The Cold Room

The Cold Room
© 2010 by J.T. Ellison

ISBN: 978-0-7783-2714-1
Publisher: MIRA Books
SRP: $7.99
401 pp.
Available in March

About the book: “Acclaimed thriller author J. T. Ellison returns with a thoroughly-riveting story in The Cold Room, the fourth book in the Taylor Jackson series, following All the Pretty Girls, 14 and Judas Kiss. Homicide Detective Taylor Jackson thinks she's seen it all in Nashville—but she’s never seen anything as perverse as The Conductor. Once his victim is captured, he contains her in a glass coffin, slowly starving her to death. Only then does he give in to his attraction. Later, he creatively disposes of the body by reenacting scenes from famous paintings. Strangely, similar macabre works are being displayed in Europe. Taylor teams up with her fiancé, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, and New Scotland Yard detective, James “Memphis” Highsmythe—a haunted man who only has eyes for Taylor—to put an end to The Conductor’s art collection. Has the killer gone international with his craft? Or are there dueling artists, competing to create the ultimate masterpiece? “

Okay, here’s your word for the day – necrophilia. The killer (killers?) in this book slowly starves his victims to death and only then, does he make love to them. Talk about sick! It makes for a very different criminal for sure. This is the fourth book in the Taylor Jackson series but even without reading the previous ones, it’s quite a good book. The only part I didn’t like were the references to ‘The Pretender” who was evidently part of the previous stories and will be in the next. I needed to know more of his background to really understand what that was about. If you like crime stories which are a little off the beaten path, this is for you. Lots of good detecting skills, interesting characters, a little romance, multi-continent locations, plot twists … just a good-all-around en-GROSS-ing crime story.

I received an ARC of this book from Planned Television Arts.