Cold

Internationally acclaimed, Cold takes us through the harsh, frozen terrain of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where fierce winter storms can last for days. The white opacity of one such blizzard allows Norman Haas to walk away from his prison work detail and disappear into the forest. Dangerously close to freezing to death, Norman is given shelter by Liesl Tiomenen, a middle-aged woman who lives in a house she and her late husband built in the woods. Armed with a shotgun, she tries to turn him in, but when they set out on snowshoes she suffers a fall, allowing him to escape again. Thus begins Norman's journey back to his past, where love, greed, and the promise of a second chance compel six people toward a chilling and inevitable reckoning. "Smolens's skill in rendering scenes of stunning brutality and uncommon tenderness, his crisp dialogue, vigorous writing style and keen descriptive powers all make this a first-rate thriller." --Publishers Weekly