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The Fractured Europe Sequence
Cold Water
A dazzling, visionary and original thriller of future espionage, broken borders, and impossible secrets. Set in the same future as the Fractured Europe Sequence, soon to be a major TV series called Europa.
To uncover the truth, you must risk everything
When Carey Tews retired from Les Coureurs - the clandestine organisation of high-risk smugglers - she swore she'd never go back. Her cover in Hungary was blown, and even if she could have returned, she wouldn't. That is, until an old friend and lover is found dead in mysterious circumstances.
Back for one last job in a Europe fractured into a hundred tiny principalities, with civil unrest and political instability the norm, she must navigate local authorities, rogue operatives and Russian spies.
What she doesn't know is that the investigation will take her to places she couldn't even imagine.
To uncover the truth, you must risk everything
When Carey Tews retired from Les Coureurs - the clandestine organisation of high-risk smugglers - she swore she'd never go back. Her cover in Hungary was blown, and even if she could have returned, she wouldn't. That is, until an old friend and lover is found dead in mysterious circumstances.
Back for one last job in a Europe fractured into a hundred tiny principalities, with civil unrest and political instability the norm, she must navigate local authorities, rogue operatives and Russian spies.
What she doesn't know is that the investigation will take her to places she couldn't even imagine.
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2022
19 people are currently reading
267 people want to read
About the author
Dave Hutchinson
54 books238 followersUK writer who published four volumes of stories by the age of twenty-one – Thumbprints, which is mostly fantasy, Fools' Gold, Torn Air and The Paradise Equation, all as David Hutchinson – and then moved into journalism. The deftness and quiet humaneness of his work was better than precocious, though the deracinatedness of the worlds depicted in the later stories may have derived in part from the author's apparent isolation from normal publishing channels.
After a decade of nonfiction, Hutchinson returned to the field as Dave Hutchinson, assembling later work in As the Crow Flies; tales like "The Pavement Artist" use sf devices to represent, far more fully than in his early work, a sense of the world as inherently and tragically not a platform for Transcendence. His first novel, The Villages, is Fantasy; The Push, an sf tale set in the Human Space sector of the home galaxy, describes the inception of Faster Than Light travel and some consequent complications when expanding humanity settles on a planet full of Alien life. Europe in Autumn (2014), an sf thriller involving espionage, takes place in a highly fragmented and still fragmenting Near-Future Europe, one of whose sovereign mini-nations is a transcontinental railway line; over the course of the central plot – which seems to reflect some aspects of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 – the protagonist becomes involved in the Paranoia-inducing Les Coureurs des Bois, a mysterious postal service which also delivers humans across innumerable borders.
- See more at: http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hutc...
Works
* The Villages (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Cosmos Books, 2001)
* Europe in Autumn (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2014)
Collections and Stories
* Thumbprints (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Fools' Gold (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Torn Air (London: Abelard, 1980)
* The Paradise Equation (London: Abelard, 1981)
* As the Crow Flies (Wigan, Lancashire: BeWrite Books, 2004)
* The Push (Alconbury Weston, Cambridgeshire: NewCon Press, 2009)
After a decade of nonfiction, Hutchinson returned to the field as Dave Hutchinson, assembling later work in As the Crow Flies; tales like "The Pavement Artist" use sf devices to represent, far more fully than in his early work, a sense of the world as inherently and tragically not a platform for Transcendence. His first novel, The Villages, is Fantasy; The Push, an sf tale set in the Human Space sector of the home galaxy, describes the inception of Faster Than Light travel and some consequent complications when expanding humanity settles on a planet full of Alien life. Europe in Autumn (2014), an sf thriller involving espionage, takes place in a highly fragmented and still fragmenting Near-Future Europe, one of whose sovereign mini-nations is a transcontinental railway line; over the course of the central plot – which seems to reflect some aspects of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 – the protagonist becomes involved in the Paranoia-inducing Les Coureurs des Bois, a mysterious postal service which also delivers humans across innumerable borders.
- See more at: http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hutc...
Works
* The Villages (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Cosmos Books, 2001)
* Europe in Autumn (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2014)
Collections and Stories
* Thumbprints (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Fools' Gold (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Torn Air (London: Abelard, 1980)
* The Paradise Equation (London: Abelard, 1981)
* As the Crow Flies (Wigan, Lancashire: BeWrite Books, 2004)
* The Push (Alconbury Weston, Cambridgeshire: NewCon Press, 2009)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 20, 2022
Cold Water is a return to the world of Hutchinson's Fractured Europe, some time after the events of Europe in Autumn, Europe At Midnight, Europe at Dawn and Europe in Winter. It doesn't assume any familiarity with those, although if you are you'll be rewarded by posting some referencing and of course you will have a head start in understanding the background. This is a world devastated by a viral plague; a world where the states of Europe have fragmented into statelets, free towns and pocket republics; and a world interpenetrated by alternate, pocket universes.
Against that background, we're given a twisty, tense and involving thriller mixing espionage, crime and derring-do. Carey Tews, a woman form the Republic of Taxes, has retired from the shadowy network Les Coureurs. She reckons she's getting too old for the work, and besides, her cover blown by what happened in Hungary (don't talk to her about Hungary!) But like Smiley of old, she's invited back to carry out One Last Job when her recruiter, mentor, and sometime lover, Maksim, gets himself killed in a little Polish town that's winding up to declare independence.
The story also follows Krista, a young Estonian police woman, whose investigation into a gangster's operations in Tallinn is rudely interrupted by scandal from the past, by way of Russian agents, a drunken journalist, and a crew of juvenile hackers and forgers who get you any credentials you might need. As always with Hutchinson's books the detail and plotting is meticulous, creating set-ups and pay-offs that are just so good, they could hang as works of art in any museum. There are mysteries here - so I am being vague about what actually happens - and they're fiendishly nested mysteries, so that while I spotted one or two points coming, the how and the why of their fit with the wider story absolutely took me by surprise.
