Cold Springs

Rick Riordan

I just finished Cold Springs by Rick Riordan. This was the first novel I'd read by him, and before this novel, to be truthful, I'd never heard of him. However 386 pages later and I'm sure he'll be biding time in my TBR stacks in the future. Cold Springs is classified as suspense, thriller, so on and so forth, and I would say it fits nicely into its categories. The story evolves around Chadwick Reyes, schoolteacher turned escort for a rehabilitation center for teenagers who have hit the last wall before oblivion. Chadwick's turn of career paths is prompted by the tragedies of his own life and the collapse of his family and marriage. He's a man on the run from his own demons while at the same time chasing after them. Riordan does nothing extraordinary with his plot, in many ways it's like reading a dozen other suspense novels, there's a cast of good characters whose lives are being puppeteer'ed by the bad guy. The thing Riordan does is create characters who carry the plot in such a way that the pages turn by themselves. The setting changes from southern California to the remote regions of Texas outside San Antonio, where the rehabilitation center is located. Chadwick moves between the two settings and there's always something volatile waiting at each end. What kept me up late at night with this story was my failing to figure out who the bad guy was. It's one of those novels which keeps you pointing fingers throughout each page and just as often changing your mind. When the bad guy finally steps out from the shadows, I was left with that feeling of "I should have seen that". I love those kinds of endings, the ones which say "got'cha!" If you like suspense, if you like just plain good writing, and a novel which keeps you up past your designated hour with the Sandman, I recommend this one.