When you can fake anything, how do you know what’s real?
Harlow Close has made a career as an influencer uncovering the secrets of Winnipeg, dubbed ‘North America’s strangest city’. The region is renowned for its sub-zero temperatures, dropping to minus 40 degrees – sometimes for months at a time. Yet, it’s not just the frigid winters and geographic seclusion that render Winnipeg peculiar.
When Harlow’s father mysteriously disappears amid a brutal cold snap, suspicions of foul play arise. It’s not like Scott to miss phone calls – and he’s been even more cautious since that time he was catfished by a romance scammer. Unhappy with the pace of the police investigation, Harlow launches her own search, enlisting her sister Blaise’s reluctant help.
As Harlow struggles to uncover what happened to her father, she’s forced to question everything and everyone around her – including herself.
Ashley Kalagian Blunt writes to expose the myriad ways our technology makes us vulnerable. She is the number one bestselling author of Dark Mode, a psychological thriller published in multiple territories and languages. Dark Mode was shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year, and was voted number 20 in the Better Reading Top 100.
First of all, Blunt has a done a ‘killer’ job at setting the scene (and yes, pun intended). Cold Truth is filled to the brim with the most intense atmosphere. From the very first page, I had literal goosebumps. There were moments in this book, where I could feel the iciness of Winnipeg, the book’s primary location. Blunt does an immaculate job at illustrating the harsh realism of sub-zero temperatures, creating a thriller that not only has a mind-melting plot, but also an ice-cold environment. Each chapter tells you the exact temperature for each day, which is a lovely touch – I mean, who doesn’t look at their weather app each morning?
Much like the setting, I enjoyed the relationship between our hero, Harlow, and her partner in crime (or should I say partner in justice?), Blaise. They banter, they bicker, they love each other as much as they can’t stand each other. It’s a fascinating sisterhood, which is only heightened through the book’s clever and twisty plot. What happened to their father? Why is he missing? Will they ever find him? The drama is tight. Blunt does a great job at placing both sisters on a tightrope, and as the story progresses, you can’t help but feel that they could fall at any moment. My heart kept racing until the very last page!
Though the mystery is the main event, Blunt is an expert at fleshing out her characters and making them feel as though they’re dear friends. Harlow is deep and complex. There are other issues beyond the fact that her father is missing. For example, Harlow is an influencer, and her relationship with technology is a huge part of the book. Blunt also highlights themes of what is real and what is not. How can one tell? It really made me think about my relationship with technology, and like Harlow, I started to question the reality of what I was seeing when browsing social media. What a page turner! Cold Truth was the perfect crime read to start 2025.
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