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johnny92m 's review for:

The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison
2.0

I was remarkably disappointed with this entry in the Jackson series. I've been a fan of Ellison's previous works, with gripping characters and suspenseful scenarios abound. But this whole book felt like a huge, cratering detour.

The premise is solid, a harrowing series of crimes. But contrivance after contrivance kept coming, and I soon found myself disengaged from the work as a whole. New characters were introduced and then thrown out pages later, making you wonder what the point of inclusion was outside of filling a quota.

The worst offense by far is the addition of Memphis, a London detective who only serves to somehow be a romantic roadblock for Taylor. Not sure how, considering his characterization is pure genuine grade A douche from the moment you meet him. Taylor somehow finds an attraction to him, which causes her to lose all sense of herself and render her a paper copy of the heroine Ellison has spent three novels carefully creating. This is NOT the direction I want to see these novels go. If Memphis (not to mention the low stakes tone of the book) are continuing to be apart of this franchise, I may have to bow out.