Title: Blood Runs Cold (Detective Anna Gwynne #2)
Author: Dylan Young
Publication Date: May 16, 2018
Pages: 304
Publisher: Bookouture
Date Started: October 4, 2018
Date Finished: October 9, 2018
Format: Kindle

*I would like to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Blood Runs Cold provides a promising start to a police procedural series, focusing around the cold case detective Anna Gwynne. While this book represents the second installment, I am sad to say I have not read the first, which is honestly the first time I have ever committed such an atrocity. Nevertheless, everything I needed to know from the first book was summarized within the pages of this book and made it easy to follow the characters’ story arcs, so jumping in on book two is perfectly acceptable in this instance. On the other hand, this essentially spoiled everything that happened in the previous volume.

In this book, the detectives are looking into a cold case involving the disappearance and murder of a young girl. Ten years later, the case is reopened after a photo is discovered of the girl on the darkweb. Another girl has recently gone missing, with a similar photo appearing online. Solving the mystery becomes a race against time in order to save the second girl. Is this an organized crime ring, or the work of one individual?

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I normally do not enjoy procedurals, but the cold case aspect drew me in. I wish there was more development revolving around Anna Gwynne (the protagonist and namesake of the series), though I expect that will come as the series progresses. While it was relatively easy to solve the case, I found that the highlight of the book came from the suspense surrounding the chase. There are some pretty upsetting subject matters brought forth in the book, yet nothing is described and it is left to the imagination brilliantly, which heightened my anxiety throughout the latter half of the book.

One of the key aspects that I feel will really bring this series into bloom is the character Hector Shaw, a convicted serial killer that is slowly leading Anna to his many bodies. Hector reminds me a lot of Red from The Blacklist television show, as he is exceedingly clever and calculated, skills which he uses to leverage actions in and out of his prison cell.

The ability of Young to compose such a gut-wrenching, face-paced story has piqued my interest, and I will certainly be reading the third installment in this series.

Overall, 3/5 moose