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The Cold One
The Los Angeles police are investigating two strings of gruesome deaths. One killer has left several horribly mangled corpses; the other murderer kills his victims seemingly without touching them. The investigators have only a single set of fingerprints to link the two series of crimes. — Journalist Peter Jacobs is dragged into the investigation when he receives an anonymous call from someone who knows more than he should about the murders. They agree to meet at a specific place and time, but the caller never shows up -- …and the killings continue.
When Julie Moore, a graduate student researching Near Death Experiences, falls in love with Peter, she has no way of knowing that she has placed herself in the deadly sights of the Cold One. The Cold One needs Peter to complete its mysterious designs -- but it does not hate Julie for interfering. It feels nothing -- no hate, no fear, no love -- and Its mere existence threatens all living things.
Until recently, Jerry Washington belonged to a violent street gang. Trying to go straight, Jerry meets Susan Darly, an upper-crust high school sweetheart, and finds that life can be warm and wonderful. Then Susan almost drowns -- and is terribly changed. She has become as cold as death, and Jerry is determined to find out why.
In India, Govinda Sharma's spiritual master has given him a dangerous job -- to pursue a seemingly invincible man, a blind man who can dominate another's will with a mere thought. This man will lead Govinda to the Cold One, and to a great truth that will shatter him to the core.
Govinda Sharma, Jerry Washington, and Peter Jacobs are the last defenders of mankind.
The Cold One knows who they are. It knows they are coming. And it does not care.
When Julie Moore, a graduate student researching Near Death Experiences, falls in love with Peter, she has no way of knowing that she has placed herself in the deadly sights of the Cold One. The Cold One needs Peter to complete its mysterious designs -- but it does not hate Julie for interfering. It feels nothing -- no hate, no fear, no love -- and Its mere existence threatens all living things.
Until recently, Jerry Washington belonged to a violent street gang. Trying to go straight, Jerry meets Susan Darly, an upper-crust high school sweetheart, and finds that life can be warm and wonderful. Then Susan almost drowns -- and is terribly changed. She has become as cold as death, and Jerry is determined to find out why.
In India, Govinda Sharma's spiritual master has given him a dangerous job -- to pursue a seemingly invincible man, a blind man who can dominate another's will with a mere thought. This man will lead Govinda to the Cold One, and to a great truth that will shatter him to the core.
Govinda Sharma, Jerry Washington, and Peter Jacobs are the last defenders of mankind.
The Cold One knows who they are. It knows they are coming. And it does not care.
416 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
12 people are currently reading
1048 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pike
262 books5,478 followersChristopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
August 17, 2012
I love Christopher Pike usually, but this one derailed a bit to be honest.
Also was slightly disappointed that the black main character was part of a gang, for no reason that related to the main story. Coincidentally I had just finished reading the Remember Me trilogy in which there are the first Hispanic characters I had ever encountered in a Pike novel - all of whom were also part of a gang as a pointless side-story. I hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing quite a crummy theme emerging in his portrayal of ethnic groups.
Also was slightly disappointed that the black main character was part of a gang, for no reason that related to the main story. Coincidentally I had just finished reading the Remember Me trilogy in which there are the first Hispanic characters I had ever encountered in a Pike novel - all of whom were also part of a gang as a pointless side-story. I hope I'm wrong but I'm seeing quite a crummy theme emerging in his portrayal of ethnic groups.
December 22, 2008
This book was really well written with a new take on eastern religion, which I didn't know much about before this book. There are tons of interesting and well fleshed out characters populating this book. And it was actually easy to keep track of them all and really fun to see there seperate story lines come together in the end. The end was really exciting and the story was tied up nicely. I highly reccomend this one to horror fans as well as Christopher Pike fans ready to graduate to his adult novels.
July 31, 2008
Okay - This is a really good book & invovles mythology mixed with the present day. The only thing that really gets me about this book is that there was suppose to be a second book - The Cold One II - Seedling, it never came out - so be prepared for that. Other wise it you love the SciFi Thrillers like I do you should enjoy
January 14, 2010
This is what happens when I run out of books to read. I get into the crap mass market's stored in my attic. Read this 10+ years ago & had completely forgotten the story Not a great read the second time.
