Barcelona Red Metallic

by Christine Cosack

When the death of a child in a hit-and-run shocks the quiet seaside town of Oyster Hill, police officer Luci Miller is called in to investigate. Her only clue is a fragment of car paint found at the scene—a unique shade of red that could help identify the killer.


Luci’s investigation leads her to Jo Nelson, a grandmother in her seventies, who is deeply affected by the tragedy. She has watched too many parents suffer the loss of a child, having devoted decades of her life to keeping her son Oliver, born with cystic fibrosis, alive. Jo suddenly finds herself in the middle of the chaos when her family falls under suspicion.


The closer Luci gets to Jo, the more she struggles to maintain objectivity. Jo is charming and charismatic—but she has secrets and knows how to keep them. As the investigation draws in around her, Jo must confront the possibility that someone she loves has done the unforgivable.

306 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2024

Reviews

[peach :3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️s!! Maybe I'm not a reader who thinks ahead because I honestly tried to and still ended up shocked. I picked this book up at the Toronto airport as I was leaving because a thriller with a good cover?? It takes place in Canada so it felt really fitting too. Overall I liked the story even though it does get a little slow in the middle but mostly with interesting stuff?? Or at least I found it interesting?? I found it a little harder to read since it was really sciencey and maybe worded a bit strange so my pacing made it slower than it actually was.
Good little mystery and I'm glad I read it.

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book. I felt I had guessed the perpetrator early on but still enjoyed the unfurling of character development. The book touches on so many interesting topics with a compassionate hand: how our parents form us for better and worse, how difficult our relationship can be with the healthcare system that is keeping us alive, how the RCMP is complicit in escalation or de-escalation of difficult situations....and I also loved the portrayal of individuals whose artistic skills came to them in surprising ways. The book took a surprise at the end which was unsettling and then Inspiring. Can we ever completely know the ones we love?

[Melanie Carlsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyably written mystery! Descriptively beautiful and unsettling all at the same time. This book kept me guessing!

[Kerri D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mystery with well drawn characters and things I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about.

[Marcie Saldivar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the storyline was interesting, but a little slow. I was able to guess who the driver of the car was but it took me a little time to weed through the suspects. It’s never who you first suspect, right? I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I won’t say much except the ending wasn’t exactly what I guessed, but I wasn’t too far off. Thank you to the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

[Enid Wray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise but serious flaws in the execution. This needed a much firmer editorial hand on it.

Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. After a tragic, early morning hit-and-run accident involving a little girl, Luci Miller and her team from the RCMP descend on Oyster Hill. When it is discovered that the vehicle involved was Barcelona Red Metallic, a proprietary paint color, they begin tracking down the owners of every red Toyota in the area. One of those owners is Jo Nelson, a grandmother who is also a renowned artist. After spending the better part of her lifetime in and out of hospitals with her son, she has lived a quiet life since his cystic fibrosis was cured with a double lung transplant two decades earlier. As Luci looks closer at Jo, a friendly relationship turns prickly and oozes suspicion. While a crime has been committed, BRM is less a thriller than a closer look at the circumstances around becoming a fierce mama bear and how far a person will go to protect their child. I am conflicted about the amount and depth of CF information surrounding Ollie's childhood because, on one hand, it feels excessive. On the other, it feels important to show the reader the experiences that made Jo. I received a copy from the publisher in ALA’s Grab a Galley, this book came out in October.

[Shane Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An electric book! Barcelona Red Metallic hooked me right from the start, when an unspeakable tragedy sets the events of the novel into motion, then pulled me deeper into a world of nail-biting
suspense and characters I truly cared about. Cosack is a writer of many gifts: her beautifully written prose, her deft ability to believably depict the crushing devotion of motherhood, her talent at diving deep into the investigatory process of hit-and-runs, and the bottomless empathy she brings to each of her characters. But it's the unexpected twists and turns of this suspenseful book that truly left me reading late into the night, moved by this story of what a mother would do to protect those she loves and what a driven investigator will do to bring a murderer to justice. A masterful debut from a writer to watch!

[Liette · Rating 2 out of 5]

What appeared to be a good plot was, unfortunately, rendered less interesting by too many details that brought, in my opinion, nothing to the plot; I honestly don’t see why it was important to talk about the investigator’s sex life and trips or the whole lot of musings by the Josephine character.
Overall, the investigation plot was interesting and would have been more so if part of the unnecessary bits had been truncated.
I was also peeved that the other keeps talking Miles when Canada uses kilometres and there was some misinformation about hospitals in Montreal which is close to home.

[Volare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost rated this at one star but because I enjoyed the scene where one of the characters took a picture of a wolf underwater I gave it two.

There was way too much description of lichens and the C/F experience. A kind editor with a red pencil would have helped the author improve the storytelling. I began to skip all the paragraphs/chapters dealing with C/F and the lichens.

The ending was horrific. I do not think adding a prologue as a panacea to readers such as myself who found the ending stupid and lacking justice was a wise move.

Is there a sequel in the works? That is my only explanation for such a silly, stupid, horrific ending.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating mystery story, deftly told.

[Wayne Eklof · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5*s

[Vontel]

I keep finding other books to read...haven't really gotten into this book. Want to read it, though.