Book Review: Cold by Mariko Tamaki

Cold by Mariko Tamaki is a young adult mystery novel with paranormal elements.
Seventeen year old Todd Mayer is found dead in the snow naked and frozen. Todd is a high achieving student at a local private prep school and the police immediately focus on the campus as they search for a killer.
Todd’s ghost will follow the detectives as they interview classmates and staff as they zero in on the killer. He also reflects on the last weeks of his life and the events that lead to his untimely death.
Georgia doesn’t go to the same school but she finds herself deeply impacted by Todd’s loss. As she begins to question who Todd was and why he died she finds the answers closer to her than she ever imagined.
Despite the dark content there is a sly sense of humor and wit that keep Cold from being a total bummer. Both Todd and Georgia are characters with a lot of layers and I enjoyed their individual perspectives on life (or the afterlife in Todd’s case) as they both struggle with friendships and being queer in high school.
I highly recommend this smart, witty and touching novel for readers of all ages. It is beautifully written and Mariko Tamaki can really turn a phrase.
4 stars

I really had no idea what to expect when I went into this.

I'm a sucker for alternative POV and duel timelines. This included both of those things. The downside is that I felt the beginning was a little slow and I just wanted to skip ahead to see how this all came together. This title took me by surprise! I enjoyed it a lot more than I had anticipated.

I really love Mariko Tamaki's other work, so I was really excited about this title. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me a bit. I think there is always room for more queer representation, so I appreciated that, but the story felt incomplete at some parts and way overdrawn at others. The story of Todd's death is tragic, and the circumstances are worthy of discussion, but the mystery component didn't feel particularly mysterious. I saw the events unfolding pretty clearly well before they were explained. Georgia's story was a little less predictable, but it felt less fully-realized as well. And the surprise that came from her friend at the end was maddening.

I want to like this book a lot, but in the end, it was just ok.

I enjoyed the novel, mostly. I felt sympathy for Todd and Georgia both, as each seemed to be an outcast, and each deserved better than they got. However, Tamaki employed one of my least favorite tropes, the gay adult as assumed predator. Even if it was only used to show how harmful this idea can be, the fact that it was used to begin with is hurtful for both LGBTQIA+ teens and any adults who seek to help them. I wish this could have been done differently.

I found Cold by Mariko Tamaki a well written and solid read. Although it wasn't quite for me, it feels like it would be good for young adult readers in its target demographic.

This is a ya mystery that would be good for the younger teens. I enjoyed the suspense and the characters. There aren't really any surprising twists but the writing is good and entertaining!

This was a beautifully written, compelling mystery novel for young adults. The characters were well-developed and the ending was hauntingly heartbreaking and will stick with you. I find myself still thinking about it days later. I have already recommended this book to several people, and plan to use it in a book club next school year.

A solid read. Tamaki writes strong, interesting characters. We see outsiders who are comfortable with their place among their peers, who don't strive for popularity. The plot is solid. There are enough twists to keep it interesting, though it is a bit meandering with fairly chaotic final chapters.

I think I might be a little too old for this book--I'm finding it difficult to get into many teen mystery/thriller books lately. I thought the first half of the book sort of dragged, and the second half, while a bit more interesting, was still slow. The ending was anticlimactic--I don't think it's difficult at all to tell where the story is headed once you get into it. I did enjoy the dual POV. I found I was looking forward to Todd's perspective over Georgia's. Overall though, I wasn't super impressed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story was pretty good overall, but for the first half, it felt as if it dragged on a bit and just stayed in the same place, where she was just kind of figuring everything out and nothing was moving along. It seemed to pick up a bit in the second half, but still, nothing really happened until about 80% through the book, when she started figuring out more about the mystery. It felt like more of a character analysis than a mystery at times, and it often felt like the mystery was on the back burner, until the last quarter of the book. The conclusion also seemed anticlimactic and obvious, though that may have been because Todd (the ghost pov) was explaining the murder, which made the story a bit more boring, and made it a bit annoying to read Georgia's (the living pov) chapters, where she sometimes missed clues and didn't notice things that now felt obvious to the reader. Other than that issue, I enjoyed the dueling point of views, and I think that Todd's chapters usually added to the story, with that one exception. The characters seemed two (or one) dimensional at times, and weren't really all that interesting often, which took away from the book a bit. The side characters often also seemed boring and forgettable, and only a few seemed memorable, and even then they still seem so forgettable that I can't even remember their names. On another hand, this book did a good job talking about the prejudice that LGBTQ+ individuals face, and how high school can be a rough time for some people because of that. Overall, I think you should read this book if you have enjoyed Mariko Tamaki's previous books or if you enjoy slower-paced mysteries with a touch of teen angst. 3/5 stars from me.

Rating: 3.5/5

Format: e-book. I’d like to thank the author and FierceReads for sending me a copy of this book to review!