September 6, 2016
As the plane slowly dropped out of the sky, and came to land at Budapest airport, I could barely hear a thing over the popping of my eardrums. Soon, the warning lights went off, and we were set to vacate the jet and start our holiday - I'd been so engrossed in 'The Cold One' that the flight had flown past in the blink of an eye!
I did have reservations about the title of this one - it sounded like something I'd order at a Sportsbar just before the football started. However, as they say, you can't judge a book by its cover and - after reading positive Amazon reviews - I ordered a secondhand copy. I'd read another of Pike's books earlier in the year, it was called 'The Listeners' and was a little above average - so I knew he could spin an entertaining enough yarn.
Let me get to the plot. There have been a few killings in the city, and they're a little weird - the police are baffled as the method of murder is very hard to pinpoint. Journalist Peter Jacobs (who is somewhat a misogynist meaning I couldn't warm to him) is being pestered by weird calls from a guy called Chuck, who claims to be the killer. It soon turns out that something supernatural is afoot, and the entity behind it is very, very angry.
Just as I was getting used to the city story, with no warning at all, I suddenly found myself in India. Hearing all about a giant who may or may not be a demon, and a man called Govinda who is (for some reason I couldn't decipher) asked to keep an eye on him. I'm all for different settings, but this completely caught me by surprise and was somewhat confusing. Eventually the Indian mythology behind the demon links in to the story unfolding in the USA, so I guess that's fair enough.
There are some good scenes here, although a few things that are really predictable - such as the fate of a gang member, who is one of the protagonists at the start of the story (I'd rather he'd been the hero of the whole story). I liked Peter's relationship with his lodger, Matt - a gentle giant with learning difficulties and there was also a bit of a twist that I didn't see early on. There's also a really good scene in the mall involving the Police Detective, Amos - really enjoyed that chapter.
This is a real good example of a three star horror novel - there are some positives to take away from it, and as I mentioned, it did keep me engrossed for long periods.
It might make a decent late night cable TV film but don't expect it to be your new favourite book.
I did have reservations about the title of this one - it sounded like something I'd order at a Sportsbar just before the football started. However, as they say, you can't judge a book by its cover and - after reading positive Amazon reviews - I ordered a secondhand copy. I'd read another of Pike's books earlier in the year, it was called 'The Listeners' and was a little above average - so I knew he could spin an entertaining enough yarn.
Let me get to the plot. There have been a few killings in the city, and they're a little weird - the police are baffled as the method of murder is very hard to pinpoint. Journalist Peter Jacobs (who is somewhat a misogynist meaning I couldn't warm to him) is being pestered by weird calls from a guy called Chuck, who claims to be the killer. It soon turns out that something supernatural is afoot, and the entity behind it is very, very angry.
Just as I was getting used to the city story, with no warning at all, I suddenly found myself in India. Hearing all about a giant who may or may not be a demon, and a man called Govinda who is (for some reason I couldn't decipher) asked to keep an eye on him. I'm all for different settings, but this completely caught me by surprise and was somewhat confusing. Eventually the Indian mythology behind the demon links in to the story unfolding in the USA, so I guess that's fair enough.
There are some good scenes here, although a few things that are really predictable - such as the fate of a gang member, who is one of the protagonists at the start of the story (I'd rather he'd been the hero of the whole story). I liked Peter's relationship with his lodger, Matt - a gentle giant with learning difficulties and there was also a bit of a twist that I didn't see early on. There's also a really good scene in the mall involving the Police Detective, Amos - really enjoyed that chapter.
This is a real good example of a three star horror novel - there are some positives to take away from it, and as I mentioned, it did keep me engrossed for long periods.
It might make a decent late night cable TV film but don't expect it to be your new favourite book.
April 4, 2009
One of Pike's few adult novels, I have to say I absolutely loved this book. By creating a character that is not human as the focal point of the novel, Pike is essentially asking questions about what it really means to be human. The enigmatic quality of the plot and the masterful way in which Pike can almost always create characters with depth only adds to this book. Few adults are aware of Pike's novels, and this one was amazing.
June 20, 2007
Another adult novel I tried to get into, spurred on by my dedication to my favorite y/a author...but not much luck. I finished it, but I had a hard time really getting into the eastern mysticism angle.
January 9, 2012
Written by prolific author Christopher Pike, this book (not one of his numerous young adult offerings) is a true to the genre horror book.
