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    Cold Light: A Novel
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    Cold Light: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Cold Light: A Novel
    Ebook399 pages8 hours

    Cold Light: A Novel

    By Jenn Ashworth

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “Extremely intense and powerfully intriguing.”
    —Waterstone’s

    “[Ashworth] Evokes a damaged mind with the empathy and confidence of Ruth Rendell.”
    —The Times (London)

    Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth is a hauntingly beautiful and shocking psychological thriller in the vein of the bestselling novels of Tana French—a darkly compelling story of secrets between two teenage friends in a small English town. Ashworth already has created great buzz in the U.K. thanks to her stunning debut novel, A Kind of Intimacy, winner of the prestigious Betty Trask Award, and now Cold Light places her in elite literary company—alongside Laura Lippman, Kate Atkinson, and other acclaimed masters of intelligent, emotionally powerful mystery and suspense. An unforgettable tale of friendship and memory—and the shattering truth behind a forgotten dead body newly unearthed—Cold Light is a most welcome addition to the crime fiction and thriller ranks.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 16, 2012
    ISBN9780062076045
    Unavailable
    Cold Light: A Novel

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    Reviews for Cold Light

    3/5

    83 ratings25 reviews

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    • 2/5
      When deciding if this was a book I wanted to read or not, I was torn, more than I've ever been before about adding to the To Be Read pile. The description promised an ominous tale of mysterious deaths in the recent past, told ten years later from the point of view of one of the survivors. Now that I've finally completed the book I'd categorize it as a dark young adult tale.Had I known it was going to read like a young adult novel, I probably would have passed. I have no patience for the machinations and social cliques of self-absorbed teenage girls. Perhaps that says more about me as a reader than it does about this book, but I've clearly determined this is not a genre I can make myself care about.Our narrator, Lola, is in her mid-twenties, watching the groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial to two of her friends who died ten years ago in what was determined to be a dual suicide pact. At 14 Lola was a social outcast - from a lower-middle class family whose parents had her late in life, thus making them much older than her friends' parents. Her father is losing his sanity, becoming obsessed with various projects he takes up then abandons. Her mother is devoid of any emotion.When new-to-the-school Chloe befriends Lola, Lola's social prospects brighten. Chloe pretty and possesses a cocksure attitude which tends to get her anything she wants. Including a 19-year old boyfriend who is obsessed with photographing Chloe in various states of undress.Pregnancy scares, pedophilia, flashers - all the tropes of those things your mother warned you about are here. Along with a rival for Chloe's attention who soon relegates Lola to the fringes of the school's social pecking order.In the end, the mystery wasn't much of a mystery - you'll know whose body is found, you'll figure out what happened to the two dead lovers and you won't care about any of it because the characters are so off-putting, so narcissistic, that you'll find yourself wishing the surviving characters meet the same fate.
    • 3/5
      What can I say about this story? I guess the best description is that it's the sad story of teenage friendship gone wrong in the most devastating way. How well can we really know a person? Annie convinces herself that her neighbor is in love with her. Annie...like the majority of the characters... live largely within their own heads. Following the death of a teenager, a reconstruction process is under way to work out exactly what happened. The search for the truth peels back so many layers that the reader finds themselves asking "is there a real person inside?" I believe the biggest problem I had with the book is that I just didn’t like Annie or feel much compassion for what she and the others were going through as a consequence of their own making.
    • 4/5
      Jenn Ashworth writes books that are so different to anything else. Quirky characters, and always something that's not revealed right to the end.This follows Lola and what has obviously been the tragic death of her friend Chloe. We don't discover how tragic, and the shadows Lola has lived with until the tenth anniversary of her death and the ground-breaking ceremony for her memorial.The uncurling of a great tale.
    • 4/5
      Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth is a psychological study of three teenage girls who have a history of jealousy, lies and perversion between them. These emotions eventually build into a tragedy. As events are slowly unveiled we learn the history of the friendship and how the secrets they held and the intensity of their relationship goes way beyond normal.Told in a bleak, almost surreal manner, I had trouble getting into this book but eventually the hints the writer drops and the many questions that arose enticed me into the story. These are not likeable girls, they are mean, seem to have a sense of entitlement and no empathy to speak of. I can’t say I liked the story, but it certainly became one that was difficult to put down. Cold Light seems to have left me with more questions than answers as I ponder the motivations of the characters. The story is told in flashbacks from 10 years in the future and in the end the strongest emotion I felt was one of sadness for the waste that their lives became by being shaped by guilt and shame. Not an easy or comfortable read but a memorable one.
    • 4/5
      A dark and compelling portrayal of lives gone astray. Ashworth is a gifted writer. I was especially impressed by the way the plot unfolded. Just as we think we understand what is going on, something new is revealed. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      Ashworth successfully elucidates the girls’ lives – especially Lola’s. They are fraught with the tensions and allure of dangerous older men, the peril of a flasher – whose crimes are escalating- on the loose, and their own semi-abusive treatment of one another. Lola’s life is further complicated by the delusions of her elderly father, hostile relationship with her mother, and a harsh mixture of guilt and defiance concerning her own actions the year Chloe died. With the mystery of the newly uncovered body in the woods, all the pieces are carefully placed for a tense read as the true nature of Chloe’s death is revealed. However the pacing is off, and the meandering plot of the novel exceeds plausibility, and proves too problematic to overcome. The transitions between past and present are frequently abrupt and confusing when overlapping each other. As interesting as the girls’ stories could have been, the sprawling narrative and numerous plot lines diffused interest in the fates of all involved.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as a Goodreads ARC giveaway. This was a great book and I really enjoy it
    • 2/5
      This book was not at all what I was expecting. Laura is an adult watching the memorial for her friends who died years before. When the mayor starts to dig and then stops abruptly, only Laura knows why. It's because he found a body, and only Laura knows who it is and how they got there. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past, back to the summer where Laura's friends died. Secrets come to light and we learn the truth about the dead person buried.I would love to say that this book blew me away, but unfortunately, it didn't. In fact, I'm not sure why I kept on reading other than I wanted to know about the body. Laura was a very unlikable character, a follower, constantly complaining and with no redeeming qualities. Her friends were even worse. They were rude, snotty, pretentious little jerks and I just didn't understand why Laura didn't tell them to screw off and be done with them. I guess that's why I didn't like her. Laura's mother was a horrible, horrible person and I wanted nothing more than to jump through the pages and strangle her myself. Other than the rotten characters, the writing itself was not my favorite style. It seemed to drag on forever and focus on little things that ultimately didn't really matter in the end. It took forever to come to the climax, and even then I was let down. I suppose the "twist" ending might do the job for some people. but I saw it coming and was not impressed. So sadly, this book just wasn't for me. Don't let that deter you though, perhaps I am just an anxious reader and was desperate for the story to unfold. If you like slower, meatier reads, then give this one a shot.
    • 1/5
      Underwhelming story. What felt right is the way the author wrote about the utter self-absorption of the teenagers. Not one I'll pass along to others.
    • 3/5
      A ground-breaking ceremony is taking place for a memorial to a young girl and her boyfriend, now ten years dead. Watching the television broadcast is the now grown girl's best friend, Suddenly, it all goes awry as the spade hits something it shouldn't. "You can tell from their faces that something has gone wrong. But I'm the one who knows straightaway that the mayor has found a body. And I know who it is." Thus starts Jenn Ashworth's atmospheric novel about the friendship of two fourteen year old girls, jealousy and reminiscence. Ashworth is at her best in capturing the anxiety of adolescence, the competitive nature of young girls, and striving to be more grown up than they should. If this is a time of your life which you've done your best to forget, you may wish to skip this book. If you enjoy psychological dark dramas, this might be for you.
    • 4/5
      A cold, dark mystery with real characters. A heavy read that will keep you thinking long after you are done reading it. 3.5 stars!
    • 1/5
