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Cold
A tragic plane crash that leaves two women stranded and fighting for their lives kicks off this sweeping and hilarious novel from award-winning writer Drew Hayden Taylor that blends thriller, murder mystery, and horror with humour and spectacle.
Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself entangled in an affair that's ruining his marriage; Paul North plays in the IHL (Indigenous Hockey League), struggling to keep up with the game that's passing him by; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that conspicuously lead her to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, former journalist-turned-author and famed survivor of a plane crash that sparked a nationwide tour promoting her book.
What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone—or something—is hunting them all.
Taking tropes from murder mystery, police procedural, thriller, and horror, Drew Hayden Taylor weaves a pulse-pounding and propulsive narrative with an intricate cast of characters, while never losing the ability to make you laugh. Cold takes Indigenous traditional stories and thrusts them into the modern streets of Toronto, exploring themes of displacement and trauma, as well as offering playful satirical critiques of the current landscape of Indigenous literature.
Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself entangled in an affair that's ruining his marriage; Paul North plays in the IHL (Indigenous Hockey League), struggling to keep up with the game that's passing him by; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that conspicuously lead her to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, former journalist-turned-author and famed survivor of a plane crash that sparked a nationwide tour promoting her book.
What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone—or something—is hunting them all.
Taking tropes from murder mystery, police procedural, thriller, and horror, Drew Hayden Taylor weaves a pulse-pounding and propulsive narrative with an intricate cast of characters, while never losing the ability to make you laugh. Cold takes Indigenous traditional stories and thrusts them into the modern streets of Toronto, exploring themes of displacement and trauma, as well as offering playful satirical critiques of the current landscape of Indigenous literature.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 2024
About the author
Drew Hayden Taylor
44 books257 followersDuring the last thirty years of his life, Drew Hayden Taylor has done many things, most of which he is proud of. An Ojibway from the Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario, he has worn many hats in his literary career, from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., to being Artistic Director of Canada's premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He has been an award-winning playwright (with over 70 productions of his work), a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), short-story writer, novelist, television scriptwriter, and has worked on over 17 documentaries exploring the Native experience. Most notably, he wrote and directed REDSKINS, TRICKSTERS AND PUPPY STEW, a documentary on Native humour for the National Film Board of Canada.
He has traveled to sixteen countries around the world, spreading the gospel of Native literature to the world. Through many of his books, most notably the four volume set of the FUNNY, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE ONE series, he has tried to educate and inform the world about issues that reflect, celebrate, and interfere in the lives of Canada's First Nations.
Self described as a contemporary story teller in what ever form, last summer saw the production of the third season of MIXED BLESSINGS, a television comedy series he co-created and is the head writer for. This fall, a made-for-tv movie he wrote, based on his Governor General's nominated play was nominated for three Gemini Awards, including Best Movie. Originally it aired on APTN and opened the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, and the Dreamspeakers Film Festival in Edmonton.
The last few years has seen him proudly serve as the Writer-In-Residence at the University of Michigan and the University of Western Ontario. In 2007, Annick Press published his first Novel, THE NIGHT WANDERER: A Native Gothic Novel, a teen novel about an Ojibway vampire. Two years ago, his non-fiction book exploring the world of Native sexuality, called ME SEXY, was published by Douglas & McIntyre. It is a follow up to his highly successful book on Native humour, ME FUNNY.
The author of 20 books in total, he is eagerly awaiting the publication of his new novel in February by Random House as "One of the new faces of fiction for 2010", titled MOTORCYCLES AND SWEETGRASS. In January, his new play, DEAD WHITE WRITER ON THE FLOOR, opens at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay. Currently, he is working on a new play titled CREES IN THE CARRIBEAN, and a collection of essays called POSTCARDS FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS. More importantly, he is desperately trying to find the time to do his laundry.
Oddly enough, the thing his mother is most proud of is his ability to make spaghetti from scratch.
He has traveled to sixteen countries around the world, spreading the gospel of Native literature to the world. Through many of his books, most notably the four volume set of the FUNNY, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE ONE series, he has tried to educate and inform the world about issues that reflect, celebrate, and interfere in the lives of Canada's First Nations.
Self described as a contemporary story teller in what ever form, last summer saw the production of the third season of MIXED BLESSINGS, a television comedy series he co-created and is the head writer for. This fall, a made-for-tv movie he wrote, based on his Governor General's nominated play was nominated for three Gemini Awards, including Best Movie. Originally it aired on APTN and opened the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, and the Dreamspeakers Film Festival in Edmonton.
