Froid comme le sang

Ren Bryce #1

by Alex Barclay, Jean-Pascal Bernard (Translator)

Jean Transom, 35 ans, vit seule avec son chat. Elle n'a pas d'amis, pas d'amant, encore moins d'ennemis, et travaille pour le FBI. Bref, elle mène une existence bien réglée... jusqu'au jour où l'on retrouve son cadavre dans les montagnes du Colorado. Ren Bryce, agent du FBI aussi douée qu'incontrôlable, excessive et angoissée, est chargée de l'enquête. Elle n'a pas la moindre piste, mais, pour que justice soit faite, elle vaincra les démons qui la hantent nuit et jour.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Ebooks, Audiobook

448 pages, Pocket Book

First published December 1, 2008

About the author

Barclay studied journalism at university and worked for a period in fashion and beauty journalism as a copywriter in the RTÉ Guide. In 2003, she left the fashion industry to write Darkhouse, the first of two novels featuring NYPD detective Joe Lucchesi. Her second novel, The Caller, was released in 2007, and Last Call in 2008. She won the Ireland AM Crime Fiction Award at the Irish Book Awards for her fourth novel, Blood Runs Cold.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book at all.

I couldn't relate to any of the characters, and I found a lot of it pointless. The banter between the agents wasn't remotely funny. a lot of page filling going on I'd say.

One star.

[Magdalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed with the book. It got better towards the end, but 2/3 of the book felt like not much happened besides Ren interviewing people, funny banter between the cops and the agents, Ren sleeping with someone she shouldn't sleep with etc.

It just didn't happen so much to the case with the dead female FBI agent, until the very and I tell you the end is good really good because then something from Ren's past was revealed and I got an explanation for the very first chapter. So, thanks to the ending the rating went up, because then I got a clearer picture of Ren and it also finally reveal what had happened to the murdered FBI agent. I was also a bit sad because someone I like didn't make it, someone that didn't deserve to die.

But this book was just not as good as Harm’s Reach, it just lacked a really good story and I missed Ren's friend Janine that appeared in the book. I hope the next book is better and I hope to see Janine in if not the next book some book later on.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't actually finish this drivel, got a third through it and had enough. I thought the characters were shallow and unlikable, and the plot was boring and messy. I just didn't care enough about any of it to keep going. Did I mention some of the lamest dialogue I've come across in years???

[Pauline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seemed such a messy book. Everything seemed so mixed up. Too many characters to start with within different organizations. First in the series and not sure I will read the next unless I already have it.

[Shark L · Rating 1 out of 5]

It had potential. It's a GREAT story idea, with awful execution. The writing was so juvenile, and so were the characters - they didn't seem like FBI agents or law enforcement at all. The writing style just sucked; it's annoying to read a character asking a question, only for the narrator to write, "Said This Person". There was no tone to the dialogue, it read so monotone and bland, but that's also the same with the narration of the story as well. This could have been written so well, but overall, the book sucks. The characters are boring, the dialogue is boring, and the story is told in a boring way as well. Such a good story idea written in the wrong way by the wrong person.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have already made a second attempt to read this book, but both times were too painful and to slow. The plot is not bad and begins as a typical criminal story, but from the very beginning the author drown us with useless information about new and new characters who are tough to remember and too uninteresting to follow. I also had a problem with the main character, which is full stereotype of hard-core cop with a drinking problem.
I can easily say that Blood Runs Cold is a complete disappointment for me and I have no interest in following this series.

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Klappentext hört sich leider spannender an als es das Buch letzten Endes ist.

Der Prolog ist super und vielversprechend. Aber dann passiert lange nichts.
Das Ende kommt ziemlich überraschend. Die ganze Verwirrung im Aufbau der Geschichte, dazu die irgendwie unkonzentrierte Ermittlerin, die dann den Geistesblitz hat - da löst sich das rätselhafte Verbrechen dann zu schnell auf.

Ren ist als Ermittlerin interessant aber ihr Privatleben nimmt einen zu großen Teil der Geschichte ein ohne sie wirklich voranzubringen.

Die Idee ist an sich gut, die Story selbst ist auch gar nicht schlecht. Aber drumherum hab es vieles was mich gelangweilt oder verwirrt hat.

[JK.Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be messy. Confusing at some points and boring at others. It is very slow to get to any "thrilling" action and even the thrilling action isn't all that thrilling. I found myself rereading some pages because I was having a hard time figuring out what was going on, especially when it came to the Val Pando events. I wasn't the biggest fan of Ren Bryce and found her to be irritating. I felt like some chapters had very random beginnings, which also made it difficult to keep up with what's going on. One of the only characters I did like was killed off in a kind of pointless way and it more so felt like that author did it just to try to add another twist/turn, but the effect wasn't there. I did like the very last page, with Misty. Some of the "one liners" in the dialogue were funny, but most of the dialogue was just annoying. Alex did do a good job in not making it easy to pinpoint who committed the crimes and the book wasn't predictable. It just fell short in some areas for me. I may give another book in the series a shot in the future before I decide Alex Barclay's writing isn't for me.

