ARC REVIEW: Cold Fury, by T. M. Goeglein

Released: July 24, 2012 (Putnam Juvenile)
Author Links: WEB | TWITTER | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK
Source: Traded with Jenni
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SERIES
1. Cold Fury (Cold Fury, #1)
2. TBA
3. TBA

SYNOPSIS
Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos in this breathtaking adventure

Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance–until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It’s a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies–a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense–hidden in its pages the secret to “ultimate power.” It’s why she’s being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

Action packed, with fresh, cinematic writing, Cold Fury is a riveting and imaginative adventure readers will devour.

Why I Read This Book

Jenny over at Alluring Reads and I got together and traded a few ARCs. Cold Fury was one of them. While she couldn’t get into it, I read “Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos” and decided I needed this book in my brain. I mean, it could be “Jason Bourne meets Fragglerock” or “Jason Bourne and the Smurfs” and I’d still have to give it a go.

My Thoughts

From the first few pages, I could understand why some people couldn’t get into the book. There was a lot of history, a lot of revisiting prior events that lead up to the current events that are to take place in the book. I did like a lot of it, like when the main character, Sara Jane, is training with a pro-boxer, learning to be a tough girl. But at about 80-pages of build up until the excitement starts, I really had to push myself to get through it.

Of course, then there’s the excitement part of the book and from then on I could not put the sucker down! I was trying so hard to keep awake that I managed to get through a good chunk of the book and could really see how it was compared to the Bourne books. I loved that Sara Jane is on her own and trying to find out what happened to her parents and her brother — there was mystery and fighting and it really helped mask the fact that it took 80-pages of build-up to get to this place.

Sara Jane is a great character. She’s tough and has the “cold fury” inside of her. Really — don’t give her any crap or she’ll kick your butt. She loves her family, even if she doesn’t quite get what’s going on, as well as her brother Lou. One thing I really liked about her family was the fact that the family owned a bakery. I mean, these are tough Soprano-type of people and they bake cookies all day long!

Though, while I really liked Sara Jane’s character, once the excitement blew up, it fizzled and died. I really had to push myself to keep reading through the book to the end. One of the problems that I saw was the fact that Sara Jane is pretty much all alone most of the time and so there’s a lot of talk in her head — a lot of explaining. I wanted a whole lot less of explaining and a lot more action. The other problem I saw was that the book seemed too full of conveniences. I like my main characters to think for themselves, not to have an escape plan suddenly appear in front of them.

While it had definite aspects of Bourne in it, I was bored most of the time. Seeing as the book is part of a series, I really can’t see myself picking up the next one, even if it helps explains some of the things that were going on. Of course, don’t take my word for it — this book has a super high rating on Goodreads, so I seem to be in the minority of people who disliked it.

If you’re looking for something on the tamer side of “girl must fight to get her parents back,” then I’d say give this one a whirl. But if you’re looking for something more action packed, then I’d look elsewhere. This book has definite potential and I can’t rule out that the next book might be a lot more exciting, but this one just didn’t cut it for me.