I was a bit concerned about starting this book after realizing that it was 17th in the series, but still enjoyed the plot nevertheless. It's a fast-paced read, and definitely sparked interest in going back and starting at book 1.

FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid was an integral player in bringing teenager Elise Hansen Hunt to justice for her role in an organized crime syndicate. Newly released from juvenile detention, Elise is primed for revenge. As Elise systematically takes steps against everyone that the FBI agent holds dear, will Lucy be able to use her dwindling resources to stop the young woman?

Having read many of the other Lucy Kincaid novels, I was a little disappointed in Cold as Ice. As the situation delves deep into Lucy's personal life, I found that the plot got a little bogged down in the details. Ultimately, it was hard to believe that someone could execute a revenge plot that extreme against trained individuals.

Cold as Ice does not have a fast moving plot like other books in the series, in my opinion. Although readers of the Lucy Kincaid novels will want to keep abreast of the storyline, I am hesitant to recommend this book to others.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Cold as Ice by NetGalley and the publisher, Minotaur Books. The decision to read and review this novel is entirely my own.

Cold as Ice is the 17th book of Allison Brennan's Lucy Kincaid series and the series is still going strong! I've read a few of the books in no particular order, but this has reminded me that I need to go back and read more of them.

There's lots of great tension in the story, as Lucy and the team fight to prove Sean's innocence when he's arrested for murder. And that's just the beginning of an intricate web that touches many of the family and their friends, with Lucy at the centre.

There are a lot of characters, existing relationships and past histories in Cold as Ice so it's best to go in with some familiarity with the series and players to get the best reading experience. It's a character heavy book and at times, I struggled keeping track of all of the characters and subplots taking place. The first part of the book was slower for me, but once I got into the second half, things really started to come together. I do think this was in part due to the length between my last Kincaid read and this book.


I haven't read the books that introduced Elise, but I was able to quickly put the pieces together on that part of the plot. And definitely want to go back and read those ones!

Thank you to Minotaur and Netgalley for the gifted e-arc.

3.5

My best advice is to read the previous books in this series before starting. I was a little lost and missed a lot of the character development. I think I would have really enjoyed this one more with background info. Thanks for my copy in exchange for an honest reivew!!

What a fast paced phenomenal read. Cuts very close to home when Sean gets arrested for murder and Kane is missing. Keeps you on the edge of your seat as Lucy races against time trying to get her husband’s name cleared ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sometimes the system fails. That some evil people evade justice, the system can't catch or prosecute all of them. But without the system, they had nothing. No laws or punishment; no rules or morals. There would be a vacuum and someone would fill it. The system, however flawed it was, was the best thing they had going for them. To protect the rights of the innocent, some of the guilty went free. They were not God; they couldn't see all. They didn't know everything. Lucy believed in the system.

Lucy Kincaid was about to go thru the trial of her life. Her belief system, her marriage, and all that she knows. When her husband Sean is accused of murder, she is determined to set the record straight even though the system is fighting her all the way. With the help of close friends and family. She slowly connects the dots to the evil that is about to consume all that she loves.

Love the Kincaid series. Lucy has vulnerability and heart. Her moral code is black and white when it comes to the sex trade industry and her family. She is determined and never gives up. Some new characters on this one that adds to the dynamics of the team. Each team member has their vulnerabilities and strengths. Continue on with the ride!

A Special thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

This was so good! I loved having Kane, Jack, Megan, Kate,Dillon, and of course Nate and Brad all involved in this book. I like Aggie, I hope we see more of her. Really good!

Continuing with the “cold” theme, this book is set in Texas and Mexico, so cold refers to brutal and calculating. Fans of Brennan’s will be happy to see the return of FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid; her husband, Sean Rogan, who works for a private security firm; his brother, Kane, and many others from local and federal law enforcement.
Sean has been accused of murder, railroaded into jail, transferred without notice and then kidnapped. Lucy knows that somehow all of this is related to Elise Hunt, a young woman, now 18, who was put in juvenile detention for her part in an organized crime syndicate. And it’s pretty obvious that Elise is involved, but a surprise is coming for Lucy, Sean and everyone else because the main instigator is someone else entirely.
The book is fast-paced and well-plotted. Thriller readers are sure to love it.