It comes complete with those familiar situations where you just know the victims are toast (slang for they will be killed), an almost unbeatable evil that is so, for lack of a better word, "cold" you just know trouble is on the brew and all of mankind could be in peril.
A fairly long and convoluted plot including mystic Eastern philosophies and prophecies too. Not what I would call a real page turner, but by the mid point of the book I was wondering how it was all going to end.
And well, it doesn’t, really.
It is only the first book in at least a two book set and, quite frankly, I’m not going to bother with the next one. Pike is a competent author, but this set of circumstances and this "evil" just don’t’ hold enough attention for me to spend any more time getting to know them or what they are going to do.
I don’t’ really know what to make of this book exactly. I mean this author has sold millions of books - oh, maybe I hit on something there. Anyway, my overall impression of the book left me kind of - you guessed it - cold.
I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s just that this type of book is not for me. Then again, I can’t really say I like many Stephen King books either (I see you giving me the sign) so what do I know.
For me a good horror comes from minds of Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood or Bloch.
Read if you want, but remember, this is only the beginning.
It comes complete with those familiar situations where you just know the victims are toast (slang for they will be killed), an almost unbeatable evil that is so, for lack of a better word, "cold" you just know trouble is on the brew and all of mankind could be in peril.
A fairly long and convoluted plot including mystic Eastern philosophies and prophecies too. Not what I would call a real page turner, but by the mid point of the book I was wondering how it was all going to end.
And well, it doesn’t, really.
It is only the first book in at least a two book set and, quite frankly, I’m not going to bother with the next one. Pike is a competent author, but this set of circumstances and this "evil" just don’t’ hold enough attention for me to spend any more time getting to know them or what they are going to do.
I don’t’ really know what to make of this book exactly. I mean this author has sold millions of books - oh, maybe I hit on something there. Anyway, my overall impression of the book left me kind of - you guessed it - cold.
I can’t say I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s just that this type of book is not for me. Then again, I can’t really say I like many Stephen King books either (I see you giving me the sign) so what do I know.
For me a good horror comes from minds of Poe, Lovecraft, Blackwood or Bloch.
Read if you want, but remember, this is only the beginning.
May 10, 2025
Truth be told the four stars is only because of Sara, Peter , and slightly Dr. Morray.
This review will be kinda long. Might make it more entertaining with gifs lol
The book started off interesting with Peter’s and an “unidentified woman” POV’s anyways . Lot of descriptive detail etc.
Peter was interesting and I liked certain actions he took etc . But for me personally I don’t think it makes sense that he literally ever pursued anything with Julie (I’ll get to that later) or why he never dropped her or stopped seeing her . I did like his persistence with Sara but not when he was trying to act the same way with her as he did with others , which he also notices and decides to be more himself with her hence another reason why I like their dynamic.
Basically Peter gets a call from someone claiming to be the serial killer and is asked to meet this man , Chuck, at the los angeles museum of natural history. He contacts the police about it and they have him go undercover with a wire to record it. He happens to meet a woman at the museum named Sara and is immediately taken with her.
After a short conversation with Sara where he tries to get some contact info but fails to , he ends up in the parking lot and a woman named Julie is there. Julie is working towards being a psychologist (which she mentions in EVERY.FUCKING.CONVERSATION because its her whole personality. )
https://giphy.com/gifs/nbcmarlon-seas...
As if thats not bad enough, she has followed Sara's car to the museum thinking it was her husband in the car,Dr. Morray ; a cardiologist. She decided to wait for Sara in the parking lot (for some reason) and instead tries to meet Peter and when she sees he's attractive (WOW) she literally does everything she can to corner him I am not even kidding. She pretends that she can't find her car, pitifully attempts to flirt with him and fails miserably, then when she can't impress him , pesters him into going on a date with her for coffee. Peter finally agrees but lets just say its pretty clear he has no interest in her , all his internal monologues says he doesn't think she's very smart, hes not attracted to her, she agitates him, he doesn't want any commitment with her, etc. etc.
talk about not getting the damn hint..
https://giphy.com/gifs/cbc-schitts-cr...
