COLD DREAD: A gripping mystery thriller

by Bernadette Calonego, Gerald Chapple (translator)

A brutal assault in broad daylight. Young snowmobilers stalking a polar bear discover a bloodied woman unconscious in the snow.
Calista Gates, the police chief of a remote coastal town in Newfoundland, is faced with a puzzle. Why didn`t anyone who lives nearby in the fishing cove report the incident despite having a clear view of the spot where it took place?
Two days later Calista discovers the body of a local troublemaker who hates her. Bullets are lodged between his ribs.
As if this weren’t enough, Calista’s lover, Gerald Hynes, goes missing in the freezing cold of subarctic Labrador. He was last seen around a mysterious crater where a demon is said to swallow intruders.
Beside herself with worry, Calista remembers a cold case from eight years earlier. That summer, four women trekking in the exact same area vanished without a trace. Why did Gerald go there? Are all these incidents somehow connected?
Calista, under enormous pressure, realizes too late that someone is betraying her—and it could destroy her life.


The author Bernadette Calonego whose books have appeared with Piper, Ullstein, and Edition M and have been translated into English, has lived for more than twenty years in Canada, where she has been inspired by the country’s wilderness and her expeditions to the north. The German version of her mystery novel Stormy Cove became a bestseller, and Oh, wie schön ist Kanada!, a nonfiction book about her experiences as a foreign newspaper correspondent, landed on the renowned bestseller list of the German magazine Der Spiegel.

What German readers wrote on Amazon about this mystery

“Ms. Calonego has once again admirably used her local knowledge and her feeling for the area and the people who live there to tell a strong and exciting, atmospherically dense and complex story, made up of many pieces, similar to a quilt.” (Gabriele)

“Calista Gates is a great protagonist, she is clever, courageous and authentic.” (Ledamiabook)

“I also found the plot quite excellent, plus a really harmoniously integrated arctic background with a great natural landscape.” (reader)

“The characters seem believable, lively; the motives are comprehensible. The book had captivated me from beginning to end.” (Maxim14)

“Bernadette Calonego tells an exciting and fast-paced story fluently and eloquently. The ending still holds some surprises and is completely coherent in itself.” (eiger59)

“What I personally like is the language, rich in images and precise. Not in the style of a 5th grade essay, but in the style of a writer who knows her profession.” (Eva Prinz)

“A really ice-cold story with a very specific twist that I didn't expect, but which really makes me curious to see what happens next!” (NiliBine70)

444 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 27, 2024

About the author

I was born and raised in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, on Lake Lucerne, a very picturesque area with mountains and lakes. I grew up in a house full of book lovers. As a child, I sneaked in my brothers' rooms to read their adventure books like "Ivanhoe", "The Leatherstocking Tales", "Treasure Island", "Robinson Crusoe", "Huckleberry Finn". Or I persuaded my mother that I was old enough to read romances (they were really harmless!). To make me happy, I wanted nothing more than read a good book while eating an apple, and to be left alone!

My mother, a poet, encouraged me to try my hand at writing at an early age. My first publication was a fairytale, which appeared in a Swiss newspaper when I was eleven years old.

But I did not turn into a writer right away. I became a teacher, then a reporter and a foreign correspondent.

My career has included working as a reporter/editor for Reuters newsagency in Zurich. My time covering financial news for Reuters inspired my book "The Zurich Conspiracy".

From 1990 to 2000, I was the foreign correspondent for “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the largest circulation daily newspaper in Germany, reporting from Switzerland. After I had emigrated to Canada, I wrote regularly for newspapers and magazines in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

I now reside and work as a crime novelist near Vancouver, Canada, on the beautiful Sunshine Coast (okay, in winter, it is raining a lot). Visitors in my backyard include black bears, racoons, coyotes and bold eagles. You can also find me often in northern Newfoundland on Canada's east coast which is moose, polar bear and humpback whale territory.
My popular mystery thriller series with intrepid RCMP detective sergeant Calista Gates is set in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Come and read my English blog on my website www.bernadettecalonego.com
You can also contact me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernadetteCa...
Or Instagram @bernadettecalonegoauthor
Or Tiktok @bernadettecalonego.author

I would love to hear from you!