There are some superb characters here too. Carey is just magnificent, a richly portrayed, complex woman who - whatever she believes - is at the top of her game. I love reading stories in which competent, experienced people meet difficult challenges head on: books where you have a sense that there is just so much happening - real danger combined with plausible, calculated courses of action... which don't always come off.
Depicting all that background doesn't make the story slow, not at all - there is plenty going on here from the start, which opens with a clandestine meet that wouldn't be out of place in the (old style, TV) Mission: Impossible, to the conclusion - a tense, high stakes confrontation at a deserted border post. The pace never lets up, with the parts dealing with Carey's history actually adding tension because - as we empathise more and more with her - we see just how impossible is the task she's undertaken (and why she didn't want it).
(In passing, I was particularly impressed by the way that is able to leverage the experience of covid to locate his story even more sharply in the imagined future (middle of the 21st century?) His "Xian 'flu" isn't covid, it is even more devastating - and it was mentioned in the earlier books. Still, the experience of lockdown, of helplessness as friends and loved ones succumb and the reality that things have changed, is deep in the DNA of this book making very real speculative fiction).
Vastly enjoyable, fun, and sharply observed. Read it.
Against that background, we're given a twisty, tense and involving thriller mixing espionage, crime and derring-do. Carey Tews, a woman form the Republic of Taxes, has retired from the shadowy network Les Coureurs. She reckons she's getting too old for the work, and besides, her cover blown by what happened in Hungary (don't talk to her about Hungary!) But like Smiley of old, she's invited back to carry out One Last Job when her recruiter, mentor, and sometime lover, Maksim, gets himself killed in a little Polish town that's winding up to declare independence.
The story also follows Krista, a young Estonian police woman, whose investigation into a gangster's operations in Tallinn is rudely interrupted by scandal from the past, by way of Russian agents, a drunken journalist, and a crew of juvenile hackers and forgers who get you any credentials you might need. As always with Hutchinson's books the detail and plotting is meticulous, creating set-ups and pay-offs that are just so good, they could hang as works of art in any museum. There are mysteries here - so I am being vague about what actually happens - and they're fiendishly nested mysteries, so that while I spotted one or two points coming, the how and the why of their fit with the wider story absolutely took me by surprise.
There are some superb characters here too. Carey is just magnificent, a richly portrayed, complex woman who - whatever she believes - is at the top of her game. I love reading stories in which competent, experienced people meet difficult challenges head on: books where you have a sense that there is just so much happening - real danger combined with plausible, calculated courses of action... which don't always come off.
Depicting all that background doesn't make the story slow, not at all - there is plenty going on here from the start, which opens with a clandestine meet that wouldn't be out of place in the (old style, TV) Mission: Impossible, to the conclusion - a tense, high stakes confrontation at a deserted border post. The pace never lets up, with the parts dealing with Carey's history actually adding tension because - as we empathise more and more with her - we see just how impossible is the task she's undertaken (and why she didn't want it).
(In passing, I was particularly impressed by the way that is able to leverage the experience of covid to locate his story even more sharply in the imagined future (middle of the 21st century?) His "Xian 'flu" isn't covid, it is even more devastating - and it was mentioned in the earlier books. Still, the experience of lockdown, of helplessness as friends and loved ones succumb and the reality that things have changed, is deep in the DNA of this book making very real speculative fiction).
Vastly enjoyable, fun, and sharply observed. Read it.
Read
October 19, 2022An unexpected return to the world of Hutchinson's Fractured Europe quartet, and one which can't entirely dodge the problem of writing near-future SF in uncertain times: your future can very easily start looking like an offshoot timeline instead as the conditions in which it was founded shift. Yes, the Xian flu pandemic in the setting's past now looks prescient, and gets fleshed out more here than I think we've seen before, heavily informed by our own recent experience (arguably too much so, given how much deadlier it was than the 2020s' rather feeble pathogen). The line about "the hopefulness of the early days after the flu, when things had seemed new and people tried to rebuild their shattered lives and all things had seemed possible because they had just survived an apocalypse" falls especially flat; it feels like something written in early to mid-2021, when some people were still mug enough to be talking about a new roaring twenties, and not revised in light of the ongoing, exhausting clusterfuck since. As for the core notion of Brexit and plague kicking off a cascade failure of the borderless European project, that now seems considerably further-fetched than it did, not least because everyone else has seen what a basket case it's left Britain. Sure, there are still independence movements, but they seem to be looking for greater autonomy while remaining within the European framework, rather than throwing up the border posts and barbed wire. This side of the Atlantic, at any rate; one of Cold Water's smarter moves is an increasing focus on what's happening in America, where it's easier by the day to believe that the Union can't last. Similarly, much of the plot revolves around the Russians sneakily destabilising neighbouring countries they still regard as part of their empire, and while the smarmy, knowingly unconvincing denials (which some people who should know better nevertheless accept) are note-perfect, the quiet, efficient information warfare would have been a lot more plausible last year than it is now, after eight months of open shitzkrieg.
Putting all of which collisions of established worldbuilding with chaotic world to one side, does it deliver as a continuation of the established series' mood? Yes and no. There are mysterious Coureur schemes, wheels within wheels, further developments of the setting's stranger side – though as with the initial books, you get a fair way in before that bit comes to light, and for a while early on I was wondering if it even needed to be a Fractured Europe book rather than a stand-alone espionage thriller. But while some characters from before recur, I found it difficult entirely investing in the protagonists here, of whom there are three, though it took me too long even to get that clear, as I spent a while thinking that they were the same woman at different stages in her life – the seldom-seen Reverse Fifth Season, if only it had been deliberate. Two of the three are journalists, two of the three are in Tallinn, all have a certain outsider quality and bloody-mindedness – and Hutchinson exacerbates the issue by often beginning chapters 'She...', and only giving names once we're underway. One of them fades out altogether well before the end, reduced to a background figure; even for the other two, what could have been distinguishing features are left in abeyance, so we're well into the latter half before there's much mileage made out of the fact that Carey (the Texan ex-Coureur dragged back in by an ex's apparent death, and the most engaging of the trio) has an advantage in spycraft through the invisibility women of a certain age attain. The weird thing is that it's only the POV characters thus afflicted; for people they see, as with places, Hutchinson retains an enviable ability to fix them in your mind with a quick, deft pen-portrait – but who and what the protagonists are seems more elusive than who and what they see.