Peter is legitimately so uninterested in her he even asks her for Sara's (the woman he met at the museum) phone number 💀 . But apparently crazy af Julie is determined to have him no matter what . He legitimately meets up with Sara , kisses her, talks with her, and is digging into her past etc. everything and trying to even make her leave Dr. Morray and be with him because he's fallen for her all the while Julie is still coming around, whining to him and clinging to him, begging for attention like....... meanwhile Peter is basically running out of ways to say this to her
https://tenor.com/view/clueless-as-if...
I have trouble believing this man would ever realistically get with Julie ..... throughout the entire book she is like this but I'll get to that later.
Moving onto Sara . Peter as i said is literally thinking about her 24/7 and i mean it. While he's talking to Julie? Sara. While he's talking to his cop buddies? Sara. While he's doing his investigation? Sara. It's so clear he's falling for her it makes you wonder how Julie is still in the picture and that they've had sex.
He starts digging into sara's past as well and that leads him to uncover things about a woman named Sandra Morray, Sara's birth mother who is in a coma (sara was adopted), Dr. Morray's identity is also revealed, and to add to it Peter , who hadn't known much of anything about his birth parents since he was also adopted turns out to be (spoiler*****Sara's twin brother )
so before i tell you the ending scenes and what happens with the plot it's important to note something . Sara has had a miscarriage , and Peter's ex girlfriend Lisa (who he had not planned to have a baby with but the condom broke and he just accepted it saying he was "okay" with it" .........sure he was 😐) also had a miscarriage and neither of those things was a coincidence .
You see the reason Sara and Peter can't reproduce is apparently because her egg and his sperm are not compatible with anyone's but each other's because their mother Sandra Morray was barely still alive and Peter was conceived one minute before she went into the coma meanwhile Sara was conceived after that point when Sandra's heart had stopped beating ...and she went into the coma.
And if that's true then this next part makes literally no sense whatsoever.
julie is pregnant with Peter's child ? 🤨🤨🤨🤔🤔
https://giphy.com/gifs/bigbrother-big...
HOW?! Genuinely how?!?! (i like to pretend certain aspects of this book never took place and Peter came to his senses and left Julie)
Anyways so Sara and Julie meet and have a confrontation in a way where Julie argues with Sara about Peter and tries to claim that he's hers
https://www.icegif.com/rofl-5/
like girrrllll , give up lol . He's in love with Sara.
Julie had even said competing with Sara for peter's attention would be like competing with Mona Lisa for Leonardo da vinci.
Yet in this final confrontation with Sara she calls Peter "my Peter"
Meanwhile Peter is in an airport after discovering the truth and calls Sara to meet with her and hears her voice and calls her "my Sara"
like ..... https://tenor.com/view/so-you-get-it-...
onto the last scenes . None of the cops know about Sara being the one behind it all and even if they did she has superhuman strength and apparently no one sees her true face.
Sara drowns Julie and she becomes like a "cold one" supposedly but then Rak (there's some Hindu religion mysticism in this book ) saves her by somehow "removing" Sara's breath from Julie's body which Sara uses to make others bound to her and follow her instructions. so sadly, very sadly Julie survives
https://music.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f2...
Meanwhile Peter confronts Sara and she says she wants to sleep with him , and clearly he wants the same but he refuses her for some reason and they end up fighting but during her final moments (she ends up dying. The reason Sara is dying is because Dr. Morray has realized that his first wife Sandra being kept on life support is tied to Sara and when he pulls the plug Sara also fades.) Peter reconciles with her and tells her that he loves her, that hes always loved her and that she was what he spent his whole life looking for without even knowing what he was looking for . And that he would rather die with her than live without her.
https://giphy.com/gifs/abcnetwork-the...
That's how their story ends, with them being reunited again .
Meanwhile Julie, who as i said was inexplicably pregnant , despite it contradicting everything the author has shown to make that literally impossible for her to carry to term.... and names her daughter Cira ...
Cira is the name of a character from a short hindu myth told in the book where shes a blonde haired blue eyed virgin (uh......awkward but okay... ) who has the gift of sight and makes predictions that come true which doesn't make much sense. If the reason for him choosing to make Julie pregnant instead of just having Peter and Sara get together and have the baby (which literally would make more sense and actually be possible) was because Julie was blonde haired and blue eyed (still weird reason to choose her for that) then why isn't "Cira" who's named after the character in that short story, also blonde haired blue eyed? But instead this daughter of hers looks exactly like Sara , has the same dark hair and dark eyes and fair skin ? Why not just make it Sara's daughter?