The last few years has seen him proudly serve as the Writer-In-Residence at the University of Michigan and the University of Western Ontario. In 2007, Annick Press published his first Novel, THE NIGHT WANDERER: A Native Gothic Novel, a teen novel about an Ojibway vampire. Two years ago, his non-fiction book exploring the world of Native sexuality, called ME SEXY, was published by Douglas & McIntyre. It is a follow up to his highly successful book on Native humour, ME FUNNY.
The author of 20 books in total, he is eagerly awaiting the publication of his new novel in February by Random House as "One of the new faces of fiction for 2010", titled MOTORCYCLES AND SWEETGRASS. In January, his new play, DEAD WHITE WRITER ON THE FLOOR, opens at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay. Currently, he is working on a new play titled CREES IN THE CARRIBEAN, and a collection of essays called POSTCARDS FROM THE FOUR DIRECTIONS. More importantly, he is desperately trying to find the time to do his laundry.
Oddly enough, the thing his mother is most proud of is his ability to make spaghetti from scratch.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
February 23, 2024
I wish to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada (McClelland & Stewart) for this much-appreciated ARC in return for an honest review. This was a unique story that kept me reading far into the night. It was a thriller, a mystery, a police procedural, a character story that morphed into a tale of menace and gruesome horror. It brings creatures from traditional indigenous folklore into the modern world, making their presence chilling and believable. There are touches of humour. The cover is eye-catching. Whenever I felt I knew where it was heading and had figured out the solution to the mystery, I was not even close.
The author, Drew Hayden Taylor, is an Ojibway from Curve Lake First Nations, Ontario. He expands the boundaries of what is considered indigenous literature. He writes that it usually focuses on historical or victim themes and the resulting post-contact stress disorders.
The book opens with a plane crash in the cold, desolate wilderness of the Canadian North. A young Cree boy, returning home from a hospital is killed in the accident. Fabiola is a beautiful, fashionable black woman who is a journalist. She lost her family at sea when they were refugees from a Caribbean nation. She and the native female pilot are the lone survivors. With little hope of rescue, their survival is doubtful. What happens?
The story quickly veers off in a surprising and unexpected direction. We now meet several characters a year later in Toronto. The new characters seem to lack connection with the plane crash story and each other. The narrative becomes a compelling character study reflecting race and displacement and a gory murder mystery that escalates to a ghastly horror story.
Elmore Trent is a popular professor who attended a residential school for native children and lost his parents in a fire. He teaches indigenous literature and folklore and is happy in that role. His wife, Sarah, is a white real estate agent who resents what she believes is Trent's lack of drive and ambition. He keeps a rundown family cabin in the north, and his wife is pressing him to sell it. Their marriage is heading toward divorce. He has been having an affair with Kate, a young, bright Cree student who is also his teacher's aide. He loves both women.
Paul North's life consists of his obsession with hockey. He plays in the Indigenous Hockey League. He was once their brightest star but is a decade older than his teammates and is slowing down. He worries about being cut from the team. With little education or other training, he feels unprepared for any different role in life. These two men would unlikely know each other except under extraordinary circumstances and a growing feeling of menace.
Two women have been murdered and dismembered in Toronto. Clues and circumstantial evidence have led Detective Ruby Birch to question both Trent and Paul. They have little in common but must band together to clear any suspicion pointing to them and discover who is committing the deranged murders. Detective Birch has learned that similar murders are occurring in cities across Canada.
Meanwhile, Fabiola has written a book describing her version of events following the plane crash. She is travelling on book tours to promote her story.
There is a deadly, pulse-pounding confrontation at the hockey arena. Trent and Paul team up with an unexpected third person who fears the killer is stalking them. This is a twisty plot, and I doubt if any will predict its conclusion. Put aside any sense of disbelief!
The publication date is January 02, 2024.
The author, Drew Hayden Taylor, is an Ojibway from Curve Lake First Nations, Ontario. He expands the boundaries of what is considered indigenous literature. He writes that it usually focuses on historical or victim themes and the resulting post-contact stress disorders.
The book opens with a plane crash in the cold, desolate wilderness of the Canadian North. A young Cree boy, returning home from a hospital is killed in the accident. Fabiola is a beautiful, fashionable black woman who is a journalist. She lost her family at sea when they were refugees from a Caribbean nation. She and the native female pilot are the lone survivors. With little hope of rescue, their survival is doubtful. What happens?