About three quarters of the way through, there's a sudden flurry of gnomic lampshading with lines like "Life is not a thriller, where everything is neatly tied up at the end", which put in place the suspicion that the ending might not be entirely satisfying, and so it proves, even such resolution as we do get verging on a shaggy dog story. There's a gesture in the direction of a theme regarding genuinely awful men camouflaging themselves as loveably awful men, but it doesn't feel sufficiently developed to carry much, and the new wrinkles in the setting have a definite sense of diminishing returns, even as they hint at another layer of the onion. Possibly this all indicates that the book is setting up a new series, though if so the titles certainly aren't looking as resonant as first time around, when the name Europe In Autumn was what first got my attention. What next, Fizzy Water, then Hot Water, and finally Still Water? The maddening thing is, I will still probably read them anyway, so for all my complaints he must be doing something right.
(Netgalley ARC)
Putting all of which collisions of established worldbuilding with chaotic world to one side, does it deliver as a continuation of the established series' mood? Yes and no. There are mysterious Coureur schemes, wheels within wheels, further developments of the setting's stranger side – though as with the initial books, you get a fair way in before that bit comes to light, and for a while early on I was wondering if it even needed to be a Fractured Europe book rather than a stand-alone espionage thriller. But while some characters from before recur, I found it difficult entirely investing in the protagonists here, of whom there are three, though it took me too long even to get that clear, as I spent a while thinking that they were the same woman at different stages in her life – the seldom-seen Reverse Fifth Season, if only it had been deliberate. Two of the three are journalists, two of the three are in Tallinn, all have a certain outsider quality and bloody-mindedness – and Hutchinson exacerbates the issue by often beginning chapters 'She...', and only giving names once we're underway. One of them fades out altogether well before the end, reduced to a background figure; even for the other two, what could have been distinguishing features are left in abeyance, so we're well into the latter half before there's much mileage made out of the fact that Carey (the Texan ex-Coureur dragged back in by an ex's apparent death, and the most engaging of the trio) has an advantage in spycraft through the invisibility women of a certain age attain. The weird thing is that it's only the POV characters thus afflicted; for people they see, as with places, Hutchinson retains an enviable ability to fix them in your mind with a quick, deft pen-portrait – but who and what the protagonists are seems more elusive than who and what they see.
About three quarters of the way through, there's a sudden flurry of gnomic lampshading with lines like "Life is not a thriller, where everything is neatly tied up at the end", which put in place the suspicion that the ending might not be entirely satisfying, and so it proves, even such resolution as we do get verging on a shaggy dog story. There's a gesture in the direction of a theme regarding genuinely awful men camouflaging themselves as loveably awful men, but it doesn't feel sufficiently developed to carry much, and the new wrinkles in the setting have a definite sense of diminishing returns, even as they hint at another layer of the onion. Possibly this all indicates that the book is setting up a new series, though if so the titles certainly aren't looking as resonant as first time around, when the name Europe In Autumn was what first got my attention. What next, Fizzy Water, then Hot Water, and finally Still Water? The maddening thing is, I will still probably read them anyway, so for all my complaints he must be doing something right.
(Netgalley ARC)
January 17, 2023
More Fractured Europe from Mr. Hutchinson? Let me at 'em, I say! This will, probably, grow into another trilogy at least, which I'm utterly cool with.
November 12, 2022
Dave Hutchinson returns to Fractured Europe with a new novel that doesn’t feature Rudi and instead picks up on a very minor character from Europe In Winter. The flavour is the same though - it’s insanely complicated, and will make your head hurt as you try to keep the various timelines, sides, motives, and schemes straight. But it doesn’t really matter if you can, because confusing or not it’s so very readable and the journey is terrific fun even if you have no idea what the destination is. These books really are some of the best espionage fiction being written today, and deserve the same broadsheet kudos as a Mick Herron.
January 26, 2023
“She sipped her coffee. “Do you think your father will do something stupid?” He thought about it. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “It’s hard to know where the boundaries of stupid are, any more.”
The Fractured Europe and its pocket universes, is indeed a creation simply too darn good to be abandoned, Dave Hutchinson's literary genius sleight of hand. This tome's adventure occurs some years after the events of the main series, with a few secondary characters reappering and a mention of Rudi (not by his name, but it's him who Michael mentions). The wonder of the world's creation, explored in the previous series, is naturally gone, and now we are served a fun return to a place much loved, with new great companions. Very satisfying and hopefully there will be more, there's certainly lots of room for that, pardon the pun.
“What do you think of,” he asked, picking up his spoon and stirring his coffee, “when you hear the word ‘disinformation’?” “Deception. Black propaganda. Fake news.” Alver took a sip of his coffee, frowned at the cup, put it back on its saucer. “The nature of disinformation has changed slightly, down the years. At one time, it was just about spreading lies, and you’ll have to believe me when I tell you those were simpler, better times. These days, it’s all about making people unsure what to believe. If all news is fake, what is real? How is one to decide? In an environment like that, even the most implausible lies can seem true. To a large enough number of people to make a difference, anyway. Even when they’re proved to be lies, people will still insist they’re the truth. In a sense, ‘truth’ no longer matters. Truth is what the largest percentage of the population believes.”
The Fractured Europe and its pocket universes, is indeed a creation simply too darn good to be abandoned, Dave Hutchinson's literary genius sleight of hand. This tome's adventure occurs some years after the events of the main series, with a few secondary characters reappering and a mention of Rudi (not by his name, but it's him who Michael mentions). The wonder of the world's creation, explored in the previous series, is naturally gone, and now we are served a fun return to a place much loved, with new great companions. Very satisfying and hopefully there will be more, there's certainly lots of room for that, pardon the pun.
