A COLD DARK PLACE
Gregg Olsen
Copyright © 2008 Gregg Olsen All rights reserved.
High Praise for Gregg Olsen and
A Cold Dark Place
"You'll sleep with the lights on after reading Gregg Olsen's dark, atmospheric, page-turning suspense . . . if you can sleep at all.
-Allison Brennan
"A stunning thrillera brutally dark story with a compelling, intricate plot."
-Alex Kava
"A page-turner.... Olsen brings his vast knowledge of the criminal mind to the fictional stage, deftly combining just the right mix of plot and characterization to create a work of dark, gripping suspense"
-Anne Frasier
"This stunning thriller is the love child of Thomas Harris and Laura Lippman, with all the thrills and the sheer gluedto-the-page artistry of both"
-Ken Bruen
"A great thriller that grabs you by the throat and takes you into the dark, scary places of the heart and soul."
-Kay Hooper
Praise for A Wicked Snow
"Complex mystery, crackling authenticity ... lurid, carefully distributed details ... will keep fans of crime fiction hooked"
-Publishers Weekly
"Real narrative drive, a great setup, a gruesome crime, excellent exploitation of an other-worldly location, fine characters.... As good as it gets"
-Lee Child
"A taut thriller."
-Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Wickedly clever! Gregg Olsen delivers a finely crafted, genuinely twisted tale."
-Lisa Gardner
"Gregg Olsen's riveting debut is an outstanding addition to the suspense genre."
-Allison Brennan
"An irresistible page-turner. A Wicked Snow grabs you on page one, and never lets go until the heart-pounding finale."
-Kevin O'Brien
"A top-notch thriller. Unpredictable plot twists, realistic characterization, and an authentic portrayal of police procedure make it a powerhouse of a book."
-Donna Anders
"Vivid, powerful, action-packed ... a terrific, tense thriller that grips the reader."
-Midwest Book Review
"A Wicked Snow keeps the reader guessing and gulping from the very first page. A very nifty brainteaser of a thriller."
-Jay Bonansinga
"Tight plotting drives the story in an almost hypnotic way. Nerve-wracking suspense and a wonderful climax make this debut a winner."
-Crimespree magazine
"Wonderful.... This one will keep you riveted and guessing, right to the end"
-Seattle Mystery Bookshop
"Olsen writes a real grabber of a book. If you're smart, you'll grab this one!"
-Linda Lael Miller
"I literally could not stop reading. "
-mysteryone.com
"A compelling story, tightly woven, that kept me riveted to the final page"
-Susan R. Sloan
"Olsen blends solid storytelling with true-crime attention to details. He has made the transition from true crime to fiction effortlessly."
-Spinetingler magazine
"A Wicked Snow's plot-about a CSI investigator who's repressed a horrific crime from her childhood until it comes back to haunt her-moves at a satisfyingly fast clip."
-Seattle Times
"Suspense-filled, believable."
-iloveamysterynewsletter.com
ALSO BY GREGG OLSEN
A Wicked Snow
The Deep Dark
If Loving You Is Wrong
Abandoned Prayers
BitterAlmonds
Mockingbird (Cruel Deception)
Starvation Heights
Confessions of an American Black Widow
For Kathrine
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wanted to take a moment to thank some of the people who have been so amazing with their support and advice as I wrote A Cold Dark Place. Naturally, none of it is possible without the support and love of my family-Claudia, Morgan, and Marta.
Thanks also to the best thriller editor and the best thriller agent in the business: Michaela Hamilton, executive editor of Kensington, and Susan Raihofer of David Black Literary. What a team you two make!
I'd like to acknowledge the writers that have been so helpful to me recently. All of the Killer Year members and friends have been great, but I especially want to spotlight JT Ellison, Bill Cameron, and Sandra Ruttan for their wonderful support and partnership over the past year. My Killer Year mentor, Allison Brennan, has no peer when it comes to writing pulse-pounding suspense and encouraging new (even old!) authors.
Thanks to Kathrine Beck, Tina Marie Brewer, Charles Turner, Bunny Kuhlman, and Matt Phelps for their muchappreciated guidance along the way.
There are many behind-the-scenes people who help shape the final product that you now hold in your hand. I want to publicly thank Lou Malcangi for his terrific cover design and Diane Burke for her thoughtful copyediting. If I wore a hat, I'd take it off to you!
Finally, to my readers. Thanks so much for following me from true crime to fiction. Your c-mails, letters, and posts on Crime Rant mean the world to me.
Prologue
4 PM, nineteen years ago
Women with transparent vinyl purses that exposed the shredded remainders of coin wrappers stood in line. They took deep breaths as the uniformed prison matron with icy hands prepared to probe their bodies. Talc-dipped rubber gloves snapped. It was humiliating in every sense of the word. The matron, a woman with ashen skin, pencil-thin lips, and with glasses on a cheap silver chain around her neck, knew those waiting to leave the institution felt her power, her supreme authority, and it made her smile. The women had lined up to leave after a long day of tears and excuses in the high school cafeteria milieu of the visiting room-a cavernous space of bolted-to-the-floor tables and fixed-position chairs. The matron's husky voice intoned them to "cool their jets" and "wait your turn or I'll have something to say about it."
And so the women lingered, each feeling violated and angry. Having a husband, boyfriend, or brother inside the razor-wire-trimmed walls of Bonneville Maximum Security was bad enough. Being told with unfettered contempt by someone to wait your turn in the processing line was ptomaine gravy over a bad slab of beef. And they had to eat it. Every goddamned bite.
"Are you going to be a problem for me?" the matron asked, her gray eyes as sharp as awls pitched firmly at the distressed gaze of a young woman. The younger woman let out a measured sigh. She'd spent all day trying to tell her wannabedrug-lord husband that she was thinking of moving back east to Indiana. She wanted to be free. All of them did.
"Uh? Me?" the younger woman answered. She was barely twenty and still wore her chestnut hair in a ponytail, but she held a kind of weariness on her face that indicated she'd seen it all. She faked a smile of recognition at the matron. She knew when someone had it in for her. It had been her life since she left home. Ran away. Met the wrong man. Trashed her future. She could hear her mother's words echo at that moment. You've thrown away everything your father and I had hoped for you. You screwed up, Donita. You really botched it.
"Yes, you, Ponytail," the matron said, nodding in her direction. The rest of the women felt relief wash over them. Good, the bitch found someone else to bother. She motioned for her to step forward. "I need you to spread your legs. You've done it before, I'm sure. Wider."
The young woman silently seethed, but she acquiesced. She had no choice.