Theodora (Theo) and Connor have had a whirlwind romance, and Connor has brought Theo to his family estate, Idlewood, to meet the family. Theo's reception by the family is icy at best, leaving Theo disconcerted, especially as she is receiving threatening messages telling her to leave. But Theo feels a connection to Idlewood that she can't explain, like it is familiar somehow, and against all odds, she finds a picture of herself at Idlewood as a child in an abandoned cabin.

This was fast-paced and kept me engaged as I worked to try to figure out the mystery of Theo and her past and how Idlewood may or may not play a role in his history. The narrator was excellent, and the suspense of the book kept me engaged to the very last minute.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing the Advanced Listening Copy for review.

This was a twisty domestic thriller set in a remote family vacation spot during the winter. Full of dark family secrets, a murder from the past that gets brought to light and a coverup in the present gone deadly. Great on audio narrated by Karissa Vacker (a fav who does an excellent job voicing the full cast of characters solo) and a perfect book to pick up for those cold winter nights!! If you like winter mysteries with tons of family drama this was excellent! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved A Killing Cold! It will keep you guessing until the very end. This is my first Kate Alice Marshall book and I'm now adding all of her books to my TBR list! I highly recommend the audio version.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one. A sort of locked door mystery set at a secluded mountain retreat that belongs to a super wealthy and powerful family. Our main character, Theo, is meeting her finance's rich family for the first time. Although she has no memory before the age of 5, she can't shake the feeling that she's been to this place before.

Several times I thought I had it all figured out, but was hit with twist after twist that left me wondering which characters could be trusted. There were a few plot points that seemed kind of far fetched, but that's the best part of reading fiction in my opinion.

Karissa Vacker is a phenomenal narrator. She did a fantastic job on this story.

I highly recommend this one to anyone that loves a good domestic, locked door mystery, thriller.

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall
Format: audio (thank you @netgalley)
Pub Date: 2/4/25
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you like thrillers that focus on messy rich families with a lot of dark secrets, this one is for you! We also have a main character who has some memory loss and is trying to piece together her past while surrounded by aforementioned messy rich family which keeps you guessing as the past unravels in the present.

This family sucks and I personally thought it was a blast to see them turning on each other.

I found this book to be well written and super engaging! Narrator Karissa Vacker did a phenomenal job as always (she is quickly becoming one of my favorite thriller narrators) so I would definitely recommend the audio format for this novel.

Theo Scott met Conner Dalton and after a whirlwind romance, they have gotten engaged. Conner is part of a very wealthy and powerful family and the couple heads off to the family retreat, Idlewild, in order to meet the family, etc.
However, Theo has been getting strange texts that tell her to leave Conner alone. And when she snoops around the grounds of Idlewild, she finds a picture of herself as a child, taken on the grounds, found in an abandoned cabin. Theo has almost no memory of the first 4 years of her life, but finding out may cost her everything, including Conner.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this digital audio e-arc.*

This is another twisty thriller that kept me going just to see who actually was involved in the 20 year old crime and who wasn't. It was definitely a fast read and I found myself enjoying the audiobook more than the physical book that I picked as my BOM January selection. The narrator in this was fantastic!

This book has a release date of Feb 4th and as always Kate Alice Marshall does not disappoint! Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. Again, I really enjoyed this audiobook.

A Killing Cold is a twisty thriller with a winter setting and classic Kate Alice Marshall characters. I recommend this book to new adult readers because of the age of some of the characters, but I think it will appeal to most readers of the genre.

Theo has fallen in love with Connor Dalton, a member of a very wealthy family, and now she is traveling to their isolated winter retreat. As the story progresses, the vacation is not what she had in mind and she has to reckon with fuzzy memories (or lack thereof) from her childhood.

I couldn't stop listening to this audiobook, but it won't be a memorable one for me. I find that I enjoy KAM much more on audio than physically reading because I'm able to gloss over some of the very predictable character development and two dimensional side characters. If you're looking for a fun, binge worthy audiobook this winter, consider picking this up.

Theodora is an orphan. She doesn’t remember much from her four childhood years before foster care— including her own given name.