“What do you think of,” he asked, picking up his spoon and stirring his coffee, “when you hear the word ‘disinformation’?” “Deception. Black propaganda. Fake news.” Alver took a sip of his coffee, frowned at the cup, put it back on its saucer. “The nature of disinformation has changed slightly, down the years. At one time, it was just about spreading lies, and you’ll have to believe me when I tell you those were simpler, better times. These days, it’s all about making people unsure what to believe. If all news is fake, what is real? How is one to decide? In an environment like that, even the most implausible lies can seem true. To a large enough number of people to make a difference, anyway. Even when they’re proved to be lies, people will still insist they’re the truth. In a sense, ‘truth’ no longer matters. Truth is what the largest percentage of the population believes.”
January 14, 2023
DNF@48%
November 20, 2022
First things first - this book wasn't really for me. I don't think I fall in the intended audience age-wise, and I constantly felt lost since I hadn't read the author's other works set in this same world. I thought I could read it alone since it is a new series, but I felt a lack of worldbuilding.
However, even if I personally wasn't invested, I can still observe that the plot was well-done and that there were some funny dialogue moments. Hence the 3 stars. The story was solid!
The plot, while a tad meandering and constantly visiting past experiences, did have a sustained momentum forward in figuring out what happened to Maksim. I also wasn't sure that the multiple POVs were going to pan out to be important to the story, but one of them did end up giving some interesting background. The other, we could have done without, in my opinion.
Carey was interesting as a main character. She's a little jaded, a little blunt, a little emotionally stunted. Her narration is colored by some hurts in her past, and she draws empathy. I just want her to be able to retire and stop dealing with other people's silly crap (ie, Maksim). Other than Carey, though, Magda may have been the strongest character, and she's not even there until like 50% through. Cold Water is not a character-focused book.
I do feel like I missed a lot of the pop culture references. However, I found some of the dialogue particularly funny. All of which may indicate that my humor is that of a 50 year old woman but I do not have the cultural knowledge to actually be a 50 year old woman. Oh, well.
There was a lot happening in the book, but the action wasn't overwhelming. It felt like a cozy mystery-esque/spy novel read, very easy to pick up and put down as needed. I thought the ending came together nicely!
I would recommend this to fans of the author or those who enjoy light spy + light dystopian novels!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Solaris, for letting me read this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
However, even if I personally wasn't invested, I can still observe that the plot was well-done and that there were some funny dialogue moments. Hence the 3 stars. The story was solid!
The plot, while a tad meandering and constantly visiting past experiences, did have a sustained momentum forward in figuring out what happened to Maksim. I also wasn't sure that the multiple POVs were going to pan out to be important to the story, but one of them did end up giving some interesting background. The other, we could have done without, in my opinion.
Carey was interesting as a main character. She's a little jaded, a little blunt, a little emotionally stunted. Her narration is colored by some hurts in her past, and she draws empathy. I just want her to be able to retire and stop dealing with other people's silly crap (ie, Maksim). Other than Carey, though, Magda may have been the strongest character, and she's not even there until like 50% through. Cold Water is not a character-focused book.
I do feel like I missed a lot of the pop culture references. However, I found some of the dialogue particularly funny. All of which may indicate that my humor is that of a 50 year old woman but I do not have the cultural knowledge to actually be a 50 year old woman. Oh, well.
There was a lot happening in the book, but the action wasn't overwhelming. It felt like a cozy mystery-esque/spy novel read, very easy to pick up and put down as needed. I thought the ending came together nicely!
I would recommend this to fans of the author or those who enjoy light spy + light dystopian novels!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Solaris, for letting me read this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
March 28, 2023
A very satisfying return to the world of Fractured Europe. Like its excellent precursors, it meshes exciting espionage, cryptic messages & concealed safehouses with a near-future sci-fi setting of resurgent nationalism, militarised borders and alternative realities. It can easily be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel but without starting with the first Fractured Europe book - Europe in Autumn - the references to 'The Line' & ''The Community' wouldn't have the same resonance.
November 21, 2022
I'm a bit overwhelmed by this book right now -- listening and reading at the same time, somewhere at 10% -- this is great experience to me.
November 9, 2022
It was the first book I read by Dave Hutchinson and it was a strange experience: it's quite realistic but it's also visionary, well plotted and a bit disturbing at times.
There's a lot of different ideas in my head but I think it's one of those book that can only be judged on a personal level.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
There's a lot of different ideas in my head but I think it's one of those book that can only be judged on a personal level.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
November 20, 2022
The whole Fractured Europe series has been an absolute joy to read and Cold Water was no different. Featuring a minor character from a previous book front-and centre, this is a twisty, complicated take of espionage, deceit, double-dealing and pocket universes. Complicated it may be, but the well written prose and an engaging story mean it isn't muddy or hard to understand (kudos to Dave Hutchinson for that).
It certainly works as a stand-alone novel, but really, if you haven't read them yet, don't start here. Do yourself a favour and start at the beginning.
It certainly works as a stand-alone novel, but really, if you haven't read them yet, don't start here. Do yourself a favour and start at the beginning.
May 6, 2023
Possibly more of a 2.75. I love the background but felt that this time the plot wasn't as delightfully twisty as in the previous books.
August 30, 2024
Absolutely loved a return trip to the Fractured Europe setting for another twisted tale of disparate converging stories. An ex-courier is brought back to investigate the death of her old lover, and what a tangled mess that turns out to be. Written like LeCarre meets William Gibson, wonderfully narrated, these are almost cosy tales of mystery, deception, intrigue, betrayal and murder set in an apparently prosaic near-future that always turns out to be deeply weirder than you expect.
August 5, 2023
I was caught off guard by how engaging and addictive the Fractured Europe series would be. Bit too close to reality for comfort in some ways. Delighted to see another published and it didn't disappoint.
February 18, 2023
I'm beginning to think this franchise is reaching the end of the line. The story, as usual, is fiendishly convoluted but the payoff is way too improbable I'm afraid.
