"You only torture the ones you love ..."

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What a pleasure to return to Cold Hollow and the outrageous, colourful and somewhat sinister characters inhabiting this otherwise ordinary little town. Set in glorious countryside, there will soon be a triumvirate of eating places, Sophia's bakery, Carla's Fine Quisine and the Cold Hollow Tavern. So, if this is your first visit - well, you are in for a treat but be prepared for surprises. Loyalties here can run pretty deep.

There is another newcomer to Cold Hollow, also - a parolee who just loves the destructive beauty of fires. He'll obviously fit right in. From Deadly Delilah to Adam the Apple, Ms. Howard has created inhabitants and visitors who are so bizarrely real yet colourful enough to have stepped from a comic book. Quirky stories, too. This time, Myrna the mayor and her husband are kidnapped and held hostage in the mountains. Will the extended family be able to rescue them?

The dialogue is sometimes surreal in content yet expressed in so natural a way it feels authentic and true, giving the speaker even more credibility. I wouldn't want these people as friends but in my head they have become a sort of extended family. The narrator, J Scott Bennet takes it all in his stride. His pace matches exactly the feel of the book: never too fast or emotional but always calmly carrying the story ever onwards. His voice has a pleasant lulling quality to it and, without overacting, he clearly differentiates each character in the dialogue.And he adds just that touch of creepiness which underlies the whole story.

I have loved every book in this series. Each is standalone although part of the pleasure is revisiting the characters to find out just what is happening now ( think 'The Archers', gone mad, on steroids). My thanks to the rights holder for gifting me my copy of Vengeance, via Audiobook Boom. These stories, and the folks who populate them, are addictive and it looks like there will be another book coming soon. I had better start packing my suitcase for another trip to the far from sleepy Cold Hollow.

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