The story quickly veers off in a surprising and unexpected direction. We now meet several characters a year later in Toronto. The new characters seem to lack connection with the plane crash story and each other. The narrative becomes a compelling character study reflecting race and displacement and a gory murder mystery that escalates to a ghastly horror story.
Elmore Trent is a popular professor who attended a residential school for native children and lost his parents in a fire. He teaches indigenous literature and folklore and is happy in that role. His wife, Sarah, is a white real estate agent who resents what she believes is Trent's lack of drive and ambition. He keeps a rundown family cabin in the north, and his wife is pressing him to sell it. Their marriage is heading toward divorce. He has been having an affair with Kate, a young, bright Cree student who is also his teacher's aide. He loves both women.
Paul North's life consists of his obsession with hockey. He plays in the Indigenous Hockey League. He was once their brightest star but is a decade older than his teammates and is slowing down. He worries about being cut from the team. With little education or other training, he feels unprepared for any different role in life. These two men would unlikely know each other except under extraordinary circumstances and a growing feeling of menace.
Two women have been murdered and dismembered in Toronto. Clues and circumstantial evidence have led Detective Ruby Birch to question both Trent and Paul. They have little in common but must band together to clear any suspicion pointing to them and discover who is committing the deranged murders. Detective Birch has learned that similar murders are occurring in cities across Canada.
Meanwhile, Fabiola has written a book describing her version of events following the plane crash. She is travelling on book tours to promote her story.
There is a deadly, pulse-pounding confrontation at the hockey arena. Trent and Paul team up with an unexpected third person who fears the killer is stalking them. This is a twisty plot, and I doubt if any will predict its conclusion. Put aside any sense of disbelief!
The publication date is January 02, 2024.
February 21, 2024
I just wanted to listen into this audiobook a little bit while doing some work around the house with no strings attached, and even though I currently I have difficulties concentrating on stories, it caught my attention immediately and kept it.
The story starts off with a plane crash in the northern parts of Canada which has a rather mysterious outcome and the only survivor, journalist Fabiola Halan, goes on to write a book about surviving in freezing wilderness with a broken leg and sets off on a book tour. Meanwhile university professor Elmore Trent successively loses the two most important women in his life and Paul North, one of the “elder” (he’s just 35) player at the Indigenous Hockey League, tries to keep up with his game and life in general. Their paths will cross in rather unexpected ways.
Based on an indigenous myth, I really liked the surprising supernatural turn this story took. I also enjoyed the outcome, the lesson of the story, greed generating more greed, and most of all the energy between the main characters, which is probably one of the most important elements in binding a reader to an adventure shared by a group of characters. Nice one. ALC received from Libro FM via the Otherland Bookstore.
The story starts off with a plane crash in the northern parts of Canada which has a rather mysterious outcome and the only survivor, journalist Fabiola Halan, goes on to write a book about surviving in freezing wilderness with a broken leg and sets off on a book tour. Meanwhile university professor Elmore Trent successively loses the two most important women in his life and Paul North, one of the “elder” (he’s just 35) player at the Indigenous Hockey League, tries to keep up with his game and life in general. Their paths will cross in rather unexpected ways.
Based on an indigenous myth, I really liked the surprising supernatural turn this story took. I also enjoyed the outcome, the lesson of the story, greed generating more greed, and most of all the energy between the main characters, which is probably one of the most important elements in binding a reader to an adventure shared by a group of characters. Nice one. ALC received from Libro FM via the Otherland Bookstore.
February 28, 2024
The Calm Before The Storm...
COLD: A Novel by Drew Hayden Taylor
No spoilers. 4 stars. Deep in the muskeg of Northern Ontario, the forest was snowy, cold, and silent except for the occasional creak of a tree in the icy wind...
It was late November...
The animals and birds were hibernating. Every little sound could be heard from miles away...
This was the calm before the storm...
It seemed like the entire universe was quiet and cold. Then the roar of a Cessna suddenly disturbed the forest...
Pilot Merle Thompson and her passengers Fabiola Halan and 12 year old Carl Benojee knew the plane was going to crash...
When all was said and done, Merle, an indigenous native, was injured, and the boy was dead...
Journalist Fabiola had a broken leg... she blamed Merle for the crash, and the two women became instant enemies...
Merle made the injured Fabiola comfortable, then told her that she was leaving her to walk through the snowstorm for help...
Both women looked into each other's eyes and knew that Merle was abandoning Fabiola and that she did not intend to return...
But...
