Get a good book and a free hat.

Join now for $5.

We’ll make this quick.

First, enter your email. Then choose your move.

By pressing "Pick a book now" or "Pick a book later", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Get a good book and a free hat.

Join now for $5.
undefined

You did it!

Your account is now up to date.

get the appget the app

Our app is where it’s at.

Unlock our Reading Challenge, earn prizes, and get notified of new books on our app.

Our app is where it’s at.

Unlock our Reading Challenge, earn prizes, and get notified of new books on our app.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play

Already have the app? Explore here.

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Thriller

A Killing Cold

3peat author

Kate Alice Marshall is officially a 3-time author at BOTM, which is a pretty big deal!

Early Release

This is an early release that's only available to our members—the rest of the world has to wait to read it.

by Kate Alice Marshall

Excellent choice

Just enter your email to add this book to your box.

By pressing "Add to box", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Volume 0
Volume 0

A free gift for you.

Yes, she’s embroidered.

No thanks, just checkout

Quick take

Visiting her fiancé’s wealthy family provides answers to her forgotten past. But the truth always comes at a cost.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Psychological

    Psychological

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Nonlinear_Timeline

    Nonlinear timeline

  • Illustrated icon, Graphic_Content

    Graphic violence

Synopsis

A whirlwind romance.

When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.

Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.

Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Content warning

This book contains scenes that depict a miscarriage, child abuse, and mentions of domestic abuse.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of A Killing Cold.

A Killing Cold

1

I’ve never liked the way snow makes the world go quiet, stifling sound and creating the illusion of stillness. I can’t shake the feeling that the silence is one of waiting. Of watching.

The car crunches implacably along the narrow road. The trees around us are mostly hemlock, wearing capes of snow to conceal their green. Beech and sugar maple appear here and there, branches winter-stripped and grasping. Connor’s family owns this land, all the way to the mountain peak.

“Not far now,” Connor says for the third time since we left the small town at the base of the mountain. “Once you’re out of Datura, it’s only about twenty minutes, even with the weather.”

“It’s a flower, you know,” I note idly. “Datura. Also known as devil’s weed. The Victorians said it represented deceitful charms.”

Connor gives me a look I’ve come to know so well—half-pleased, half-puzzled.

I’ve always liked to know the names of things. It’s the next best thing to knowing my own.

I’m bunching my scarf in my hands again, twisting it up like a cheap rag. It was a gift from Connor, which means it’s anything but. Sometimes I play a game where I guess how much something cost, and then I double it, and then I look up the actual price. I’m usually still a bit low. Red cashmere and wool blend scarf, $490. I wad it up in a ball in my lap.

“They’ll love you,” Connor says, noticing my expression. Connor is a man used to being loved; I’ve known it since the moment I saw him. No scars on that heart, I thought at the time, though later I discovered I was wrong.

“I’ll settle for grudging approval,” I tell him, flicking him a smile to show I’m not nervous, though of course I am. There’s a diamond on my finger that cost as much as a down payment on a house, and I’ve never met my fiancé’s family—other than his sister, Alexis, who swooped into town two months ago for less than twenty-four hours and greeted me with plastic politeness. We’d been together only three months at the time, which makes this not even half a year and already engaged—I’d be worried if Connor’s family wasn’t skeptical.

Hell, I’m skeptical.

Create a free account!

Sign up to see book details, our quick takes, and more.

By pressing "Sign up", you agree to Book of the Month’s Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Why I love it

I’ve always loved Kate Alice Marshall’s books. She has a knack for creating new and exciting stories in a genre that can sometimes fall into tired tropes. After I read No One Can Know, I remembered thinking, how could she possibly top this book? Then A Killing Cold landed on my desk and I devoured it immediately. For longtime fans, it should be no surprise when I say that Kate Alice Marshall has created another twisty thriller that is impossible to put down. I would even go so far as to say this is her best one yet.

Our story follows Theo and Connor, a recently engaged couple on their way to Connor’s remote family retreat for their annual winter break. Theo is head over heels for Connor, but upon arriving at Idlewood, she begins to receive threatening messages telling her to leave, and Connor’s family seems to be hiding something. For Connor’s sake, Theo tries to carry on, but after she finds a photo of herself as a child in one of the cabins, pieces of her childhood memories start to return to her. She’s been to Idlewood before…and she may be in more danger than she ever could have imagined.

If you love a little family drama mixed with a wintry locked-room setting and secrets galore, A Killing Cold is the book for you. So, what are you waiting for? Grab a blanket and something warm to drink and enjoy this chilly thriller.

Other books by Kate Alice Marshall

Member ratings (365)

Thriller
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Beautiful Ugly
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless
A Killing Cold
Thriller
View all
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Beautiful Ugly
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless
A Killing Cold