Cold Crash

by Jennifer Young

When Archaeologist Max Falkland, the Anglo-American daughter of a British peer, meets American John Knox in London in April 1952, her already troubled life takes on mystery. Is the foreign manager of the Universal Dispatch as he claims? And when Max flies her plane to Scotland to undertake fieldwork why should she overhear whispered arguments in Russian coming from the couple in the next room?

Questions continue as Max’s plane malfunctions, and she witnesses lights across the moors appearing to answer flashes from the sea. And when she meets the enigmatic Richard Ash, a local landowner and recluse, has she found someone to confide in about the suspicions. Mr Knox, who appears unexpectedly after an archeological dive that might have been prey to sabotage or merely accident. Suspecting a covert Soviet military plot, Max finds herself in serious danger.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 9, 2017

About the author

Jennifer Young was born in a small textile town in North Carolina, USA and moved to the UK in 2001. She has since completed a PhD, become the daughter-in-law of a Catholic priest and gained British citizenship. Her degrees are from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Cardiff University and the University of Southampton. She is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and an Associate Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire. Jennifer lives in North London with her husband and daughter.

Her novel Cold Crash won the Cinnamon Press Debut Novel Prize.

Follow Jennifer at www.maxfalkland.com or on Twitter @maxfalkland.

Reviews

[Jennifer Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an engaging read! Just started and it pulled me right in!

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great leading character who lives in the memory - Max Falkland with her plane and her Aston Martin and her doctorate in Archaeology and her 1950s New Look dresses - she seems a blend of Aubrey and Katherine Hepburn and definitely a woman who has it all. But she has her demons too, and her particularly grief for the recent death of her brother in the Korean war. Most of the period detail is very convincing, and the family scenes are enjoyable and lightly amusing. However the plethora of supporting characters, friends and relatives, which are introduced with regularity right up until the final pages, do (for me) tend to detract from the suspense and excitement of the tale. There is a central section which is genuinely extremely exciting, remniscient of Le Carre or even Greene. It takes a long time coming though, and the earlier plane crash scene doesn't have nearly so much jeopardy. I personally would have liked fewer supporting characters and more about the archaeology (what are they looking for off Mull?) and about the plane and the technology. A pilot in that era would have surely have had more mechanical insight than Max shows - she seems almost incurious about the cause of the cold crash itself, and it's never explained (though we may assume sabotage). Also I would have thought that for her, in 1952, despite her own danger, the sight of an air sea helicopter would have aroused some curiosity. [It seemed so early I checked this out for historical accuracy but was relieved to find that the Westland Dragonfly did indeed enter service with the RNAS in 1950]. The same would go for a submarine; it would have been nice if the author had shown us how it looked. Even in the old Biggles books (or for that matter, Worrals, his female counterpart) there was more technical detail.
There are some inaccuracies I can't explain though - the mention of 'Viking Age settlements in the North Sea Region - Cardigan, Newport and Fishguard' had me flummoxed. Surely that should say Irish Sea - or am I missing something? There are several mentions of the world toilet to mean what would always be called, by anyone of that class in the 50s, the lavatory. The British Library is referred to several times, in a kind of running joke, but then they would have said 'British Museum'.
However it's an enjoyable read with a great leading lady and a stimulatingly mysterious leading man, John Knox.

[Annette Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a ripping yarn and quite enjoyable. Felt frustrated on the heroine's behalf at all the restrictions on women in the 1950's and her so feisty, too. Had to suspend belief at some points in the plot though.
For example (spoiler alert): why did she go up to Mull for two days knowing she'd have to come down for her birthday only to have to go straight back up again if not just to introduce Angus (unnecessarily in my view) to the plot; would Victor and Emma really have followed her up and missed the party?; would the Russians really have acted as they did on the word of Richard Ash who had met her twice? Also, it's never explained who sabotaged her plane or why, or who sabotaged her and Victor's diving gear or why. I won't go on.
*End of spoilers* But once belief was suspended and I went with it it was an easy read that romped along quite entertainingly.

[Stephanie Percival · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel, it is well plotted with tension developing steadily. Max Falkland the feisty female protagonist is excellent and the attention to detail of setting and manners came across well.
But I found the writing style occasionally threw up some odd sentences and I was not always sure who was speaking during dialogue, which meant I'd have to re-read paragraphs, interrupting the flow of the narrative. However, this did not spoil my overall enjoyment of this entertaining novel.

[Hazel Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, fast paced, tense and with a great female lead. Recommended.

[Liz Maisey · Rating 2 out of 5]

SM - Nov 17