Apparently the child is supposed to be the re-incarnation of Kali , she represents time, change, creation, power, destruction, and death. She is said to destroy everything in the future but idk about that.
Overall i enjoyed the story but i feel like certain characters should have left the plot long ago and as i said the ending with Sara and Peter being together again in some sense was beautiful to see, i think it would have also been interesting to see if they had ended up together.
I still like this book a lot because its very interesting.
This review will be kinda long. Might make it more entertaining with gifs lol
The book started off interesting with Peter’s and an “unidentified woman” POV’s anyways . Lot of descriptive detail etc.
Peter was interesting and I liked certain actions he took etc . But for me personally I don’t think it makes sense that he literally ever pursued anything with Julie (I’ll get to that later) or why he never dropped her or stopped seeing her . I did like his persistence with Sara but not when he was trying to act the same way with her as he did with others , which he also notices and decides to be more himself with her hence another reason why I like their dynamic.
Basically Peter gets a call from someone claiming to be the serial killer and is asked to meet this man , Chuck, at the los angeles museum of natural history. He contacts the police about it and they have him go undercover with a wire to record it. He happens to meet a woman at the museum named Sara and is immediately taken with her.
After a short conversation with Sara where he tries to get some contact info but fails to , he ends up in the parking lot and a woman named Julie is there. Julie is working towards being a psychologist (which she mentions in EVERY.FUCKING.CONVERSATION because its her whole personality. )
https://giphy.com/gifs/nbcmarlon-seas...
As if thats not bad enough, she has followed Sara's car to the museum thinking it was her husband in the car,Dr. Morray ; a cardiologist. She decided to wait for Sara in the parking lot (for some reason) and instead tries to meet Peter and when she sees he's attractive (WOW) she literally does everything she can to corner him I am not even kidding. She pretends that she can't find her car, pitifully attempts to flirt with him and fails miserably, then when she can't impress him , pesters him into going on a date with her for coffee. Peter finally agrees but lets just say its pretty clear he has no interest in her , all his internal monologues says he doesn't think she's very smart, hes not attracted to her, she agitates him, he doesn't want any commitment with her, etc. etc.
talk about not getting the damn hint..
https://giphy.com/gifs/cbc-schitts-cr...
Peter is legitimately so uninterested in her he even asks her for Sara's (the woman he met at the museum) phone number 💀 . But apparently crazy af Julie is determined to have him no matter what . He legitimately meets up with Sara , kisses her, talks with her, and is digging into her past etc. everything and trying to even make her leave Dr. Morray and be with him because he's fallen for her all the while Julie is still coming around, whining to him and clinging to him, begging for attention like....... meanwhile Peter is basically running out of ways to say this to her
https://tenor.com/view/clueless-as-if...
I have trouble believing this man would ever realistically get with Julie ..... throughout the entire book she is like this but I'll get to that later.
Moving onto Sara . Peter as i said is literally thinking about her 24/7 and i mean it. While he's talking to Julie? Sara. While he's talking to his cop buddies? Sara. While he's doing his investigation? Sara. It's so clear he's falling for her it makes you wonder how Julie is still in the picture and that they've had sex.
He starts digging into sara's past as well and that leads him to uncover things about a woman named Sandra Morray, Sara's birth mother who is in a coma (sara was adopted), Dr. Morray's identity is also revealed, and to add to it Peter , who hadn't known much of anything about his birth parents since he was also adopted turns out to be (spoiler*****Sara's twin brother )
so before i tell you the ending scenes and what happens with the plot it's important to note something . Sara has had a miscarriage , and Peter's ex girlfriend Lisa (who he had not planned to have a baby with but the condom broke and he just accepted it saying he was "okay" with it" .........sure he was 😐) also had a miscarriage and neither of those things was a coincidence .
You see the reason Sara and Peter can't reproduce is apparently because her egg and his sperm are not compatible with anyone's but each other's because their mother Sandra Morray was barely still alive and Peter was conceived one minute before she went into the coma meanwhile Sara was conceived after that point when Sandra's heart had stopped beating ...and she went into the coma.