To sum up:
“A boy, a murder, a girl, a secret. A YA novel about a shocking crime, told by a boy who died—and a girl who wants to know why.” Todd Mayer has been murdered. As a ghost he watches the police talk to the students of his school to try to unravel what happened. Although Georgia didn’t know Todd, she might know something about his death, if she can just figure out what it is.

Review:
At the heart of this story is a mystery, a secret, that slowly becomes revealed through flashbacks from the recently deceased and another pov. It isn't clear how these two povs are connected until part way through the book and I liked that! Overall, the unfolding of the mystery and tension were good. The only thing that could be improved a little is the final reveal at the end, it felt a bit anticlimactic.

Overall, I felt there was something lacking in this mystery but I enjoyed the style is was told in and the prose was quite good.

I don't know if it's just because I'm so familiar with Tamaki's graphic novels that this book didn't quite land for me or if it was the plot itself, but whatever the reason this wasn't my favorite read. I could see this working really well for older tweens and younger teens, though.

A murder mystery with a lingering ghost, Tamaki's Cold is the story of the life and death of Todd Mayer, his naked, freezing body discovered in a park. Cold also describes his classmates' dispositions toward him. It could also be the clues to the crime - or the lack thereof.

Georgia feels a connection to the boy and his death, even though she didn't know him. She becomes a bit obsessed with discovering the motive behind his death. Will she uncover the truth before the trail goes totally cold?

Todd's consciousness lurks throughout the book, brining the reader to the moment of his death, but he's mostly just a presence, a loner in death much as he was in life, a way to provide continuity. Georgia will start to make the connections, but she's also a bit of an odd character with an odder backstory.

This book will find an audience with die-hard Mariko Tamaki fans, readers wanting a mystery with a side of teen angst, or readers looking for LGTBQ+ characters.

"Cold" wraps family dynamics, difficult relationships, teen life and bullying in a thrilling, chilling murder mystery. The observations readers get through the voice of Todd, the murdered teen, slowly unwind details about what happened. Georgia, distantly connected to Todd, provides another view as she realizes she may be closer than she believed. The characters voices and actions all feel realistic. This tight story is well-paced and compelling. Another winner from Mariko Tamaki.

Maybe I too am dead inside because I've been giving a lot of books 1 star recently.

I found this one hard to follow. Yes, the chapters go back and forth between Todd & Georgia, but that's not why I was confused. The introduction of characters, the connection of relationships, the overall "why should I care?" question... all confusing. The character work in here was sorely lacking. We were reading from two different perspectives, and yet, I don't feel like I got to know either one of them at all. I mean, one of them is even dead, and yet I can barely tell you anything about him except that he was in love at the time of his death because that was briefly mentioned towards the end of the book. And even then - we're told this and not shown this. I have no reason why he was in love or how that relationship came to be. Not a clue.

As for Georgia, I again didn't feel anything because it was a poorly written character. Her relationships with her family and friends are flat and I have no idea why we're getting her perspective of this ordeal other than the fact that she has connections through family and friends. It just seemed kind of pointless. I will say - there is one scene from her perspective where we're finally shown something instead of being told, but it was super short and not in the least bit satisfying.

So. In short, I didn't like this at all. The end.

The mystery really kept this going, it was well written and had great pacing, But I did feel like the dead boy really got short shrift, having most of his story be about and through a girl who didn't even know him.

I enjoyed this book. The prose was well-written, and the characters were dynamic and jumped off the page. I thought the story was interesting and the plot kept me guessing.

Cold by Mariko Tamaki is the story of Todd a ghost who leaves his house to catch a movie and never returned and Georgia, a local girl who is fascinated by his murder and is determined to figure out what happened after realizing he went to school with her brother. The two dueling narrators share many of the same characteristics. They are queer, introverted, bullied, and do anything to just get through school.

Based on the description I thought this was going to be more of a fast-paced thriller but it was more of a slow unfurling of Todd's life and what happened the night he died. Overall, I liked the plot but I did find the ending predictable.

The best aspect of this book for me was the examination of prejudgment about considering queers as perverts and seeing them as automatic suspects. In a book that is easily digestible and similar to many others, this makes it stand out and leaves the reader with something to think about long after the book is over.

I definitely enjoyed this one but it didn't stand out for me. I wasn't immediately captured and didn't feel like I could connect with the plot in general. I think I may need to give this a re-read later.

This is a beautiful book about betrayal, but I'm worried how it's been marketed will hinder it's success. There is a mystery to the story, but this is much more of a character study than a mystery or thriller.

I really enjoyed the dueling perspectives of Georgia and Todd (one living, and one a ghost) as we follow this town trying to figure out what happened to Todd. There were some scenes I think we a little gratuitous at first, but upon deciding that this book was ultimately about betrayal I decided that they made sense to be included.

There is some resolution in this book but it comes quickly at the end, and I don't think all readers will be satisfied with it.

Overall, this book was for me, but I can see how it is not for everyone.