January 13, 2023
The first four novels in Dave Hutchinson’s excellent fractured Europe sequence were essentially a commentary on Brexit and the growth of nationalism across Europe. With the first instalment published in 2014 it starts as a warning of the dangers of separatism. The fourth in 2018 fizzes with anger at the cruelty of the divided continent with particular scorn for the arrogant little Englander mentality prevalent in the Westminster government of the time.
Cold Water is a reset for the series. It is still very much a post Brexit work set in a near future balkanised Europe, where the tapestry of micro-states is in constant flux, where a slightly sinister railway running from Portugal to Russia is a state in its own right and where the Community sits in a pocket universe, adhering to the values of the Home Counties in the 1950s present a constant but veiled threat to the whole continent. However time has moved on and the world hasn’t yet fully emerged from the effects of a flu pandemic which killed millions, making Cold Water a Post Brexit Post Covid novel.
The leading players have changed, while there are tangential references to Rudi, hero of the first four novels, he doesn’t feature. The heart however however, remains the mysterious Coureurs du Bois, the amorphous, vaguely criminal organisation of agents for hire.
The book is built around three women, Carey, a middle-aged American Coureur investigating the death of a former lover in a region of Poland looking to secede from the central state, Lenna, an alcoholic Estonia journalist haired to carry out a social media campaign and Krista, an Estonian police officer whose father is accused of a historical crime.
Cold Water, while set in the near future and including the Community which sits outside the normal universe, is much closer to a spy thriller (Le Carre is often mentioned in reviews of Hutchinson’s work, and there are definite nods to Graham Greene) than what might normally be considered science fiction. It is also a more straightforward story than the earlier books with a clear, relatively tidy denouement. It is also less overtly political.
So, while I enjoyed this, it is less complex and ultimately less satisfying than previous books. That said, it also feels like a jumping off point for a new series which may offer more. There a hints of a “greater threats”, the actions of Russian agents suggest the possibility of a Ukrainian analogy at some point in the future, and the American version of the Community is starting to come in to play, although at the moment it doesn’t appear to be as hellishly post-Trumpian as it might have been.
Cold Water is a reset for the series. It is still very much a post Brexit work set in a near future balkanised Europe, where the tapestry of micro-states is in constant flux, where a slightly sinister railway running from Portugal to Russia is a state in its own right and where the Community sits in a pocket universe, adhering to the values of the Home Counties in the 1950s present a constant but veiled threat to the whole continent. However time has moved on and the world hasn’t yet fully emerged from the effects of a flu pandemic which killed millions, making Cold Water a Post Brexit Post Covid novel.
The leading players have changed, while there are tangential references to Rudi, hero of the first four novels, he doesn’t feature. The heart however however, remains the mysterious Coureurs du Bois, the amorphous, vaguely criminal organisation of agents for hire.
The book is built around three women, Carey, a middle-aged American Coureur investigating the death of a former lover in a region of Poland looking to secede from the central state, Lenna, an alcoholic Estonia journalist haired to carry out a social media campaign and Krista, an Estonian police officer whose father is accused of a historical crime.
Cold Water, while set in the near future and including the Community which sits outside the normal universe, is much closer to a spy thriller (Le Carre is often mentioned in reviews of Hutchinson’s work, and there are definite nods to Graham Greene) than what might normally be considered science fiction. It is also a more straightforward story than the earlier books with a clear, relatively tidy denouement. It is also less overtly political.
So, while I enjoyed this, it is less complex and ultimately less satisfying than previous books. That said, it also feels like a jumping off point for a new series which may offer more. There a hints of a “greater threats”, the actions of Russian agents suggest the possibility of a Ukrainian analogy at some point in the future, and the American version of the Community is starting to come in to play, although at the moment it doesn’t appear to be as hellishly post-Trumpian as it might have been.
January 10, 2023
Oh this was wonnnnderful!
No doubt mostly just because it's a return to Fracture Europe, and that would be enough.
But it also just is wonderful. Hutchinson's writing is as lovely as ever, there are wheels within wheels, throwbacks to the other novels but from weird tangential directions, and Cold Water also very much continues Europe at Dawn's corrective of the earlier books' gender problems. Here, all three protagonists are women - strong, flawed women.
If there's one criticism the book deserves it's that the three women aren't sufficiently differentiated in their third-person narratives. Sections deliberately start with paragraphs referring to the feminine pronoun, letting the reader guess or catch up as they follow along. That's fine, but at times it's needlessly disorienting, and the inner voice or perspective of each character isn't so well differentiated that they feel distinct enough. Still, I do feel that they are well-drawn, and they feel very real to me (as much as I can tell as a cis man).
I've always been a little baffled that for all the realism and gentle future tech of this alternate history, there seems to be no climate change. There are hints about why here and there - almost all travel is by train, it's implied that most cars are electric, and of course large swathes of the world population were killed by that Xian Flu - but I'd still like to know more. And while Europe At Dawn foregrounded the experiences of one African refugee, in this book non-European refugees are relegated to the horror of dead bodies in a truck. This is very much a baleful statement about the morality of this Europe, and the involvement of most of the parties whose machinations are only glimpsed by our protagonists here. Nevertheless, I'd also like to see more of the world outside of Europe and the very whitely-colonised, conveniently-empty pocket universes.
OK, so that was a few criticisms. But they're minor in the scheme of things, and I'll wager that we'll see more of the picture in the following books. Well, there's every indication that there's more to come, although I can't precisely find anything confirming that it's part of a new series.
No doubt mostly just because it's a return to Fracture Europe, and that would be enough.
But it also just is wonderful. Hutchinson's writing is as lovely as ever, there are wheels within wheels, throwbacks to the other novels but from weird tangential directions, and Cold Water also very much continues Europe at Dawn's corrective of the earlier books' gender problems. Here, all three protagonists are women - strong, flawed women.
