Cold Springs [Paperback]

Rick Riordan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (2003)
• ASIN: B0010Q9UE0
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,529,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults.

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. In 2002, Saint Mary's Hall honored him with the school's first Master Teacher Award.

While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre - the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children's fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son.

Today over 30 million copies of his Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 35 countries. Rick is also the author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times bestseller. In 2011, Rick received the Children's Choice Book Award for Author of the Year.

Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't stop reading. Don't relax., May 31, 2003

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cold Springs (Hardcover)

I really like Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre books. Tres is a great guy and a great character. Even in the deepest mysteries or most desperate straits, he always strikes me as someone who's basically in control, and a fun guy to hang out with.

The characters in "Cold Springs" aren't like that.

If the Navarre stories are fast-paced and entertaining, "Cold Springs" is edgy and uncomfortable. All of the characters are tense and troubled. All their lives are dark and desperate. And with one or two exceptions, none of them were ultimately particularly easy to be around. Even Chadwick, our hero, is battling too many demons ever to feel comfortable with. In fact, I never felt comfortable in this story at all, never able to relax, and never certain about what might be around the next corner.

I loved it.

"Cold Springs" has all the intricate plotting we've come to expect from Rick Riordan. Suspicion points at one character, and then another. Nobody seems trustworthy, not even our hero. But when you finally reach the resolution, most everything falls into place. As you read this, keep in mind the subtitle on the front cover: "A Novel of Secrets." Secrets are always being revealed -- right up to the very end.

Riordan's plot is complex and winding, but his characterizations deserve praise too. As I read this, I was reminded of Tolstoy's famous opening line, "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Here, every miserable, troubled person is miserable and troubled in his or her own way, and each of them, including the several teenagers, is true to life (or at least convincing to someone like me who has mercifully avoided that kind of misery in my own life). And unlike the Navarre books, this story is told in third-person, and from multiple viewpoints. Riordan thus not only had to create characters whose actions are believable, but whose thoughts and emotions are believable too. That's much harder to do, and my hat's off to him because I think he pulled it off.

Rick Riordan has done a great job. He's one of the few authors, and certainly the only novelist, for whose next work I'm always impatient. Though "Cold Springs" paid off the wait, it also whet my appetite for whatever's coming next. But first, I need to sit back and let the tension ease out a little bit. This was a nerve-wracking ride, and I think I need a rest.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Riordan Read, May 8, 2003

By 

Cowboy on the Ocean (West Texas Native) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Springs (Hardcover)

WOW!! Riordan has done it again. I was skeptical at first to get Cold Springs, Riordan's first book away from the Tres Navarre series. However, now having read Cold Springs, I feel that it may be Riordan's best book to date. Once you pick it up you won't want to put it down. If you like Rick Riordan's previous books or are just looking for a good suspense/thiller novel then get this book!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, July 9, 2004

By 

"eparkm" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Springs (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a big fan of the Riordan's mystery series, and don't usually like stand-alone thrillers. This book is different. It's one of the best reads I've picked up in a long time. I don't buy many books (usually preferring library checkouts), but had to buy this one, and surprisingly it was completely worth it. I couldn't put it down towards the end. The characters are believable and sympathetic; the story compelling. And best of all, it kept me guessing throughout with some questions answered all along the way. Highly recommended!