Cold Foot

The House on Glass Beach #4.3

by Laura Susan Johnson

Eighteen year old Shyla Kapek is arrested for the beating death of a sixty-seven year old woman in Alaska. The case attracts the attention of careworn animal rights activist Tammy Mattheis, who travels to Alaska to stand in support of the young woman. As Shyla's dark history with the victim comes to light, Tammy realizes that unless he makes some changes, his own sanity is in danger.

Characters: Shyla Kapek, Tammy Mattheis, Bernadette Swinning, Jamie Pearce, Peggy Mattheis, Natalie Mattheis

time frame: This story takes place after "Crush" ends, and during the period in "Bright" when Natalie Mattheis has just lost her mother and is beginning to make the decision to move to Idaho.

Setting: Coldfoot, Alaska; Fairbanks, Alaska

14 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Laura Susan Johnson has been writing since age eleven, cutting her teeth on tales of the family pets. Aside from writing, Laura Susan enjoys quilting, playing around with colorful makeup, clothing and hair colors, web design, and vegan cooking. She resides in California, Idaho, Arkansas, and the northern coast of Oregon.

Reviews

[Michelle MacIsaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

FYI this short story has characters previously introduced in Laura Johnson's book "Crush" so unless you have read Crush you might be confused as to what is going on at times. Tammy from Crush is a writer and researcher for animal rights. This story is about one experience in particular, that occurs as Tammy is coming to a personal impasse in his career. As he learns about a case of murder and animal abuse, Tammy is obviously aware that if he does not "retire" from the harsher side of his calling, he could easily become the young woman who committed a homicide for the sake of a dog. The suspect is co-narrator with Tammy, and my one gripe with this story would be that it reads too swiftly, seems to fly before you can really get a grip on the essense of the characters (though I know I am in a minority with this. Most readers like a fast, to the point read.). I wager with a second reading I will be able to absorb more emotionally.

More FYI this is not a story of erotica and says very little about the fact that Tammy is a gay man and married to Jamie, who was also a main character from Crush. The story is mostly introspective rather than action based, but fast paced withal, and thrusts you immediately into the story and into the plight of both narrators. Well done!

[Bonny Knox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sad story very hard to read for me because I love dogs ! I'd give Shayla a medal if I could!

[Trisha Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Laura Susan Johnson. She made me fall in love with her debut novel and I am desperate to read more from her. Cold Foot has Tammy from Crush in it. It's not a sequel, but a short spin off of the story. I loved this and it was really short, but really good. The abuse of animals is horrible, but this book describes things so well.

Highly recommend this!

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Tammy and Jamie in Crush but I was hoping that when I got to read them again it wouldn't be a dreary story as this. In Crush there was so much redemption and hope but in this one they just seemed sad. There has to be a more positive life in front of Tammy and Jamie. As well as a book filled with them both not just one and a little of the other. I felt such happiness at the end of Crush but this book took it away.

[Tracy~Bayou Book Junkie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just a very short story of Tammy who is one of the MC's in the book CRUSH. If you haven't read Crush, you need to read it for this to make sense. This revolves around some of the undercover work Tammy does for his stories, and how it is effecting him.

[Leaflitterlady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story freaks me out!