Not too long ago, Kate Alice Marshall made the transition from YA to adult fiction and has not looked back. Her latest release, A KILLING COLD, brings more of what her readers have come to expect in the form of psychological thrills full of plot twists.

Assistant bookstore manager Theodora Scott was over the moon when she met Connor Dalton through a mutual friend six months ago. However, her fears will be put to the test when he suggests taking her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat in the snowy mountains. It’s not that Theo is concerned about not living up to the Daltons’ expectations; she’s worried that they’ll find out who she really is.

"If this starts to feel like an Agatha Christie mystery, you would not be too far off the mark. A KILLING COLD will keep your head spinning and mind guessing right through to the final act."

Theo never told Connor that she did not know her birth parents and that her adoptive parents basically tuned her out after accusing her of being the devil’s spawn. This certainly is not the best family background to make a first impression! Even though the reader is aware of this information early on in the novel, it never takes away from the suspense as nearly all of the characters seem to have something to hide and secrets they will fight valiantly to keep private.

To make matters worse, Theo started receiving texts from an anonymous sender a few weeks prior to this trip with messages like “Stay away from Connor Dalton.” It is interesting to see Theo waver between keeping her own secrets from being unearthed and trying to dig into the Dalton family to find out why someone is trying to scare her away from them. It becomes rather obvious that something is going on when the first person they meet at Idlewood, Connor’s older sister, Lexie, pries him away for a private chat.

The only piece of advice that Connor gave Theo was to win over their matriarch, Grandma Louise, and everyone else would follow suit. She is indeed a tough cookie, and Theo can’t help but feel judged by each member of the family and household staff she meets. There is also another secret that Theo has kept to herself --- the nightmare she has had for decades involving weird symbolism and a man with antlers. She gets a chill up her spine when she finds a photo of Connor’s late father holding a small girl. That child is Theo before she was adopted and began her new life.

From this point on, all bets are off. Theo realizes that the looks she has received may have involved a bit of recognition of her true identity and how it might tie into their patriarch. Even Connor proves to be somewhat different from what Theo believed him to be, and that’s when the claustrophobic feeling of cold isolation really begins to set in. Theo needs to remove herself from this place and situation but is unable to do so as everyone is snowed in.

If this starts to feel like an Agatha Christie mystery, you would not be too far off the mark. A KILLING COLD will keep your head spinning and mind guessing right through to the final act.