Years later in her twenties, she meets and falls quickly for rich, charming Connor. They get engaged in six months and he brings her to his family’s isolated mountain property they call “Idlewood.” At Idlewood, some memories start coming back to Theo in fragments of another lifetime. One where she’s been at Idlewood before….? As Connor’s family acts cold and bizarre things begin to happen around Idlewood.. Theo explores the property and begins to uncover the truth about her past and Dalton family they’ve kept hidden at this snowy mountain escape for 20 years.

I love me some Kate Alice Marshall!!!! The minute I saw this one up for request on NetGalley (even before it had a cover) I jumped on it SO FAST! Although I found the whole plot of this book to be incredibly unrealistic to happen irl, I was still absolutely enthralled with it, could not put it down and could not guess how it would all come together in the end! Which is honestly all we can ever ask for in a good thriller book!! It gives Freida McFadden.

I alternated between eyeball reading and audio. I enjoyed the narrator (Karissa Vacker) and believe she was cast perfectly as Theo.

⚠️ CW: hunting and death/disembowelment of animal (on page), murder and death of humans (on page), domestic violence (mention of, no description), suicide and adultery (mentions, no description)

Thank you to Kate, Flatiron, and NetGalley for the advanced physical and digital copies and MacMillan for the advance audiobook!

This didn't really do much for me. It was your standard rich people drama thriller with a main character that only remembers things when it's convenient to the plot. I found the characters to feel pretty one-dimensional and didn't really grow attached to any of them. I will admit I was intrigued by the mystery, but I didn't really feel any tension or crazy urge to binge read like a thriller generally makes me feel. Truthfully, I think Kate Alice Marshall may just not be the thriller author for me (I'm 0 for 2 on her books which isn't looking too great), which is okay. I know tons of people love her books, and more specifically are loving this one, so I'd recommend trying it yourself!

I did however listen to this on audio, and the audio experience was the best part. I love a thriller and/or mystery audiobook moment, and while this book didn't keep me quite as hooked as I hoped, it got the job done.

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I must say that I have yet to read a book by Kate Alice Marshall that I haven’t liked. Then you add Karissa Vacker narrating the story, and you have me sold. From the very beginning, I was intrigued and drawn into the story. The premise of it was so compelling and well executed. And the twists? The twists were definitely twisting. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, and I had some of it figured out, bam another twist was thrown in. But it was fine so well and the pacing was great. Karissa, as always, did a phenomenal job narrating the story and bringing the characters’ voices to life. I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my gifted copy.

This is the second book I’ve read by Kate Alice Marshall. After enjoying ​No One Can Know, I was eager to read her newest release.

I will keep my review vague because I recommend going into ​t​hrillers novels without reading the synopsis. While the plot isn’t the most original and has been done before, I found the story atmospheric and great for a cozy winter read. The narrator, Karissa Vacker, did an excellent job of building tension throughout the story.

This was a perfect winter read and I enjoyed the overall story. I did figure out the twist early on but that didn’t take away from the story. The narration by Karissa Vacker was top tier.

I love a good family drama and this one definitely delivers. Original storyline and the characters are well executed. Some you love and some you love to hate!!

Set into a winter background and a forest setting you get drawn into this old school money family with plenty of secrets to go around.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my advance readers copy audiobook for an honest review.

This mysterious domestic thriller is the perfect entertainment for a winter evening.

The revelations unroll slowly, building tension as the main character learns more about her fiance's wealthy family, but there's plenty of action, too.

This is my favorite book from Kate Alice Marshall, by far!

I listened to the audiobook at 1.5x speed, and it was fabulous.

Meeting the family is nerve-wracking in any new relationship, but it's downright suffocating for Theodora Scott. And why wouldn’t it be? Her fiancé, Connor Dalton, belongs to the notoriously wealthy and secretive Dalton family. Their whirlwind romance has gone from a chance meeting at one of Theo's art shows to an engagement in just six months, and now she’s traveling to Idlewood, the Daltons’ isolated winter retreat, to meet the family for the first time. Theo knows the stakes are high. She's determined to prove she’s in this for love, not their fortune.