And if that's true then this next part makes literally no sense whatsoever.
julie is pregnant with Peter's child ? 🤨🤨🤨🤔🤔
https://giphy.com/gifs/bigbrother-big...
HOW?! Genuinely how?!?! (i like to pretend certain aspects of this book never took place and Peter came to his senses and left Julie)
Anyways so Sara and Julie meet and have a confrontation in a way where Julie argues with Sara about Peter and tries to claim that he's hers
https://www.icegif.com/rofl-5/
like girrrllll , give up lol . He's in love with Sara.
Julie had even said competing with Sara for peter's attention would be like competing with Mona Lisa for Leonardo da vinci.
Yet in this final confrontation with Sara she calls Peter "my Peter"
Meanwhile Peter is in an airport after discovering the truth and calls Sara to meet with her and hears her voice and calls her "my Sara"
like ..... https://tenor.com/view/so-you-get-it-...
onto the last scenes . None of the cops know about Sara being the one behind it all and even if they did she has superhuman strength and apparently no one sees her true face.
Sara drowns Julie and she becomes like a "cold one" supposedly but then Rak (there's some Hindu religion mysticism in this book ) saves her by somehow "removing" Sara's breath from Julie's body which Sara uses to make others bound to her and follow her instructions. so sadly, very sadly Julie survives
https://music.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f2...
Meanwhile Peter confronts Sara and she says she wants to sleep with him , and clearly he wants the same but he refuses her for some reason and they end up fighting but during her final moments (she ends up dying. The reason Sara is dying is because Dr. Morray has realized that his first wife Sandra being kept on life support is tied to Sara and when he pulls the plug Sara also fades.) Peter reconciles with her and tells her that he loves her, that hes always loved her and that she was what he spent his whole life looking for without even knowing what he was looking for . And that he would rather die with her than live without her.
https://giphy.com/gifs/abcnetwork-the...
That's how their story ends, with them being reunited again .
Meanwhile Julie, who as i said was inexplicably pregnant , despite it contradicting everything the author has shown to make that literally impossible for her to carry to term.... and names her daughter Cira ...
Cira is the name of a character from a short hindu myth told in the book where shes a blonde haired blue eyed virgin (uh......awkward but okay... ) who has the gift of sight and makes predictions that come true which doesn't make much sense. If the reason for him choosing to make Julie pregnant instead of just having Peter and Sara get together and have the baby (which literally would make more sense and actually be possible) was because Julie was blonde haired and blue eyed (still weird reason to choose her for that) then why isn't "Cira" who's named after the character in that short story, also blonde haired blue eyed? But instead this daughter of hers looks exactly like Sara , has the same dark hair and dark eyes and fair skin ? Why not just make it Sara's daughter?
Apparently the child is supposed to be the re-incarnation of Kali , she represents time, change, creation, power, destruction, and death. She is said to destroy everything in the future but idk about that.
Overall i enjoyed the story but i feel like certain characters should have left the plot long ago and as i said the ending with Sara and Peter being together again in some sense was beautiful to see, i think it would have also been interesting to see if they had ended up together.
I still like this book a lot because its very interesting.
May 26, 2018
first off: the book promises a sequel but one does not yet exist and is not likely to given that it's been over 20 years. DO NOT READ IF THIS WILL BOTHER YOU, because it will be a frustrating waste of time.
the book starts out promising but turns more to gore and confusion than the creeping horror I felt promised in the opening. and the things that felt confusing to me could possibly have been answered in the sequel, but since the sequel doesn't exist I am left terribly unsatisfied.
I had actually read this book about 10 years ago and forgotten almost everything about it, including the fact that I had definitely read it, which I find is never a good sign of book quality.
I love Pike but I can't recommend this book at all. If you want to experience his adult horror, go with Season of Passage instead, which is self-contained and plenty creepy/terrifying.
Edited to add: ALSO there are some sexual assault/rape issues present in the book, including some victim-blaming that pretends to not be victim blaming (the whole "maybe he felt led on and he just lost control" bullshit). I know books are a product of their times and this book is more than 20 years old but it's still always ugly to see and is one more reason I cannot recommend that anybody read this.
the book starts out promising but turns more to gore and confusion than the creeping horror I felt promised in the opening. and the things that felt confusing to me could possibly have been answered in the sequel, but since the sequel doesn't exist I am left terribly unsatisfied.