Not having read a book in the Lucy Kincaid series before I was slightly concerned about jumping in with book 17, but these books are written in such a way that you can tell that reading the previous books would add to your reading experience, but not having read those previous titles doesn't take away from it.

Cold as Ice starts with an arrest for a crime in which the accused is innocent. But it's going to take quite a bit of effort for Sean and his wife Lucy and their friends to clear Sean's name. And more and more obstacles are being thrown in their way. Many characters are thrown into this story, but it is not confusing or overwhelming as you root for each of them.

Cold as Ice marks Allison Brennan’s 17th Lucy Kincaid thriller, proving that readers can’t get enough of Kincaid’s personal and professional triumphs and struggles. Brennan describes her heroine as “a loyal, smart, determined FBI Agent who’s not afraid to bend the rules for justice.” Cold As Ice is a three-ring circus—and then some.

Lucy’s husband Sean Rogan, a cyber/computer savant, is arrested for murder.
Lucy’s FBI partner Nate Dunning is arrested for possession of cocaine.
Brad Donnelly, Lucy’s loyal DEA compatriot, is kidnapped outside his San Antonio DEA headquarters.
It feels like the plot for The Pelican Brief: two Supreme Court justices are assassinated within a very short time period, and although we don’t understand why for quite a long time, the immediate chaos is intentional.

Someone wants to incapacitate Lucy Kincaid and what better method than falsely accusing and arresting her husband and then preventing her go-to team from proving his innocence? Her out-of-town reinforcements are unavailable to Lucy: “Sean’s brother Kane is missing in Mexico.” Even superwoman Lucy Kincaid can’t save the day on her own, so she’s greatly relieved when her remaining professional friends and family rush to her defense. Before Brad Donnelly is grabbed off the street, he rebuffs his superior’s advice to stay clear of the developing situation, sure that Nate Dunning is nobody’s drug runner.

“Don’t think I don’t know what your people are going through. But this is fucking bullshit.”



“I’m sorry, Brad. This case is way over my head, and I think you should sit this one out, too.”

Brad ended the call. No way in hell was he sitting this out. He called Aggie Jensen, a smart young rookie who’d started with him eighteen months ago. She was a bit quirky and sometimes too casual in an office format, but he never called her on it—he liked her ability to think of every possible contingency as easily as she breathed. Not to mention she was a young, tech-savvy recruit who’d graduated top of her class at the DEA training facility at Quantico. Brad had run a secondary background check on her and she was exactly what she appeared to be: a twenty-eight-year-old computer geek from a family of military heroes and cops.



“Yep, boss?” Aggie said when she picked up the phone.



“Dunning with the FBI was detained after SAPD found sixteen kilos of coke in his truck. I need everything you can find about the case.”

Nate Dunning knows that the massive amounts of cocaine found underneath his vehicle were planted, so he connects with Aggie to find Sean and Brad and clear his name. Aggie is delightful and readers will want to see more of her in forthcoming books.

Lucy knows instantly that Elise Hansen Hunt is behind the plan to bring down Sean and she’s right. Lucy’s ability to get “into the head of a psychopath” provides her with a roadmap that connects the not-so-coincidental occurrences involving her husband and closest companions.

Two years ago, FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid put psychopath Elise Hansen Hunt in juvenile detention for her role in an organized crime syndicate. Now eighteen, Elise has been released with a clean slate, and plans to take her revenge by making Lucy’s life hell.

Elise doesn’t think it will be easy to destroy Lucy’s life but there’s nothing she wants more. Her criminal father gives Elise crystal-clear instructions that Lucy is not to be killed.

“No deviations from the plan. No games.”