If there's one criticism the book deserves it's that the three women aren't sufficiently differentiated in their third-person narratives. Sections deliberately start with paragraphs referring to the feminine pronoun, letting the reader guess or catch up as they follow along. That's fine, but at times it's needlessly disorienting, and the inner voice or perspective of each character isn't so well differentiated that they feel distinct enough. Still, I do feel that they are well-drawn, and they feel very real to me (as much as I can tell as a cis man).
I've always been a little baffled that for all the realism and gentle future tech of this alternate history, there seems to be no climate change. There are hints about why here and there - almost all travel is by train, it's implied that most cars are electric, and of course large swathes of the world population were killed by that Xian Flu - but I'd still like to know more. And while Europe At Dawn foregrounded the experiences of one African refugee, in this book non-European refugees are relegated to the horror of dead bodies in a truck. This is very much a baleful statement about the morality of this Europe, and the involvement of most of the parties whose machinations are only glimpsed by our protagonists here. Nevertheless, I'd also like to see more of the world outside of Europe and the very whitely-colonised, conveniently-empty pocket universes.
OK, so that was a few criticisms. But they're minor in the scheme of things, and I'll wager that we'll see more of the picture in the following books. Well, there's every indication that there's more to come, although I can't precisely find anything confirming that it's part of a new series.
September 6, 2023
This is the fifth book in the Fractured Europe sequence. Before reading it, I re-read the first five volumes because there is a lot of detail and a large number of characters to take on board, so I wanted them fresh in my memory. The five volumes trace an arc, and, I have to say, this is the worst volume of the set.
It doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. On one level, there is a degree of science fiction and fantasy to the story. However, it is also a who-dunnit with a mystery to solve. It does all come good in the end, but I was left wondering why it had taken so long to get there? For someone versed in the universe of the sequence, it was pretty obvious. The only twist was the American dimension right at the end of the book. I would have liked that earlier on and explored further. However, I suppose that it does leave the publisher with the option to commission a sixth volume to explore the American end, but I hope that they don't because this story line has run out of steam.
The writing is good, but the plot is a bit pedestrian at times. I felt as if words were added to beef up the word count rather than because they were needed. This made it a slow read for me. It lacked an essential degree of excitement that I would have wanted and the mystery aspect didn't work for me at all.
I have good recollections of the first three volumes in the series. They had some really interesting ideas and the suspense was suspenseful. The fourth, and now the fifth, volumes didn't really have anything to add. They didn't bulk out our knowledge of the fictional world in which they were set, or of the characters within that world. This volume, the worst of the bunch, really didn't work for me.
It doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. On one level, there is a degree of science fiction and fantasy to the story. However, it is also a who-dunnit with a mystery to solve. It does all come good in the end, but I was left wondering why it had taken so long to get there? For someone versed in the universe of the sequence, it was pretty obvious. The only twist was the American dimension right at the end of the book. I would have liked that earlier on and explored further. However, I suppose that it does leave the publisher with the option to commission a sixth volume to explore the American end, but I hope that they don't because this story line has run out of steam.
The writing is good, but the plot is a bit pedestrian at times. I felt as if words were added to beef up the word count rather than because they were needed. This made it a slow read for me. It lacked an essential degree of excitement that I would have wanted and the mystery aspect didn't work for me at all.
I have good recollections of the first three volumes in the series. They had some really interesting ideas and the suspense was suspenseful. The fourth, and now the fifth, volumes didn't really have anything to add. They didn't bulk out our knowledge of the fictional world in which they were set, or of the characters within that world. This volume, the worst of the bunch, really didn't work for me.
December 24, 2024
This book is set in the same universe as Europe in Autumn and the other Fractured Europe books, but it's a separate story and follows different characters. I love the world-building in these books, with their bizarre (but not entirely unrealistic) version of a post-pandemic Europe. I found it especially interesting that while a global pandemic plays a critical role in the previous books, those books were written before Covid but this one was written after. The descriptions here of the rampaging virus and lockdowns and aftermath of the pandemic are taken straight from 2020-21, and though the scenario is heightened in the book, it still hammers home just how dystopian the past few years have been in real life.
That isn't the focal point of the book, however, which is actually a spy thriller/police procedural involving an international hunt for a missing man. As much as I liked the previous books in this series, I did eventually find them very hard to follow (so many characters with so many aliases visiting so many places!), but this one was much more straightforward—and all the better for it, I think. I tore through it on my own small-scale journey through a corner of Europe and enjoyed it from start to finish. I hope there are more to come!
That isn't the focal point of the book, however, which is actually a spy thriller/police procedural involving an international hunt for a missing man. As much as I liked the previous books in this series, I did eventually find them very hard to follow (so many characters with so many aliases visiting so many places!), but this one was much more straightforward—and all the better for it, I think. I tore through it on my own small-scale journey through a corner of Europe and enjoyed it from start to finish. I hope there are more to come!
February 2, 2025
I picked this book up because it was a book club selection (science fiction). It's a slog. I read the whole thing... but honestly can't tell you with certainty why some people are calling it science fiction. Beyond one quasi-science fictionesque bit, this could be a current day spy novel. Sure there are 'alternate' world aspects here, but there isn't enough difference to make me believe any of it. The vast majority of the references and cultural world building stuff could just as easily be today.
Notably I didn't call it a 'spy thriller'. I didn't find it particularly 'thrilling' either. I just kept rolling to confirm what I thought about the plot. I was essentially correct, but the ending (that slammed down very quickly) didn't seem to fit the rest of the book. The reason behind the mystery wasn't enough to wow me... or impress me at all really.
I couldn't really tell you the difference between the main character from Texas and the police officer from... Poland? Estonia? Dunno and don't really care. The young woman hacker that we got almost no information about was just as interesting (cloth computer?) None of them moved me.
I've seen that this is being developed as a television series. I can't imagine that working, but I'll be interested to see how they handle the visual aspects of the lone 'science fiction' piece of it. I don't suspect it's a thing I'll watch more than one episode of.
