I remember purchasing The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman ages ago at my local independent bookstore, Joseph-Beth, during a sale option. It was one of those sales where it’s cheaper if you buy two books from the table, instead of just the one you really want. There was a book I wanted and it only made sense to purchase a second book. Hey, my mom taught me how to be a bargain shopper! I later realized The Cold Nowhere is part of the Jonathan Stride series, number six to be exact. Ugh! I hate when this happens!! I don’t like to read serial books out of order and I didn’t intend to get myself involved in a whole series. Therefore, this book has been on a shelf in my library since I brought it home.

I finally decided to do a little bit of research. Is this one of those serial books that I can read out of order? Turns out, yes, I can. I chose to read The Cold Nowhere and would then decide if I want to tackle another series.

This book was a slow start for me. It took awhile to get familiar with the characters. Freeman did a nice job of getting me up to speed with the back story of characters so I didn’t feel as though I was reading a book out of order. Jonathan Stride has a lot of traumatic history that gives his character a lot of depth.

In The Cold Nowhere, 16-year-old Catalina, shows up on Stride’s front door saying she is being chased by someone she believes wants to kill her. Apprehensively, Stride takes her in and launches into an investigation to find out who is pursuing this young girl. Catalina’s mother was murdered 10 years previously and Stride was familiar with the murder case and her mother. I wonder if this story was the focus of one of the previous Stride novels?

The more I got into this story, the more engaging it was and my curiosity continued to grow. There are a lot of characters, history, and potential future with this one book in the series. It’s also a fast paced thriller with crime, violence, and police detective work. I really enjoyed it and am glad I finally read it. At the moment, I have several serial books I’m involved with. Once I get caught up on some of those and I don’t feel like I’m committed to several serial books at one time, I will check out the first book in the Stride series and see how that goes.

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