I had actually read this book about 10 years ago and forgotten almost everything about it, including the fact that I had definitely read it, which I find is never a good sign of book quality.
I love Pike but I can't recommend this book at all. If you want to experience his adult horror, go with Season of Passage instead, which is self-contained and plenty creepy/terrifying.
Edited to add: ALSO there are some sexual assault/rape issues present in the book, including some victim-blaming that pretends to not be victim blaming (the whole "maybe he felt led on and he just lost control" bullshit). I know books are a product of their times and this book is more than 20 years old but it's still always ugly to see and is one more reason I cannot recommend that anybody read this.
October 12, 2012
Wild, just wild. This adult novel by Pike blends horror with sci-fi elements, Hinduism and just plain mad craziness. Most of it read pretty slow though. Why did he stop writing? Entertaining stuff.
July 31, 2011
One of my favorite authors. Some stuff is brilliant, some is just bizarre.
September 26, 2019
Another blast from the past.
I didn't remember much about this one other than . Something about this creeped the hell out of me when I first read it. And I still find it somewhat squeamish-like. I feel like I encountered this similar plot point on an episode of The X-Files, though... This seems to happen a lot with Pike's books. Perhaps he was a fan and, intentionally or unintentionally, brought these twists into his writing (Mulder and Scully did it better, though. Just sayin').
The Cold One was perhaps Pike's most ambitious book in that he had a lot of storylines to juggle. More so than most of his books. They weren't always smooth transitions. They opened a lot of plot holes and left me hanging on more than one point. Probably the most disappointing thread was Govinda's quest to track down and follow the "Monster"....without interacting with it. This was kind of anti-climactic and, in the end, it felt like Pike just got tired of writing this particular thread. Or maybe he just had no idea where it was going so snipped it off prematurely. And it actually didn't even feel like it was part of the story but was just an afterthought way for Pike to insert his New Age-y obsession (almost like he said to himself, "Oh yeah! I forgot to add the bit about Eastern Mythology...so I'd better go back and do that on the rewrite"). Also, there was seemed to be some serious VC Andrews-esque drama going on between . The whole mess of a story is extremely convoluted and the ending was typically tragic in the way we came to expect from Pike.
I seriously need to quit re-reading books I enjoyed as a teen. Because I legit had NO taste. And as a rule I've only ended up hating what I re-read.
I didn't remember much about this one other than . Something about this creeped the hell out of me when I first read it. And I still find it somewhat squeamish-like. I feel like I encountered this similar plot point on an episode of The X-Files, though... This seems to happen a lot with Pike's books. Perhaps he was a fan and, intentionally or unintentionally, brought these twists into his writing (Mulder and Scully did it better, though. Just sayin').
The Cold One was perhaps Pike's most ambitious book in that he had a lot of storylines to juggle. More so than most of his books. They weren't always smooth transitions. They opened a lot of plot holes and left me hanging on more than one point. Probably the most disappointing thread was Govinda's quest to track down and follow the "Monster"....without interacting with it. This was kind of anti-climactic and, in the end, it felt like Pike just got tired of writing this particular thread. Or maybe he just had no idea where it was going so snipped it off prematurely. And it actually didn't even feel like it was part of the story but was just an afterthought way for Pike to insert his New Age-y obsession (almost like he said to himself, "Oh yeah! I forgot to add the bit about Eastern Mythology...so I'd better go back and do that on the rewrite"). Also, there was seemed to be some serious VC Andrews-esque drama going on between . The whole mess of a story is extremely convoluted and the ending was typically tragic in the way we came to expect from Pike.
I seriously need to quit re-reading books I enjoyed as a teen. Because I legit had NO taste. And as a rule I've only ended up hating what I re-read.
December 1, 2022
The book is pretty solid for the first three quarters, but the finale is just... no. But when he's providing characters and day to day interactions, the cast of this book is interesting, with several POV characters (including the Cold One itself, which makes for an interesting contrast to the style of the other characters), and the underlying mystery of who the Cold One is and why is somewhat interesting. Then it takes a left turn into tantric mysticism on a B story that is just kind of weird, and doesn't really pay off in the end. And the ending is very rushed, with the final confrontation petering out and a character doing something very out of character just to end the story. And then there's the epilogue which is very much a sequel stinger (to the point it even says 'the story will continue,' but it never did), and is also very predictable.