      Try as I might, I could not get into this book. The characters were not worth caring about, the storyline dragged on at a pace that would make a snail feel like a Kenyan. Page after page of bland dialouge. I thought at first it was because the last book I'd read (Gone Girl) was so great that my expectations were too high. But when I did finally put this book down and tried another one (a Linda Howard) I was immediately excited about reading again. I found myself laughing at marketing which says this book is "reminiscent of the works of Tana French..." I happen to have a Tana French audio book going on in my car at this time and I can assure you that they are worlds apart. Disappointing to say the least but life is too short for books that don't grab my attention.
    • 4/5
      When Lola was 14 her best friend, Chloe, died. The authorities determined Chloe and her older boyfriend killed themselves after Chloe’s parents found out about the relationship, but Lola always knew the truth. In the decade that passed, Lola and Chloe’s other friend Emma went their separate ways while the community romanticized Chloe’s story. With the community having raised funds for a memorial, a local TV station broadcasts the groundbreaking which leads to the shocking discovery of a body. But Lola isn’t shocked as she watches on TV; she knows all the details and begins to reflect on what happened all those years ago.Cold Light is told in both present time and Lola’s reflections of what happened when she was 14; thus, the story is partly a mystery, but primarily a story of the dynamic between three teenage girls. The mystery is by far the weaker plot. The ending, which revealed all, struck me as far-fetched and reframed my entire opinion of Lola who turned out to be quite the unreliable (or at least not very forthcoming) narrator. However, I entirely enjoyed the story of the teenagers who fought with each other and their parents, who broke the rules and sometimes suffered the consequences, and who sought love and approval in the wrong places.
    • 3/5
      This book introduces us to Lola (Laura), Chloe and Emma, three teenage girls. While there is a storyline, I found the theme to be that of the pains, fears, and struggles of growing up. The awkwardnes, the insecurites, the jelousies and obbsessions of "best friends." The fears of losing the bond of your friends or becoming and outsider, the spitefulness, the tenderness. I enjoyed the book on the fact that anyone can identify with the emotions and turbulences of growing through those coming of age years.
    • 4/5
      This is a interesting story of three teen girls caught up inside a very adult situation. The portrayal of teen angst and the time period when teens become too secretive is very realistic. The plot line of the mystery had secrets within secrets and the main character's family was just odd enough to be intriguing. A worthwhile read.
    • 3/5
      A well-crafted novel about a trio of teenage girls and their troublesome activities. Even though I'm a long, long way from those teen years, I remember well how volatile they can be. These girls get off on the wrong track ,and it comes back to haunt even years later. The characters aren't likable, but I don't think they are meant to be.
    • 1/5
      Dark tale of three teens.....did not engage me. Not badly written, but not a story I enjoyed. The girls were too confused and I just didn't get the point of their angst.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers group. On the whole, I enjoyed it. It's an interesting read, particularly because it recalls the "games" that teenage girls play with each other so well. I didn't like any of the characters at all (except maybe the parents), but I could relate to experiences I had growing up...without the whole witnessing of an accidental death business. I found it complex and well-written. Ashworth conveyed that desperation to be accepted by your friends so well; it created a suspenseful and uncomfortable aura around the whole book.
    • 3/5
      Cold Lights is the story of 3 adolescent girls and the consequences and tragedies their secrets caused. This novel represents how victims and villains can get easily confused and misrepresented in the face of tragedy. It grabs your attention from the first pages as you try to figure out what’s going on or what happened, but the pace of the novel drops off drastically after that. It could be an extremely interesting thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat if it wasn't bogged down with so many details and stories. The way the author jumps to different times can be confusing and hard to follow. None of the characters were likable for me. I felt like the author beat around the bush on a few aspects and some things were never clearly explained. What was wrong with Lola’s dad, was he always like that? Why after all this time are Lola and Emma still getting together if they can’t stand each other? Was Emma telling the truth at the end of the novel and why wasn't her family situation explained better? Why did Lola never speak up about anything?????If you enjoy psychological thriller and don’t mind reading through the point of view of an odd fourteen year old good then I would definitely recommend you read this book.
    • 1/5
