Toni Anderson

Cold Malice

Nicola Sarah Brooks

Tess Fallon is the daughter of one of the most extremist families! Her dad and his Pioneer followers make Neo Nazis look tame by comparison. But when a young member saves her during a raid, she and her baby brother escape and leave all the hate behind them. 

Fast forward 20 years and Tess is now an accountant and after the death of her mixed race foster mother, she again looks after her little brother who is now an undergrad. But their birth family and their minions are waiting in the wings to tamper with her happy little bubble! 

At the very beginning of his law enforcement career Steve McKenzie went undercover in the Pioneers as Kenny Travers. Kenny inserted himself into the Hines family and did his best to protect Tess from her brothers incestuous advances. But once the raid went down he disappeared, without ever telling Tess he was a cop. But now Steve is going to smash back into Tess' life when hate crimes, just like those listed in her fathers manifesto, occur.

OMG this was a fascinating and spine chilling story! The whole bible bashing, gun toting, hate filled family made intriguing reading. Tess is very much a case of nurture overcoming birth nature. I was flapping in the wind trying to figure out who was on what side! I did however suss out who the "inside man" was - props to me! The added layers to the story including Steve's enmity with his ex-wife and the flashbacks to Tess childhood will make you gasp, scream and cry!

Steve still can't help jumping to some conclusions about Tess even as he realises she is not involved. Tess for her part does play things very close to her chest, but after her tumultuous childhood you can't help but understand why she does! Fabulously taut and tense thriller!

Cold Malice

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