Reviews

[Booksandchinooks (Laurie)]

Another atmospheric and compelling book from this author! As with all her books this one completely transports you to the setting. I love that this story is also set in Canada with the returning character of Detective Calista Gates, the chief of police in Newfoundland. The intrigue, tension, and suspenseful buildup is palpable throughout the book. The cases she is working on are captivating! Make sure to give this one a read. This is the 5th book in a series but can be read as a standalone.

[Judith Porter]

Bernadette Calonego’s fifth thriller continues to raise the reader’s blood pressure as they turn pages filled with murder, mystery, and the cold, arctic-like tundra of the eastern most province of Canada. Calista, the police chief, is not only dealing with an unexplained beating of a local woman but must also investigate the body of a man found in an outhouse. If that weren’t enough, her lover is missing near a mysterious crater miles away, where some women disappeared eight years earlier. Once again, the book’s point of view changes with each chapter. And there are many points of view. I almost wish the author had included a ‘cast of characters’ in the front of the book (like the old-fashioned British mysteries used to do). It would be so much easier to check back as to who’s who.
But I am fascinated with the dreaded cold atmosphere where the story takes place and how the characters must interact with the weather just to get through the day. The readers will be treated to a fast-paced, high adventure that covers eight years of turmoil. A great read.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me COLD! I didn't read a single page while I wasn't snuggled in under a thick, warm blanket. The freezing setting of a Newfoundland winter had me feeling as though I was inside the story. Brrrrrrr!

I love that us readers get not one, but two cases to solve. This one kept me guessing.

Cold Dread is the 5th book in the Detective Calista Gates series. These books can be read as standalones but I encourage you to read them in order.

My thanks to the author for the gifted copy. I look forward to the next installment.

[Michele Hodder · Rating 4 out of 5]

RCMP Detective Sergeant Calista Gates finds herself in the middle of several new cases in Newfoundland and Labrador. They seem unrelated - but are they? In Bernadette Calonego’s 5th book about this remarkable woman, readers will once again have to try to put together the pieces. As per her usual style, the author introduces a wide cast of characters in multiple locations and multiple situations. While I have read some reviews of previous books that call this confusing, I enjoy trying to figure out how things will all come together in the end.

This book, as the others in the series, is very easy to read. It does an excellent job of describing locations (I live in the part of Newfoundland where the sergeant works) and twists and turns towards a satisfying conclusion, with some shocking events along the way.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime stories and look forward to the next instalment of Sergeant Gates’ adventures.

[Patty Guerard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading this series, which takes place in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Calista Gates is the police chief of the small village of St. Anthony. Calista is never working on just one case, always seeming to have other cases - some old cases- come forward to add pieces to the puzzle of the current case she and her team are trying to solve. In the midst of two current active cases, Gerald Hynes, Calista’s lover, has to travel to Labrador, and goes missing in the freezing cold. All the while, she is looking over her shoulder, trying to discover who from the RCMP is trying to destroy her and her career. The author’s knowledge of the areas actually lends credence to the story and its characters. Full of twists and turns, mysterious disappearances in a cold case, and problems in her team, this thriller from Bernadette Calonego will keep you on the edge of your seat. Hoping this series will continue!

[Judith]

This latest Decetive Calista Gates Book 5, was almost impossible to put down. So much angst you will want to keep the kleenex nearby. Bernadette Calonego has again provided storylines that are believeable, characters that many readers can relate to people they know. Love the discriptions of the sub-artic towns where the story takes place, the reader can visualize the locations and feel the cold. Would highly recomment this author and the books she writes.

[MR J E POOLE · Rating 4 out of 5]

It brought the cold isolation of the environment home so well I felt cold every time I read the book.

Good story, great characters. Will look forward to a follow up. Maybe a series of Calista stories required in due course.