But something isn’t right. Theo has received anonymous text messages for weeks warning her to stay away from Connor. Dismissing them as pranks, she steels herself to make a good impression. Yet the moment she steps into Idlewood, Theo can’t shake the uneasy feeling creeping over her. The family’s frosty reception is bad enough, but then there’s the unsettling familiarity of the place. Strange footprints appear outside her window. A disused cabin on the property hides something impossible: a photo of Theo as a child, taken at Idlewood. Theo barely remembers her earliest years, but the splintered memories that emerge point to secrets someone in the Dalton family is desperate to keep hidden. As Theo inches closer to uncovering the truth, she realizes she’s not just an outsider trying to win their approval—she’s a threat. And the Daltons will do anything to protect their legacy, even if it means silencing her forever.

Kate Alice Marshall has built a reputation for crafting atmospheric thrillers that keep readers on edge, and her latest, A Killing Cold, is no exception. After making her mark in YA fiction, Marshall broke into adult thrillers with the exceptional What Lies in the Woods, a gripping mystery that delved into the perils of memory and generational trauma. I thoroughly enjoyed that novel and was thrilled to receive a copy of this newest standalone from the publisher. From the first chapter, Marshall establishes a sense of creeping unease. Theo, our protagonist, feels like she’s wading into waters far deeper than she’s prepared for, and it quickly becomes apparent that she’s harboring secrets of her own. As her fiancé’s family secrets come to light, the narrative twists into a tangled web of deceit, ensuring no character—and no reader—is left entirely sure of the truth.

I alternated between reading and listening to the audiobook, and Karissa Vacker’s narration was, as always, a highlight. Her voice brought a chilling immediacy to Theo’s mounting paranoia and the story’s steadily escalating tension. Marshall expertly keeps the reader slightly off balance, just enough to ensure that when the big reveals come, they land with maximum impact. The pacing is relentless, ramping up as threats grow more urgent, culminating in a genuinely shocking conclusion. With A Killing Cold, Marshall proves once again that she’s a master of the winter thriller, delivering an irresistible blend of atmosphere, suspense, and twists. She’s quickly becoming one of my must-read authors.

I was able to get an ARC of this book. And I read it in a matter of 2 days. I was able to get the audio version and the woman who narrated it did a fantastic job. It was suspenseful, twisty, interesting and I just wanted to know what was going to happen next.

The setting was also great giving that cold, damp scenery. It was a great setting for this kind of book. There were a lot of twists and turns when it came to this story. It was just one after the other.

I would highly recommend reading or listening to the audio version of this book. 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Theo and Connor are an unlikely match. He comes from a wealthy family, and her past is something she's still working to uncover. The pair become engaged quickly and decide to spend the holidays at his family's remote cabin retreat. Theo's nervousness about meeting his family intensifies when she begins receiving threatening messages from an unknown number, warning her to stay away from Connor.

Things go from awkward to bizarre when Theo feels familiar with the place, and discovers a photo of a man with a girl who looks suspiciously like herself in an abandoned cabin on the property. With her past hidden under layers of trauma and the family she's marrying into full of secrets, she's determined to get to the bottom of what everyone is trying to hide.

A Killing Cold is a layered mystery where nothing is as it seems. It's a story that draws you in as you work with the main character to figure out what the family is hiding and how it relates to her. The narrator does a fantastic job of holding attention, as you can hear the anxiety and fear in the characters she reads for. With twist after twist, I can safely say the ending was not what I'd expected. I enjoyed this thriller and would happily read/listen to another of her books in the future.

4 Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ALC of this book!

I will now read everything this author ever writes.
Two hit books back to back for me.
Loved this! The author's writing really appeals to me. I love how she crafts her story and how she unveils things along the way, and it always has me completely glued! I had a hard time putting this one down and devoured it as fast as possible.
This has secrets, family drama, an isolated type of setting, a great atmosphere, and just enough suspense to keep me hooked.
I am looking forward to seeing what else Kate Alice Marshall writes next and her backlist that I missed out on!

I really can’t get over how well this book was written. The past and present POVs blended together flawlessly. I was absolutely hooked from the beginning. I struggled to put this down, and once the drama REALLY started, I was GLUED to this book. Almost every chapter ended on a cliffhanger which I love. I had to force myself not to skip ahead to the endings of each chapter just to get a taste of what was in store next. An exceptional book!

Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the audio ARC. All opinions are my own!