Brett Tanager is a very successful screenwriter of a hit television detective series. This will soon change, and change drastically. While on her way home one night high on cocaine and drunk, a woman is on the side of the road fixing her tire but Brett, too strung out to realize the situation, hits her, killing the woman. Instead of coming forward with what she did, Brett keeps it a secret. This secret will not only cause her great guilt and pain, but will also destroy her life in every way possible. Within a year, Brett has lost her marriage, her job, her house, her high salary, and most of her Hollywood friends. She has also fallen more deeply into drugs and alcohol.
As Brett is about to walk into the ocean to end her sad and guilt-filled life, her teenaged ex-step-daughter Julia finds her and asks Brett to help her find her missing friend, Caleigh. Shortly afterwards, Caleigh’s body is found and Julia is missing. As she works on her own recovery, Brett finds this plea from Julia more important than her own short-term needs.
From the beginning, you don’t want to like Brett – after all, she has killed an innocent woman and has lost everything to her addictions. Soon, however, you will find yourself pulling for her as she goes to AA meetings, tries to solve the mystery of Caleigh’s death and Julia’s disappearance, narrowly escaping death herself – even as you worry that the next sentence you read will find her back on the drugs and alcohol. Will she escape her failed past?
Diana Gould is an award-winning screenwriter and as such brings a realism to the life of the Hollywood rich and famous in Coldwater. She excellently weaves a story of recovery, redemption and murder into a good read that will keep you interested and wondering, like Hallie, who to trust, and who is the murderer. In this, Ms. Gould’s first novel, she gives us a female heroine who, though flawed, has us cheering her on every step of the way.
– Reviewed by Karen Mitchell
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Coldwater was written by Diana Gould and was released on January 15, 2013.
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Syfy will add two new series to its lineup beginning in June. The network’s announced Sinbad and Primeval: New World will premiere on Saturday, June 8, 2013 starting at 9pm.
