Status Updates From Cold Comfort

A word on pacing: Abernathy is brilliant at maintaining a constant pace without ever a note of lag or overwhelming the reader. Her experience in the court system is evident. Small, but important, details like a hearing taking place in a office or stumping for a larger room puts you IN the system. You can hear shoes scuff on the floors and smell the smell the janitor's cart in the halls.

Taut! The pace and tension continues to build. Not once does Abernathy slip into cliche oh-so common to the thriller genre. The protagonist grows without losing his "voice" or tone. The real-world they inhabit is itself a character, ominous and foreboding. This is FUN!

Abernathy, like all great writers, assumes a world rather fumbling with creating a world. John Colucci is a both a challenging and rewarding protagonist. Everyone who reads it will fall in love with him AND the supporting cast. What could be stock characters are magic in Abernathy's prose, especially Caitlin.