Blog Tour: The Cold Cold Sea

The Blog Tour for Linda Huber’s novel, The Cold Cold Sea, starts today, but before I get into my review, I want to thank Kelly from Love Books Group for setting it up and giving me the opportunity to be a part of this tour. The complete poster is below, so check out the other participants throughout the Tour if you would like to read more reviews, author interviews, extracts, and more.

Thank you Kelly for providing me with the ebook of The Cold Cold Sea – you can order the book [here] – and as always, all thoughts below are my own.

Synopsis:

“They stared at each other, and Maggie felt the tightness in her middle expand as it shifted, burning its way up… Painful sobs rose in her throat as Colin, his face expressionless now, reached for his mobile and tapped 999.”

When three-year-old Olivia disappears from the beach, a happy family holiday comes to an abrupt end. Maggie is plunged into the darkest nightmare imaginable – what happened to her little girl?

Further along the coast, another mother is having problems too. Jennifer’s daughter Hailey is starting school, and it should be such a happy time, but the child is increasingly moody and silent. Family life has never seemed so awkward, and Jennifer struggles to maintain control.

The tide ebbs and flows, and summer dies, but there is no comfort for Maggie, alone now at the cottage, or for Jennifer, still swamped by doubts.

Review:

The Cold Cold Sea is more than just a harrowing mystery about lost children. It’s also a story of marital relationships, mental health, and a portrayal of unimaginable guilt. Linda Huber’s use of perspective and time not only moves the story along but effectively deepens the apprehension of what exactly is going to happen, where exactly this story is going to end up. Switching between Olivia’s family and Hailey’s, it’s always clear whose head we are in, even though it’s quite clear from almost the beginning that that doesn’t make the implications of the story any easier. Linda Huber has written characters with whom to empathize or sympathize, as well as characters towards whom the reader may feel sympathy mixed with contempt and disgust.

In other words, this book is heavily emotional, but it goes beyond what would be expected in a story like this. The author has left out sensationalist descriptions and plot lines, which allows the raw, real, and human aspects to flourish. Traumatic elements make me hesitant to say this book is for everyone, however, this is one of those books that slightly transcends its specific genre; it will not be read the same way by any two readers. It is also not completely unpredictable, but Linda Huber’s writing is such that you’ll want to find out if your predictions and gut feelings are true.

From the beginning of The Cold Cold Sea to the end, Linda Huber keeps her reader’s attention with a quick pace full of angst and anticipation, as well as ample and well-written details that fully immerse the reader into a story full of heartbreak, loss, trauma and agony. The reader is left to hang off the edge of the last sliver of hope, and, well, you’ll have to read the book to find out whether to let go or climb back up.

About The Author:

Linda Huber grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, but went to work in Switzerland for a year aged twenty-two, and has lived there ever since. Her day jobs have included working as a physiotherapist in hospitals and schools for handicapped children, and teaching English in a medieval castle. Currently she teaches one day a week, and writes psychological suspense novels and feel-good novellas with (most of) the rest of her time.

Her writing career began in the nineties, when she had over fifty short stories published in women’s magazines. Several years later, she turned to psychological suspense fiction, and her seventh novel, Death Wish, was published by Bloodhound Books in August 2017.

Linda’s latest project is a series of feel-good novellas, set on the banks of Lake Constance and just minutes from her home in north-east Switzerland. She really appreciates having the views enjoyed by her characters right on her own doorstep! For updates and more information, visit her website, follow her on Twitter or on Facebook.