[Margaret Madden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow to start and so many male characters that I kept forgetting who each one was. Loved Agent Ren Bryce though and the banter between her and her fellow agents (names not withstanding) was really great. Onto book two now.

[Abigail Chown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book on a whole, was easy to read and you wanted to not put it down. However, I felt as if there were too many characters, and that because of it they weren’t developed enough, and some times the storyline felt hard to follow. I wasn’t overly keen on the overlapping of the two plots, and would have preferred it only stuck to one. Overall, good book, were some twists and a quick and easy read.

[Stephanie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit triggering but the author really captures the subtle and not so subtle difficulties of working in a male dominated industry

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Climax was fun, but took quite a while to pick up a good pace.

[Princess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot, plenty going on. FBI agent Ren Bryce has been drafted in to lead an investigation into murder of fellow agent. She's tough & holds her own with her male colleagues. Lots of complex & interesting characters. Quite a lot of 'Amercanisms' though which I think a lot of people would struggle with. Overall a good read.

[Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love hearing/watching crime stories, this was my first ever book about crime and tbh it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
It’s really interesting but confusing at the same time which I think is the whole point as they try to make you live in the moment with them, I felt like I was solving the crime scene with them it was so fun to read.
If you are into crime stuff like me I would recommend you this book for sure.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Had its moments, I guess, but this one fell a little flat for me. I'm reminded, unexpectedly, of some of the books I read when I was first dipping my toe into the world of cozy mysteries: some of those cozies gave off a feeling of 'we'll do a whole bunch of legwork and then we'll sit back at the end of the book and let the Big Strong Man tell us how he solved the case!' Now, this is not a cozy, and Ren solves her own mysteries...but there is still a sense of 'I'll do a bunch of legwork but withhold a lot of critical information from the reader until the end, when I'll explain after the fact how I figured everything out!'

I think what I'm learning is that I prefer my mysteries either a) really, really fluffy or b) dark and bloody and heart-thumping, and this falls in an in-between place that doesn't have enough tension for me to ever really worry but is trying too hard to be Serious to give me a fluffity-fluff vibe. (I also really don't like it when a lot of the tension is dependent on the narrator not sharing information with the reader.) Probably a better fit for someone looking for a more middle-ground read.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An FBI agent is found dead in Colorado so a team of agents led by Ren Bryce is brought in to investigate. There seems to be a million threads running through here but somehow they all fit together to become a real page turner. Ren is severely flawed but you don't find out until the end of the novel why and the FBI agent whose death she's investigating isn't who she seemed to be either. Lots of twists and turns and very enjoyable

[Jazlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The prologue was intense, but by the time I reached the end of the book I was left feeling a little confused. Sure, Ren has personality, but it's not very well-delved into. Towards the end, it felt as if Alex was just throwing in content to add on yet another twist to the novel. The ending left me slightly bewildered, but overall, I'll say good job: she's still written a thrilling crime fiction that managed to keep my flighty attention all the way to the last page.

[Deborah (debbishdotcom) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love smart-talking FBIer Ren. I was a bit confused as we were introduced to local Sheriff Bob in a way that I expected him to be Ren's love interest (his smarts matching hers!) or play a bigger role. I noted some other reviews talked about there being too many story lines and I def understand that... but I loved the one-liners. This was witty and reminded me of Robert B Parker. I'll def be chasing more 'Ren' novels!

[Kerrie Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts off in confusing way... characters didn't really impress on me ..they were a bit wishy washy and plot was a bit hit and miss... and the book ends pretty much like it starts .. confusing

[Kathy Lautenschlager · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing disjointed and choppy. I don't often critique an author's writing style, but I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it was a smoother read.

[Water Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit slow to start with but ultimately surpassed my expectations. It was deceptively well-written. Mostly the writing was just plain and nothing flashy but every now and then moments of such depth and poignancy made me take pause and think very deeply about life. I think that’s the mark of a true writer and calls to mind the words of Albert Camus: “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” Here is one such example of Barclay’s writing:

He had watercolor-blue eyes that should have been called striking or beautiful, but on a disheveled old man, talking and walking alone down Main Street, people looked at them like they were stolen.