I loved Christopher Pike's books as a teenager, and The Season of Passage still resonates in my memory. But The Cold One, which had years of expectation waiting on my shelf before I finally started to read it, and did not live up to the memories of his other works.
I loved Christopher Pike's books as a teenager, and The Season of Passage still resonates in my memory. But The Cold One, which had years of expectation waiting on my shelf before I finally started to read it, and did not live up to the memories of his other works.
November 28, 2025
This book was a nostalgic nightmare of almost everything wrong with 80s/90s/early 2000s horror.
Wall-to-wall lazy racial and gender stereotypes (justice for Jerry, our near 2D former gang member), of-the-time hot topics (gangs, gangs, and MORE GANG MAYHEM in black American communities), nonsensical use of religious philosophy that's (probably) not rooted in genuine cultural knowledge.
Soaked in optimistic yet slyly cynical late-stage Americana cultural dominance, this book is planted firmly in the time and place of its writing... though perhaps moreso the decade prior.
It's both so much more, and so much less, than I fondly remember from all the Point Horror books I read in my tween to early teen days.
Very silly, very salacious. Stupid but fun.
The poorly aged aspects are somehow the best parts. Unlike more recent books riffing on the nostalgic style of genre prose, 'The Cold One' has the benefit of being the genuine artefact. It's like 'Darkplace', only without the retrofitted commentary.
Wall-to-wall lazy racial and gender stereotypes (justice for Jerry, our near 2D former gang member), of-the-time hot topics (gangs, gangs, and MORE GANG MAYHEM in black American communities), nonsensical use of religious philosophy that's (probably) not rooted in genuine cultural knowledge.
Soaked in optimistic yet slyly cynical late-stage Americana cultural dominance, this book is planted firmly in the time and place of its writing... though perhaps moreso the decade prior.
It's both so much more, and so much less, than I fondly remember from all the Point Horror books I read in my tween to early teen days.
Very silly, very salacious. Stupid but fun.
The poorly aged aspects are somehow the best parts. Unlike more recent books riffing on the nostalgic style of genre prose, 'The Cold One' has the benefit of being the genuine artefact. It's like 'Darkplace', only without the retrofitted commentary.
September 29, 2021
I read this book when it was first published and again more recently and honestly I feel like I enjoyed it more this time around. I forgot how twisted the story actually is or maybe it never occurred to me. I never understood who everyone thought they’d be a sequel but I get it now that it could potentially be setup for another book. However, it works in it’s own right as a stand-alone novel and doesn’t feel like a setup for more.
April 26, 2021
Enjoyable and clever story, lots of elements to keep track of but I felt as a reader I was gentley guided through although personally I thought some of the , what were meant to be , "jaw dropping moments" we're actually quite easy to figure out way before the reader was actually given the information. This didn't stop me enjoying the story though.
October 23, 2022
As always, Christopher Pike is full of surprises. There is always a twist and suspense. I just finished this book and found there is a part 2. I can’t wait to read it. The beginning was to get acquainted with the characters and once your in the early middle your start to understand everyone’s role.This read was great and not predictable. I loved it.
December 25, 2017
Loved the plot. Difficult read at time due to POV switches every chapter. However, they gel nicely together in end. If I wasn't already a fan of this author I probably wouldn't have finished. I was not disappointed.
April 10, 2019
Very Dean Koontz-y.
November 30, 2019
I read this book 2 time and will read again..If you love to read novels related to the cold ones then it will be good choice for you...
February 9, 2020
Called it
March 9, 2020
Would read 1000x over
July 25, 2020
Not my favorite christopher pike novel. But it did keep me interested (at times, chilled) by the storyline.
February 2, 2022
The first Christopher pike book I've read that I didn't really like. And, I've read about a dozen.
November 15, 2022
Read this as a child and it has haunted me ever since!
April 16, 2024
So good. Doesn’t disappoint. Great writing!
November 12, 2024
I love read Christopher Pikes books he keeps you glued to his stories he writes and wondering where he gets his ideas for his books or stories.
December 30, 2024
An oldie but still-okay-ie.
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