I listened to the audio version of Cold Fear by Rick Mofina. It was narrated by Christian Rummel, who did a great job.
Emily Baker takes her 10-year-old daughter Paige, Paige’s dog, and her husband Doug to a remote part of the Rockies. She has been in therapy and has been unable to tell her husband about something from her past that has been troubling her. To help put the bad experience behind her, she returns to the Rockies, where it took place when she was a girl. She is working up the courage to tell Doug what happened, but there are a lot of tensions. Paige doesn’t want to be there and fears that her parents are going to tell her that they are getting divorced. Doug wants Emily to stop keeping secrets. They have a big fight and Emily goes up the trial to think while Doug takes his ax and is angerly chopping firewood to work off steam. Paige tries to talk with her dad, but he is too upset and tells her to go talk with her mother. Paige starts up the trail but her dog runs after an animal and Paige chases it. She becomes lost. A Grizzly picks up her scent and begins following her.
The Park Service and law enforcement are called in to help search for Paige and then the FBI. As the FBI digs into the parent’s past they discover things that make them wonder if it is just a case of a missing girl. As we learn about the parents’ pasts, evidence mounts against them. Search and rescue teams are called in. Helicopters are ferrying people in and out of the wilderness. The press learns of the story and it becomes national news as reporters and photographers rush to the area. Meanwhile, a high-profile death row inmate escapes into the same area where Paige is lost.
There is a lot of action and tension in the story and it moves along quickly. Overall, it is well told. Each chapter ends on a cliff hanger that kept me listening. An interesting quality of the story telling is that there is no one main character. Instead, the story switches between law enforcement, FBI, rescue workers, news reporters, lawyers, the convict, and Paige. The details of each character and group were believable and well done. As I was listening, there was a point where I thought maybe there were too many coincidences, but as the story unfolded those were explained. I enjoyed the book and would recommend the audio version as the reader did a good job.