“You’re no fun. And it’s not fair that I can’t kill Lucy. She’s psychic.”



“She’s not psychic.”



“You haven’t met her. She knows things she shouldn’t know.”



“She’s just a cop. But I promised her safety—we lose everything if she dies. Do you understand me? She lives, we get all the money her husband stole from us. All of it. That’s the agreement. She dies, we get nothing and we’ll be hunted.”



She sulked. “Fine.”



“When all is said and done—and after time has passed, a year or two, tops—you can take her down. But this is the one time where you have to exercise patience.”



“Okay.” At least she had something to look forward to. And a year or two might even turn into a month or two.

There are so many clues in this conversation. The most significant—who or what is preventing them from killing Lucy Kincaid? She’s been a thorn in their side forever, so why not take her out if the opportunity arises? It appears that someone is facilitating—perhaps bankrolling—their plan to destroy Lucy’s life. The price of that assistance is that Lucy is untouchable. To repeat, “She lives, we get all the money her husband stole from us. All of it. That’s the agreement. She dies, we get nothing and we’ll be hunted.”

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Aggie Jensen visits the juvenile detention facility that has been Elise’s home for the last few years. It’s a master class in how to unravel seemingly innocuous events and examine how they might lead to criminal actions. Aggie gently but persistently questions Marie, “a tall, underweight girl with very short hair and big brown eyes.” Marie recounts numerous instances of Elise’s kindness to her—how Elise protected her against Danielle, a fellow-student who bullied her—and recalls that Elise “talked about a psychic a lot.” This psychic, Lucy, seemed to know and anticipate everything about Elise. Perceptively Marie sensed Elise was not an admirer: “But then I got the feeling she didn’t like her at all. I don’t know, that doesn’t make sense.” Much of what Marie says doesn’t make much sense but that’s par for the course for interviews.

Cold as Ice is a giant jigsaw puzzle with some pivotal pieces missing on the floor. Lucy, Aggie, Ryan, Kane, and their allies search frantically yet methodically for Sean and Brad. They have an elusive ability to synthesize a torrent of fast-moving information, while never taking their eyes off the prize of rescuing the good guys and putting the bad guys behind bars. Set aside some time before you start Cold as Ice because you won’t be able to put it down.

I absolutely love the Lucy Kincaid series. This one did not disappoint. I do believe this might be my favorite so far. I love how almost all the characters come together in this book. This series really doesn't have twist but it does have alot of action and crime solving. Please keep writing this series Allison Brennan.

I did not want to put this book down. I had not read a Lucy Kincaid book in a long time and am sorry that I gave missed many in the series. This was a wonderful story of suspense and intrigue. I also love how the love shines through between Lucy and Sean. I also loved that they brought in storylines that included most of Lucy’s and Sean’s families. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I received a copy of this book from Minotaur Books and Netgalley for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

It's no secret that I enjoy the Lucy Kincaid series - I read books 1-9 in less than a week while I was very pregnant with my first baby, and they just totally hooked me. I love a series where the world building starts early and continues basically forever, with a wealth of character development, and the Lucy Kincaid series is a whole extended universe at this point.

This book is a *MASTERFUL* weaving (and wrap up!) of so many storylines - every single character that we care about is in this book, we get to have chapters from several POVs throughout, and we get a few new people, too. If you've enjoyed the series to this point, you'll love this one.

As always, I have to recommend that you just read these straight through! The experience of being totally immersed and not having to wait on the story is a can't miss!

Cold as Ice is the 17th book of Allison Brennan's fan favorite Lucy Kincaid series. This is the first book in the series that I've read. I know you're telling yourself that can't be right...no one starts a series on the 17th book! But that is exactly what I did. I never claimed to be normal. At first I was confused as to how all these characters were related to one another; should I make a flowchart? I continued to read. What about all these past circumstances they were discussing? But onward I went. And then I began to not care about any of that. I got so caught up in this exciting story that all of that baggage fell away. I'd worry about past books later; this was fun! How have I not read any of the series before this book?!