Notably I didn't call it a 'spy thriller'. I didn't find it particularly 'thrilling' either. I just kept rolling to confirm what I thought about the plot. I was essentially correct, but the ending (that slammed down very quickly) didn't seem to fit the rest of the book. The reason behind the mystery wasn't enough to wow me... or impress me at all really.
I couldn't really tell you the difference between the main character from Texas and the police officer from... Poland? Estonia? Dunno and don't really care. The young woman hacker that we got almost no information about was just as interesting (cloth computer?) None of them moved me.
I've seen that this is being developed as a television series. I can't imagine that working, but I'll be interested to see how they handle the visual aspects of the lone 'science fiction' piece of it. I don't suspect it's a thing I'll watch more than one episode of.
June 9, 2025
It was great to return to Hutchinson's Fractured Europe, and the exploits of Les Coureurs du Bois.
But we are not encountering the ubiquitous Rudi this time.
Instead, the story concerns Texan expatriate Coureur Carey Tews (who had a brief cameo in 'Europe in Winter') and her exploits in uncovering the mystery behind the apparent death of her former mentor and sometime partner Maksim Petrauskas.
As is the case with all the Fractured Europe series, it is twisty, takes us to many fascinating and unfamiliar parts of Europe where we meet all sorts of characters with conflicting agendas and interests. Chief among these is Major Krista Lindmaa of the Tallinin Police who placed on leave after allegations of police brutality and cover-up involving her decorated father arise mysteriously after a major blackout in Tallinin. She is instructed to keep a low profile. Fat chance of that.
Entanglements with the 'pocket universe' of the mysterious 'Community' are of course inevitable. It is all a tangled web, and does not seem to be completely resolved by the conclusion. Maybe we shall return once more.
I do wonder though, what Dave Hutchinson thought when COVID-19 struck at the beginning of 2020, when the fracturing of nation states the world over was precipitated by his imagined Xian flu...
But we are not encountering the ubiquitous Rudi this time.
Instead, the story concerns Texan expatriate Coureur Carey Tews (who had a brief cameo in 'Europe in Winter') and her exploits in uncovering the mystery behind the apparent death of her former mentor and sometime partner Maksim Petrauskas.
As is the case with all the Fractured Europe series, it is twisty, takes us to many fascinating and unfamiliar parts of Europe where we meet all sorts of characters with conflicting agendas and interests. Chief among these is Major Krista Lindmaa of the Tallinin Police who placed on leave after allegations of police brutality and cover-up involving her decorated father arise mysteriously after a major blackout in Tallinin. She is instructed to keep a low profile. Fat chance of that.
Entanglements with the 'pocket universe' of the mysterious 'Community' are of course inevitable. It is all a tangled web, and does not seem to be completely resolved by the conclusion. Maybe we shall return once more.
I do wonder though, what Dave Hutchinson thought when COVID-19 struck at the beginning of 2020, when the fracturing of nation states the world over was precipitated by his imagined Xian flu...
March 24, 2023
3.5, just because, sometimes, Dave Hutchinson hurts my head. That is not at all his fault, excellent writer and world builder that he is, but thoroughly mine: I suspect I do not at all possess the flexibility of cogitation that would enable me to be a Coureur or, indeed, do anything but hold on for dear life to the coattails of one (who would presumably be rescuing me from a Situation).
The Fractured Europe series is confusing on several levels, not only for the Le Carré-ish spy high jinks and intricate plots, and the byzantine political machinations, but also -just in case that was too mundane - because of the pocket universes; the sheer audacity of this concept would be hubris in any other writer, but Hutchinson's writing is of such quality that the plot is convincing and the pacing and characters spot on.
It must be mentioned (for new readers) that the pandemic mentioned was first mentioned in 2015, well before the real-life experience; I think possibly Hutchinson could have made more of the social and political impact in this book; as one character says: "truth is what the largest percentage of the population believes", but possibly there will be room to explore this in the follow up books (fingers crossed).
The Fractured Europe series is confusing on several levels, not only for the Le Carré-ish spy high jinks and intricate plots, and the byzantine political machinations, but also -just in case that was too mundane - because of the pocket universes; the sheer audacity of this concept would be hubris in any other writer, but Hutchinson's writing is of such quality that the plot is convincing and the pacing and characters spot on.
It must be mentioned (for new readers) that the pandemic mentioned was first mentioned in 2015, well before the real-life experience; I think possibly Hutchinson could have made more of the social and political impact in this book; as one character says: "truth is what the largest percentage of the population believes", but possibly there will be room to explore this in the follow up books (fingers crossed).
December 17, 2022
A fun and intriguing romp through a semi near future espionage caper. Reminds me of a mixture of classic spy novels, the early visionary cyberpunk and the complex future rendered in the works of Stross (plus a bit of the parallel universe from his family trade series.) Europe is balkanized and decimated by a terrible pandemic and decades of fighting over scarce resources. An informal network of couriers and spies serves both legitimate and nefarious ends across close borders. We follow the courses of several characters who play minor and major roles. The Central intrigue, once we have established our place in the world, is the investigation of a man who was a former lover of one of the main characters. He has perpetrated some kind of heinous crime and entangled multiple world governments in his plans. We follow as people try to obscure the path and uncover it simultaneously- and are eventually led out of this world in pursuit of one superhuman male antagonist.
An interesting read, though I'm not a big fan of parallel universe stories. Might as well get on a witch's broom and fly to the moon as far as I'm concerned.
An interesting read, though I'm not a big fan of parallel universe stories. Might as well get on a witch's broom and fly to the moon as far as I'm concerned.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2022
Once I’d overcome my disappointment that this new Fractured Europe thriller doesn’t feature lovely Rudi the Coureur, I fell easily into the intricate double-dealing near-future world of Cold Water.
Carey Tews, retired Coureur and citizen of the Republic of Texas soon became a wholly satisfactory replacement. Being a woman of a certain age myself, I felt a sense of identification with this uber-competent but tiring spy.
I liked her A-team too, especially Anatoly. There is plenty of running around the fractured continent on the trail of Le Carre-like false trails. The pace kept up right through.
