrassment since they brought the killer into the country years before.

The basic idea of the book is really great. Unfortunately the author manages completely fails by using really boring sequences or illogical events and especially by using only bits and pieces of promising possibilities.

First, characters in the book offer a lot of potential (like the killer being a second Hannibal Lecter) but the author does not really develop these characters in full or did not use them efficiently enough to contribute to a great idea.

Second, the internal fight between CIA, FBI and police is neither adequately described nor exploited in full - another wasted area to create a complex story.

Third, potential for another great plot in this book about top counterfeit money and the robbery of its paper is also wasted because it is just thrown in with a few lines instead of using it in full detail.

Fourth, right from the start this book represents "the big coincidences" when the killer and his hunter run into each other three times in two major USA cities! (Hello? What is the likelihood of that?) This is just way too simple and coincidences happen too often - no real detective work.

Fifth, despite being completely down and on the verge of insanity due to the suicide of his wife when he went to jail, it takes less then a week before the ex CIA man falls in love with another woman as soon as he is out of prison! (Hello?!)

Bottom line is that a great opportunity to write a highly thrilling book was wasted by writing a more comic book style than a novel where everything is just way too simple to be plausible. (Maybe the author was running out of time quickly when he wrote the book?)
WAY TOO SIMPLE

I have a new favourite author and his name is James Elliott! I loved this book, edge of your seat suspense all the way through. Unfortunately I could only find one other book by him. Are there any others or does Mr. Elliott write under another pen. Can't wait for more by this terrific author!

YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK, IT IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ IN A LONG TIM

We thought the book, which we understand is Elliott's first, to be an exciting thriller. The villan, not unlike Hannibal by Harris, or Becker by Sandford, was scary in his hunting for further victims. The hero, Culley was left out to dry by his former employers, the CIA, and brought into the hunt to save their face. He meets a reporter who was a former detective and with a number of other interesting characters in the book, the hunt is on!! A very good read!

It started out with a bit of gore and such which was a little too much for me (I am not into the horror novels or even gore), but then that was only a couple of pages. After that the book took off.

An excellent fast paced read!

The book sure did get a lot of hype, so much so I thought it was going to prove to be one of the better ones I have ever read. The positive this is that man this book is fast, you get going and it just keep clicking along. I found my self routing for the hero of the story in a kind of "go get um - more violence" kind of way. The action rich story line is well put together and read like it was going straight to Hollywood. The only real down side for me, and the reason I did not think it was a great book, is that the hype I heard made me get really excited to read it. I was disappointed with the relationship of the two lead characters, also too off the self for me - They could not get the good cop, bad cop combo so they went with the vigilante / reporter. That really is a bit nit picking on my part, the book is quite cool, really holds your attention and is fun to read - after all that is probably why we buy the things.

Cold Cold Heart has just everything - blood-thirsty mutiliations, rogue KGB defectors, FBI and CIA goons, a hard-bitten and disillusioned hero, AND a stunning beautiful Porsche-driving gun-toting ex-cop-turned-journalist sidekick.

Though not breaking any new ground, Cold Cold Heart does what it sets out to do extremely well. It's gripping, fast paced and entertaining, and a cut above the average airport thriller.

Mike Culley is very much like Lee Child's Jack Reacher character - if you like him, read this while you're waiting for the next Jack Reacher book.

A serial killer story with a twist and a post-Cold War spy novel. Just when you think you know what will happen everything changes. Hard to put down.