What I liked about it- it was short.

This one really didn't get my interest, so it didn't even have the opportunity to hold it. Rambling obsession, hockey, driving, and the baby. That is this story. I have no idea what the point was.

No complaints about the audiobook narrator.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book just didn’t work for me. I think it was the narrative as I found the plot dragged and I had a difficult time staying engaged. For some reason, the M c’s name H bothered me. Who calls a person H? Regardless I was expecting a story with more action but instead found too much dialogue and introspection. More character driven than plot driven. For these reasons I never really connected to the story or characters.

It is a dark foray into various themes such as mental illness, self-identity, class and so on. I think other readers who are drawn to bleak character driven stories might enjoy this book more than I did.

The audio narration was just okay in my opinion. The narrator’s voice fit the nature of the book well but was a bit too one note for my liking.

Thank you to publisher and Netgalley for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one had me shaking my head. First I thought, okay, I liked it and then I though eh, it was just okay. H's sister was raped and her rapist was sent to prison but now is getting out. When H's uncle comes to him and gives him a gun and tells him he needs to "take care" of the situation he is left with a quandary. First, he has a new family and his girlfriend is struggling with being a new mom and his baby daughter is a newborn. His hockey career, what there is of it, has pretty much deteriorated and he is driving his beat-up car as a taxi. He starts to follow this guy but the more he learns about him the more he doesn't know what to do. Twists and turn and rich versus poor, I'm not sure what the author was trying to tell us in this one.

Archived before I could complete my listen, but seems like a solid purchase for collections where crime fic is popular.

A dark tale indeed, this one. A working class man, known to everyone as simply H, learns that the man who raped his sister, then aged 15, has been released from jail. The news is delivered to H by his uncle, a dislikable character who also supplies a gun with his unspoken message that H should do the right thing and murder this man.

H is a semi-professional ice hockey player and his unfulfilled ambitions, his inability to make the big time, are a nagging, enervating presence in his life. He has a girlfriend who he has a complicated relationship with and a baby daughter he’s still learning how to relate to. Isn’t his life already complicated enough?

The book doesn’t follow the path I thought it would, which is a big plus, and there are some fantastic passages of dialogue too, another box ticked. But some sections seem to ramble on and I found myself disengaging from the narrative from time to time. I liked H, but I couldn’t put myself in his shoes. Perhaps that’s the fault of me, the reader, or maybe it’s the writer who doesn’t quite get me there. I’m honestly not sure.

I listened to an audio version, very well read by Chris Andrew Ciulla. If you like your fiction broody and unpredictable then this one might be worth trying out. It’s a short read/listen and there’s enough here to suggest the author is one to keep an eye on.

This wasn’t the type of book I was expecting. I went into this expecting an interesting crime drama but it was too bland. I gave up on it at 30%. I’m sure others will love it but it just wasn’t the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a little challenging to follow at the beginning, but as it progressed it got somewhat easier to follow. It is a very bleak and sad telling of life of lower class America and is somewhat depressing. Throughout you cannot help, but feel so bad for all of the characters and wish they would catch a break in life.

I was given an arc of this audio book in return for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers.

I really enjoyed this novel, it’s fairly short, therefore difficult to do it enough justice in a review without adding spoilers. The narration is absolutely excellent. I’m not convinced I was supposed to love H but I absolutely did. Modern, smart and disturbingly brutal! Excellent!

Synopsis
The Cold Hard Light is a spare and bracing literary debut that tells the story of a new father who falls into the grip of obsession.

The novel begins when the man who assaulted Andrew Harrison's sister is released from prison. Benjamin Williams was barely more than a kid when he was sentenced to eleven years, but it is impossible to know what he has become since. Andrew, nicknamed H, is compelled to learn for himself when his uncle Billy hands him a gun and says to go find the man. As H's interest in Williams grows, he struggles to keep his world in balance. His hockey career has stalled, his girlfriend suffers from postpartum depression that is neither understood nor diagnosed, and the allure of vengeance threatens to erase his moral self.

Set in present-day Boston, The Cold Hard Light explores the drama of modern American urban life, where the poor work gig jobs that cater to the rich, where race can be weaponized, guns are treated like toys, and the desire to blame others trumps the need to understand them. These forces and more weigh upon the characters in this crystalline novel, hurtling them toward an irrevocable conclusion.

After Benjamin Wilson’s release from prison after 11 years for the assault/rape of Andrew’s (knows as H) sister, Andrew and his uncle become obsessed with revenge. H is a new father in a struggling relationship. He dotes on his daughter, especially after his partner leaves to work on herself. He lives in a constant state of conflicting emotions. Should he give up on playing hockey professionally? Should his pursue his sister’s attacker? Should he fix things with his daughter’’s mom? When the opportunity for revenge comes straight at him, what will he choose? While the characters were diverse and interesting, this book was a little slow for me. I also felt the author glossed over a few situations that could have Meade me more invested as the reader. Overall, it was an okay book.
**huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I typically love a crime novel; however, this debut crime novel was just not for me. I found it difficult to be invested in the plot and found that I did not really care what was happening with the characters. While there are crime aspects to the plot, it does not read like a typical crime novel. It is more literary and tries to focus on the character development, but the characters fell flat for me. I will not be recommending this novel to my audience.