The Cold Truth

Julian Palmer #1

by Jonathan Stone

Sent to intern with a legendary police chief in upper New York State, police trainee Julian Palmer finds herself investigating the baffling murder of a young woman whose killer left behind no clues. A first novel. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Jonathan Stone, author of the Julian Palmer novels, is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a Scholar of the House in Fiction Writing and twice won the English Department's John Hubbard Curtis Prize for Best Imaginative Writing. He works in advertising and lives in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book from 2000, Chief of Police Bear Edwards was unpleasantly surprised to find that his job interviewee Julian Palmer was a woman. He's been on the job for 30 years and has never had an unsolved case until now so he hires Julian. The new case is a waitress who was knifed 44 times.

As I began reading this book, my first impression of the writing was ...simple, as in for a younger group of readers. I read hundreds of mysteries and like a complex story. This didn't seem to be a description of this one. However, as the story went along, I liked it better. Near the halfway point, there was a huge twist. The entire second half was topsy turvy. I didn't know who to believe. So I would like to read another book by this author to see if his writing style is one I could grow to like.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Julian Palmer, NYC police detective trainee
SETTING: Upstate New York
SERIES: #1 of 3
RATING: 3.25
WHY: Julian Palmer is a New York City detective trainee who has been assigned an internship in upstate New York. Her mentor, Winston "Bear" Edwards is about to retire. He has never had an unsolved murder in his entire career, except for a current case in which a young woman was murdered. Julian learns a lot from Bear, although she is surprised that he is willing to use a psychic since he seems almost psychic himself. He's rather an enigma, and despite their age difference she finds herself attracted to him. As the book goes on, just about every character becomes a plausible suspect--more than once. I grew weary of the back and forth of Person X did it, no Person Y, no Person X, no Person Z. At first it was exciting but ultimately it was all too much, and you couldn't begin to figure out the real villain with the information provided. Some excellent writing but also some clumsy writing with a page or more of 1 or 2 word paragraphs to build suspense.

[Jan Mcclung-short · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is compelling reason and evidence. Winston "Bear" Edwards needed a new assistant to learn the tricks of the trade of police work. What she knew would try to get her killed. It was rule one not checking the evidence that let her get away. She did her homework and caught the killer on his most important day.

[Joan Leicht · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was really good. It kept you guessing from the first page to last.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems I need to adjust my expectations of books billed as thrillers. There was very little thrilling about this mystery. About 100 pages in, there's a pretty good twist, but the rest of the book is a vicious cycle of "Did they do it? / Didn't they do it?" talk between two characters with very little actually happening. It gets tiresome after a while, to the point where I was literally rolling my eyes at supposed "revelations." For a whodunit, the number of possible suspects was very limited. I didn't find the main character to be particularly likeable and thought the dialog was spotty. Finally, the climactic scene was fairly unrealistic, and the final scene even more so. Still, any book that I manage to finish earns at least a 1-star review, and this was slightly above that. Sorry, I don't do grade inflation.

[Lauren Barth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't too impressed by this book. I didn't like the characters very much and I hated the writing style. There were a few details in certain spots that I really did not need to know. It also moved too slow for me. It's true that there are a lot of twists and turns, which is something I love in a book, especially in murder mysteries. I love being on the edge of my seat and constantly trying to figure out who did it. This book did provide a little bit of that, but in a very disorganized way. There were way too many suspects and it just kept jumping back and forth between them. It was kind of annoying.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

True north

Julian Palmer travels north, to snow. In this journey, she brings her memories, her own unsolved mysteries. A teacher, an experienced law-man, famous and gifted, takes her on for an internship. They focus on a recent murder: gruesome, bloody, cold.

The solution of who murdered Sarah Langley takes many twists and turns in Julian's mind, as she works with her mentor—works for him, works against him, too. And through all this, Julian grows by facing her own demon memories, by holding out for the truth, even when it hurts, even when it defies all she knows.

This story is written on the backbone of the power of the unconscious becoming conscious; with that, a release of personal power to choose, to participate, not as a victim, but as a whole person–in the present and the future. In itself a thriller, it is a story of the personal growth of Julian Palmer, budding law-person as a character. A character a reader can anticipate being with in the future.

[Bette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a more dramatic, in-your-face ending from Palmer. Since she didn't deliver that, there was no high-end exciting response from the chief. The story was good, albeit predictable, and often humorous, with her flip-flopping over and over. I'm not being sardonic, because the author may have intended her flip-flopping to be humorous. She was soft through-out, even though the chief was a bully, and had the little town in control over 40 year's time. The whole story, the victims, the town, needed a hero from the beginning, and the hero turned out to be the villain's best friend/cop from a nearby place. I expected too much, but enjoyed what I got.

[Peacejanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first novel is a great mystery. We spend too much time reading about the trainee's thoughts and fears and are rewarded in the end by having the entire mystery (and there are various parts to it) being all tied up. The reader can breathe a sigh of relief at knowing who is the guilty one who carried out "The Perfect Murder." A good read, especially for a debut novel.

[Ruth Graybill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

Excellent!

This is a true Stone thriller, so many twists and turns it keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what is coming next--- but no matter what you imagine, it is SOOO wrong. Sit back, relax and get entertained.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good mystery with bone-chilling suspense for a small-town perfect cold-blooded murder with every twist and turn. What a rush!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting plot twists.

[Toesnorth's mom]

first novel, stupid

[Swan Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found myself quite caught up in this story line and the psychological gymnastics going on between Winston and Julian. I definitely want to read more of this series.

[Damian Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather typical detective story, not a bad read

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this author. I read Moving Day a few weeks ago and then found a couple other books by him. Fast moving, thriller type books.

[Mila Shull · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got three pages in before I had to DNF. If you have to describe a woman but the only way you know how is via her breasts and ass, then I doubt you can actually write anything worth reading.