I'll make this synopsis a quick one. Two years ago, FBI Agent Lucy Kincaid put psychopath Elise Hansen Hunt into juvenile detention. She's out now and has it in for Lucy. First Lucy's husband Sean is arrested for a murder he did not commit. Then Sean's brother Kane is missing in Mexico, followed by Lucy's partner Nate being set up for possession of cocaine and her friend Brad being kidnapped. What is going on? No way could Elise have planned and carried out all this by herself. Was her criminal father behind it all from jail, or was it even a more nefarious plot than anyone could have imagined?

This book seriously started out with a bang and never let up. Though I wasn't acquainted with the characters' histories, they were well fleshed out and I was able to get a sense about each character. Even though they were not all related, they were a real family in the truest sense of the word. All the different tangents of the story seemed a bit widespread, but they coalesced into a magnificent end game. My favorite bits of the story dealt with Sean wondering if he'd ever see his beloved family again and Brad's treatment at the hands of nutjob Elise. All in all, a truly exciting thriller. And I'm happy in the knowledge I have 16 more books to read about the previous adventures of Lucy and the gang!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

A great addition to the series Cold as Ice is well written. An edge of your seat page turner. I highly recommend this book. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Oh boy, I am a huge Allison Brennan fan and even bigger Lucy Kincaid fan. This book is part of a series but stands entirely alone. Cold as Ice is a complex story. There are a lot of characters with intertwining storylines, yet it was easy to follow and intriguing to read. I knew that Lucy would be able to prove Sean, her husband, innocent but I also knew it would not be easy. I loved seeing Lucy and Sean’s friends come to support them even though they knew that by doing so it would be putting them in dangers path.



Cold as Ice is a thriller of a book that brought back many characters from Allison Kincaid’s past books. The suspense kept me holding my breathe until I reached the end. I had so much hope in how the story would turn out and was not disappointed in the twists and turns the story took. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

FBI Agent Lucy’s husband is arrested for murder in Cold as Ice, the seventeenth book in the series.

Lucy begins to think it’s personal when others close to her life start coming up missing or arrested on unlikely charges. Her initial thought is that it is the sociopath, Elise, who she sent to juvie last year. But could an eighteen-year-old acting alone control this many strings? Could it be Elise’s father pulling the strings from his prison cell? One thing is certain, Lucy needs to get Sean out from under suspicion before he goes to prison for murder. Both Sean and Lucy have put many criminals into prison who are just waiting to enact their revenge on Sean.

Wow! It was literally impossible for me to stop reading this book (as I write this review at 3 a.m.) I should know better than to start a book in this series at 10 p.m.

Cold as Ice is an exhilarating fast-paced thriller! Highly recommended to thriller readers. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fast paced read, and I always love a book when the FBI is involved. However this is book #17, and I have not read any of the other books in the series so I felt like I was missing some background. This is one I may come back to after I read the other books in the series.

A well thought out thriller. It has all the requirements to keep you up at night. It has a plot so involved that at times it’s hard to breathe. Lucy will do anything to clear her husband. Her husband has done nothing wrong and yet he is in jail,and the kidnapped and held all in the hopes of a debt that a young women needs paid. Misplaced affection also looms large in this tale of destroyed lives and deceit. Happy reading

Call out the troops, call all Kincaids and Rogans, and call every friend in what every jurisdiction possible. Sean Rogan has been arrested for a murder and Lucy Kincaid is out to prove her husband's innocence. She questions the whereabouts and connection of the murder and evidence to the juvenile delinquent she sent to juvie who's been recently released. All is stacked against Sean, Lucy nas been warned off by her boss and other agencies, and friends and family are out of commission. Does that stop Lucy, not a chance she won't let Sean's danger possibly lead to his death. Cold as Ice is one of the best in the Lucy Kincaid series. It's a family history refresher, on top of being a nail biting, action packed thriller. A must read!