Stone Cold Heart by Laura Griffin – a Review
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Description:
When local rock climbers stumble upon abandoned human bones in a remote Texas gorge, Sara Lockhart is the first to get the call. She has a reputation as one of the nation’s top forensic anthropologists, and police detective Nolan Hess knows she is just the expert he needs to help unravel this case. Although evidence is scarce, Nolan suspects the bones belong to a teenage climber who vanished last summer.
But as Sara unearths strange clues, she finds chilling similarities to a case from her past—a case that now threatens to rock Nolan’s community. While Sara digs deep for answers, the stakes rise higher as another young woman disappears without a trace. Investigators work against the clock as Sara races to discover the truth, even if her harrowing search brings her face to face with a stone-cold killer.
Review:
Cold Stone Heart by Laura Griffin is the 13th book in her fantastic Tracers series, which is one of the best romance suspense series. Each of these books do read very well as standalones, but it is always better to start from the beginning and understand about the Tracers (Delphi Center- forensics, etc). The heroes in this series are usually different members of the Delphi Center and a detective working on the case, though on occasion it is different, but its fun to get glimpses of some of the characters from previous books. I love this series, and Laura Griffin continues to amaze me on her overall knowledge of forensics, and how well written the stories are. I always look forward to reading each new book in this series.
In Cold Stone Heart, we meet Sara Lockhardt, our heroine, a forensic anthropologist for Delphi; and she is the one who goes to the scene of the crime. Sara and some of her team, meet the lead detective, Nolan Hess, our hero, as he pushes to get fast results. In a short time, Sara and Noah work together, bring them closer, as a slow built romance begins. However, as is the norm for Laura Griffin, the story revolves around finding the killer; the romance elements are always part of the background, with the story fully in the forefront. As the story progresses, it will be discovered that this is a serial murderer, and the case escalates as one victim is still alive. There is also the case of a local girl missing for a few years, whom they suspect is dead and perhaps one of this murderer’s victims, but the family and local residents are desperate to help find closure for everyone.
Sara and her team manage to find clues on the bones they recovered, which also helped the police to look for more victims in the different parks. Sara was a very active participant in going to the scenes to try and find more evidence, which made Noah nervous; and rightfully so, as Sara did find herself in danger a couple of times. I loved how informative and interesting how the different departments in Delphi Center were able to recover clues from almost anything. We also got to see the POV of Grace, the most recent missing girl, who was kidnapped by the killer, with the race to find her before he kills her.
The last half of the book was extremely tense and exciting, as I was on the edge of my seat and could not put the book down. I do not want to give spoilers, as it would ruin it for you; since this was a thrilling and suspenseful mystery.
As I said before, I am a big fan of the Tracers series, which has a bit of everything; intricate mystery, murder, suspense, exciting, great couple & secondary characters, as well as a sexy romance in the background. Laura Griffin does such an amazing job detailing all the aspects of looking for various things found at a murder scene….truly awesome. What follows is an amazing intense mystery that has you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book. What also makes this series so great is all wonderful dynamics of the Delphi Center (Tracers) that give us a look at the different ways to look for clues
Cold Stone Heart was an amazing intense mystery that has you on the edge throughout the entire book. If you enjoy a true murder mystery, with lots of action, suspense, intense situations and a touch of romance, then you should be reading the Tracers series. Bravo to Laura Griffin for another fantastic story.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