      A boring story about three unlikeable girls who do nasty things. I didn't like this book and only finished it because I felt like I owed the publisher and author that for having received a copy. A big waste of my time. I have a daughter and if she ever acted like the girls in this book I would have her in military school pronto.
    • 3/5
      There is a grubby, desperate, joyless feel to “Cold Light” that caused me to put it aside a few times. While it is well written, with authentic feeling characters…as a group I don’t think one of them experiences true happiness even once during the entire novel.“Cold Light” is about dark things. Death, despair, cruelty, mean spiritedness and desperation fill even the smallest cracks of these characters lives. And I was never really sure why. Though none of them have dream lives, few of them are living nightmare lives.Laura, or Lola, is the main character…and through her eyes we view this tangled group of unhappy and unfulfilled people. Though nothing other worldly happens…there is a feel of unreality throughout. Perhaps that emanates from the perspective of a very troubled teenage girl.“Tonight I remember the things that happened during that winter and it is like watching myself in a reconstruction. Some girl who isn’t quite real enough to be me stumbles through the corridors in a school that cannot have been so large and sits near a pair of girls that would never have been allowed to be so cruel.”Laura and her friend Chloe, and Chloe’s newest friend Emma, are jaded and cynical, despite their young age. Their lives are about smoking, drinking, ignoring their parents whenever possible, and only tangentially about school. Their voices come across like those of much older women who have lived hard lives. This winter of their lives is filled with rumor, a forbidden boyfriend and a growing cloud of suspicion and danger.“I knew already that it wouldn’t matter. That this was the start of a time when things like shoes would stop mattering altogether. That the idea they had ever mattered was going to become funny.”This time would change them all. Furtive secrets, actions that could never be taken back…would lead to the destruction of the lives they know. Destruction that would echo into the future.“I look at her, think about how she lives – alone, touching no one but her dogs – and get a glimpse of something massive and black, something I can’t catch hold of.”“It is cold, where Emma is. I realize I do not understand it.”These characters are unable to understand themselves, let alone others around them. This book is glittering ice – slippery sharp with no warmth or soft spots. “Cold”, yes. “Light”, no.
    • 4/5
      Jenn Ashworth has given us an exciting read. The story is set in a time where young girls are at their most venerable age, and some of the worst mistake are made. It is a story that all can relate to in some degree, the place where we must make a choice of fitting in. Laura, (Lola is her nick name) throughout the story makes treacherous mistakes, most of her trouble is wanting to fit in with her friend Chloe. Laura is a bit alone, due to the fact that her father is mentally ill, and I feel she just got lost along the way. I enjoyed the way the author structured the story, you knew some things but not all things, and the way that the fit together. A story that will stay with you for some time after you finish.
    • 3/5
      I thought I would like Cold Light more than I did, and that expectation was based primarily on a description of the book that I had read in which it was compared to the works of Kate Atkinson and Tana French. I think the writing was technically good and very detailed, but as another reviewer here has stated, there was a bit much going on, and I agree that the overall structure of the book was flawed. Narrative about the TV reporter and extended sections on Lola's father did not add to the central mystery of the book, so I felt distracted by those sections instead of feeling that they were contributing to the tension.When the girls' relationship was presented, it was done well, although I admit that at times that I wondered if I really wanted to read more about teenage girls being mean to each other. I do not think this compares to the work of Atkinson and French, although I do believe that the author shows promise, and her ambition is admirable, even if the book didn't quite succeed.
    • 3/5
      I'm not entirely sure how to go about reviewing Cold Light. On one side, the writing is great. Detailed, believable. Ashworth took me back to being fourteen. On the other hand, it really felt like there was too much going on. With Laura and Chloe and Emma, with the flasher, the "present day" discovery of a body, with Laura's parents, etc. I never really got the chance to feel much suspense because I was too busy bouncing around to the different story lines. In the end I felt pretty let down, like there was so much potential, but the story just kind of fizzled out.
    • 1/5
      Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth failed to captivate me. While the complexities and complications of friendship between three teenaged girls were adequately conveyed, the plot could have been satisfied in a short story or novella. I found the characters, with the exception of Laura's father, to be highly unlikeable.