It helped that I’d read the previous four books in the series; even so the complexity and speed of the plot was challenging. But Dave Hutchinson writes with such deftness and precision, I knew I was in safe hands.
I assume and hope there will be more to come in future books of the intrusion of the pocket universes of the Community and Acadia.
An exhausting and utterly absorbing read.
Carey Tews, retired Coureur and citizen of the Republic of Texas soon became a wholly satisfactory replacement. Being a woman of a certain age myself, I felt a sense of identification with this uber-competent but tiring spy.
I liked her A-team too, especially Anatoly. There is plenty of running around the fractured continent on the trail of Le Carre-like false trails. The pace kept up right through.
It helped that I’d read the previous four books in the series; even so the complexity and speed of the plot was challenging. But Dave Hutchinson writes with such deftness and precision, I knew I was in safe hands.
I assume and hope there will be more to come in future books of the intrusion of the pocket universes of the Community and Acadia.
An exhausting and utterly absorbing read.
July 2, 2023
So this is one of those books that I feel I'm not capable of giving a full comprehensive review. For one I had no Idea about this Fractured Europe before I got 20% into this book. After that there were plenty of changes from the original timeline that I think flew way over my head. I will say that the one thing that really caught my eye was how he managed to include an alternate more devastating Covid in this story. But other than that this was a pretty dry read for me. I didn't feel like I could empathize with any of these characters and I found the ending to be unsatisfactory. Maybe if I knew more about this universe I could have enjoyed this a lot more. Sadly I haven't and don't really feel like getting into them.
Thank you to NetgGalley and Rebellion for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
2 stars out of 5.
Thank you to NetgGalley and Rebellion for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
2 stars out of 5.
January 18, 2024
I enjoyed this a good deal, as I expected to. All the intrigue and espionage and backstabbing are present in good amounts. I'm not sure this one quite pops like the original tetralogy: I never fully engaged with the inciting incident, and that did hamper my immersion. Also, I listened to the audio version and thought the production was quite poor.
(Footnote: Not having any breathing space between chapter numbers and narrative reading is shoddy. Looking at you, Penguin Audio. It is seriously disorienting to hear something like "Eleven one the cat sat on the mat..." with no appreciable breathing space in between. Chapter transitions are required to allow the reader to pause, just for a second, to assimilate before moving on. Particularly annoyingly, these chapter transitions were not in any way consistent.)
(Footnote: Not having any breathing space between chapter numbers and narrative reading is shoddy. Looking at you, Penguin Audio. It is seriously disorienting to hear something like "Eleven one the cat sat on the mat..." with no appreciable breathing space in between. Chapter transitions are required to allow the reader to pause, just for a second, to assimilate before moving on. Particularly annoyingly, these chapter transitions were not in any way consistent.)
May 1, 2023
For anyone who has read the Fractured Europe series by Hutchinson, they'll feel right at home in this expansive near-future worldbuilding filled with great characterization.
Truly, we're all almost here, now, a dystopian near-cyberpunk complex future that focuses more on a detailed investigation than the espionage of the previous novels, plus we're headed into new territory with a completely different MC that we briefly saw in the third novel.
There are no issues in reading this first. It does dovetail wonderfully, however, and it gives me a rather awesomely complete picture of so many post-country countries, be it eastern or western Europe OR America.
Definitely a good novel for thriller lovers who like their settings extremely well thought-out and complex.
Truly, we're all almost here, now, a dystopian near-cyberpunk complex future that focuses more on a detailed investigation than the espionage of the previous novels, plus we're headed into new territory with a completely different MC that we briefly saw in the third novel.
There are no issues in reading this first. It does dovetail wonderfully, however, and it gives me a rather awesomely complete picture of so many post-country countries, be it eastern or western Europe OR America.
Definitely a good novel for thriller lovers who like their settings extremely well thought-out and complex.
March 21, 2024
This was a disappointment for me since I love the Fractured Europe Sequence; it is one of my go-to recommendations for someone who has read a lot of sci-fi and looking for something a little different.
The earlier books had a way of making me feel briefly confused before crystallizing things in a satisfying way. In this one... the confusion often arrives as the perspective shifts or a new character is introduced (in virtually every chapter, including the last one). Then the clearing up moment comes, but it just isn't satisfying. It feels like there was very little to the actual plot but things are layered on top of it that made it more frustrating than fun to read. The ending just kind of fizzled for me.
The earlier books had a way of making me feel briefly confused before crystallizing things in a satisfying way. In this one... the confusion often arrives as the perspective shifts or a new character is introduced (in virtually every chapter, including the last one). Then the clearing up moment comes, but it just isn't satisfying. It feels like there was very little to the actual plot but things are layered on top of it that made it more frustrating than fun to read. The ending just kind of fizzled for me.
June 1, 2024
This book has had some obstacles. I lost it in a plane, and Iwas not convinced I was invested enough in the story to get it again. Finally several months later I did, as I was curious to see how it ended and how it meshed with the main Fractured Europe series, but although it is self contained, the introduction of yet another shadowy faction, and the unsatisfactory reveal of the Mcguffin left me cold.
It is well written and it grips you at times, adds background and explains how people outside the main series see things. But it is a kind of fluffy support for this background.
Only get it if you have read and enjoyed the main series, and want more of something similar, or to know more about the fictional universe.
It is well written and it grips you at times, adds background and explains how people outside the main series see things. But it is a kind of fluffy support for this background.
Only get it if you have read and enjoyed the main series, and want more of something similar, or to know more about the fictional universe.
November 27, 2022
I loved everything about this return to Hutchinson's Fractured Europe -- the story, the writing, the plot, which expands our view of what's been going on in Europe at Dawn -- but especially the characters of Carey and Krista, middle-aged Coureur and mid-career police officer respectively, whose separate pursuits of a supposedly dead agent entangle. It has that so very rare classic spy novel feel that's what I really want in an espionage story, something that recalls Deighton or early LeCarre. (But with women who are actually people.) Quite possibly my favourite of the series now!
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