The book also lived up to its title; plenty of satisfyingly cold and snowy backdrops. Character-wise, you could tell the protagonist was the author’s favourite. She was more fleshed out than the other characters. She was strong but insecure, smart but making dumb decisions. I liked her. And the rest of the characters, while some were one-dimensional, fit plausibly into the story. And being a book that was part mystery, part FBI procedural, there was the guaranteed warring egos and banter. Some of it got a little corny. It seemed a way to inject some humor that wasn’t needed, almost like the author doubted the book would be good enough without it (it was good enough). As for the ending, the shock reveal was a winner, even if it was hard to keep up with the multiple threads. First time reading this author and I enjoyed it.

[Suzan Amin Khoja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me go crazy and that's for sure. I can't believe how the story unfolded after part two. Part one was kind of slow and not so interesting although I did find it a little funny. I liked how the author has a female agent lead the investigation (women empowerment at its peak) and I literally couldn't guess the killer till the end. I never even thought it would be that person. I am going all crazy. The writing was so smooth and the suspense was woven so cleanly that I couldn't guess the killer till the end. The links were joined properly and the book was wonderfully created. No typos, no extra details, nothing. Just a story that blew me away!!! Overall, a must-read for every thriller lover.

[Roshan · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the longest read, and the most boring novel had ever read. The author kept on dwelling too much on Ren Bryce the lead charavter, too much of her boasting kind of things, made it hard to read after a point. Core story was not given proper attention, kept on wavering to Ren's rendezvous with her men companies, irritated to the point. And finally the story too didn't have that much impact, just a basic sexual offender who traumatised the victim and it came back to haunt her down, which Ren goes on to find out. After that the story again takes another leap into diff league after the climax too, which was unnecessary, and made a sore impact when closing the book.

[Andrew Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I wasn't actually serious?"

I nearly gave up when I saw that from the main character. The author is, I think, trying for authentic back-and-forth (banter, if you'd prefer) between the characters but it all felt hastily setup and forced or written for the screen rather than the page. That there were too many characters to keep track of didn't help.

They key plot was... ok. Interesting enough to finish (to be honest, I rattled this off when on holiday), but I felt cheated with the outcome. Although there were some clues throughout, it seemed that some characters were entirely absent until late in the book.

Ren could be a great character but too flawed, too inauthentic for me.

[Arto Mutka · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I actually endured 230 pages of this rubbish. Had only 150 pages to go but did not want to waste any more of my life on this tripe!

Most uninteresting novel ...I was tempted to give up after page 30 but picked up and read two other books inbetween before picking this up again.

There is just no progression on the story ...just chapter after chapter of nothing happening other than the FBI detective getting drunk and having sex again and again with a police informant.

I have the second book in this series in my bookshelf...have skimmed some reviews for that and the reviews are no better than what I have given this.

Avoid this book! So many better novels out there!

[Frederick Tan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a dead Agent found on the slope of Quandary peak. An agent with a dark past. Agent Ran Bryce was tasked to lead the investigation. What turn out is a very boring and routine FBI novel that lack character and banal at time. Ran herself has a dark past which somehow complicate things in the investigation. She is a flaw agent but a brilliant one. The storyline is weak at time and confusing to the readers. Somehow toward the end everything falls into place. Viola! I hope the next novel will be better.

[Lindsey De · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not great, nearly DNF and rested it but had nothing to read one night and finished. Unsympathetic lead character. Too many irrelevant insignificant characters / colleagues who seemed to lend very little or none at all to storyline or investigation. Finale realisation seemed to come abruptly by sheer luck and guess work rather than any actual evidence or detective work. Also wtf with the mobster storyline, where did that come from? This read like a sequel as the main character was so un likeable, that there but be a sympathy for her that came from a first book.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good fast paced crime thriller set in the cold snowy mountains of Colorado and follows FBI Agent Ren Bryce and she takes on the murder and disappearance of fellow agent Jean Transom, someone she has a lot in common with which both helps and hinders her investigations. This has a good tangle of small town conspiracy and dark pasts that won't remain hidden which leads Bryce and the reader down paths that aren't always as irrelevant as they seem.

[Kimberly Lecar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sparked my interest but towards the end if read rushed, some characters were introduced in a in cohesive way and the last couple of chapters got confusing. Still trying to figure out what Ren’s struggles were; bi-polar agent? Was she struggling with her work load? Was she involved with one of the characters towards the end? Not sure I’ll continue the series or read another of the authors books. Too much going on.

[Simon Dunn · Rating 1 out of 5]

An awful book. Wish I had left it after the first chapter.
I persevered thinking it would get better, though sadly disappointed.
Too many characters who didn’t have much interaction and couldn’t understand why they appeared in the story?
The plot jumped about without any particular reason, no real subplot as to why the main character did what she did.
Overall, thought the author needed to fill pages, which occurred without any thought for the readers!!