Fabiola knew how to survive and made a vow to herself that when she was out of danger, she would track down the heartless native woman who left her to die...
Well folks, this was a real whodunit. A person could catch cold reading this icy winter tale with a great twist at the end.
If you're a hockey fan, you'll like this story, and you'll discover that tobacco isn't always bad for you.
COLD: A Novel by Drew Hayden Taylor
No spoilers. 4 stars. Deep in the muskeg of Northern Ontario, the forest was snowy, cold, and silent except for the occasional creak of a tree in the icy wind...
It was late November...
The animals and birds were hibernating. Every little sound could be heard from miles away...
This was the calm before the storm...
It seemed like the entire universe was quiet and cold. Then the roar of a Cessna suddenly disturbed the forest...
Pilot Merle Thompson and her passengers Fabiola Halan and 12 year old Carl Benojee knew the plane was going to crash...
When all was said and done, Merle, an indigenous native, was injured, and the boy was dead...
Journalist Fabiola had a broken leg... she blamed Merle for the crash, and the two women became instant enemies...
Merle made the injured Fabiola comfortable, then told her that she was leaving her to walk through the snowstorm for help...
Both women looked into each other's eyes and knew that Merle was abandoning Fabiola and that she did not intend to return...
But...
Fabiola knew how to survive and made a vow to herself that when she was out of danger, she would track down the heartless native woman who left her to die...
Well folks, this was a real whodunit. A person could catch cold reading this icy winter tale with a great twist at the end.
If you're a hockey fan, you'll like this story, and you'll discover that tobacco isn't always bad for you.
January 23, 2024
Somehow this was my first book by Ojibway author Drew Hayden Taylor but it for sure won't be my last!!
Part horror story, part murder mystery/police procedural and part dystopian thriller with threads of Indigenous mythology intricately woven throughout.
Told with humor from multiple POVs, this story had me invested from the very start and I couldn't put it down til the very end!
Excellent on audio with a full cast of narrators, this is perfect for fans of authors like Cherie Dimaline, Eden Robinson or Waubgeshig Rice.
The characters leapt off the page and I really enjoyed the focus on Indigenous hockey players, the traumatic legacy of the Residential School system and the well crafted supernatural story about the Wendigo legend.
Highly, highly recommended!! Many thanks to @librofm and the publisher for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Now excuse me while I go binge the author's award-winning backlist!!
Part horror story, part murder mystery/police procedural and part dystopian thriller with threads of Indigenous mythology intricately woven throughout.
Told with humor from multiple POVs, this story had me invested from the very start and I couldn't put it down til the very end!
Excellent on audio with a full cast of narrators, this is perfect for fans of authors like Cherie Dimaline, Eden Robinson or Waubgeshig Rice.
The characters leapt off the page and I really enjoyed the focus on Indigenous hockey players, the traumatic legacy of the Residential School system and the well crafted supernatural story about the Wendigo legend.
Highly, highly recommended!! Many thanks to @librofm and the publisher for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.
Now excuse me while I go binge the author's award-winning backlist!!
June 18, 2023
Something merciless, frigid, and cruel was descending upon Toronto. Many would say it was too late in the season for such an anomalous and severe weather manifestation to develop. Spring was technically just a few weeks away. Then there were those who were frequently ignored, but whose understanding of the world was far older, and they would say the icy climate was being called, beckoned even. In the age of science, who had ever heard of such silliness. Regardless, the cold came. And something, deep in the city, was delighted.
Cold is a twisty thriller, set in modern-day Toronto and overlaid with Indigenous mythology, and while it was consistently entertaining — and very often funny — I didn’t find this to be particularly deep or meaningful. Still, an engaging read that I took with me on a plane, despite knowing that it starts with a crash; I do enjoy Drew Hayden Taylor’s voice and I look forward to reading his work again in the future. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
Cessna 206s are generally designed to fly higher than this particular plane was at the moment. A good, reliable utility aircraft, barely twenty years old, it was currently finding the principles of aerodynamics versus the laws of gravity somewhat problematic. It was in an argument of lift versus acceleration versus gravity versus ice on the wing, and to be blunt, the plane was losing.
A small plane crashes in the frozen muskeg of Northern Ontario, and after a brief and tense narrative focussed on the flight’s two survivors, the story jumps to a year later as one of those survivors is on a Canada-wide book tour with her rushed-to-print memoir of how she found her way to safety. Interwoven with her tale is that of Paul North — a defenceman in the Indigenous Hockey League who, at thirty-five, might be about to age out of semi-pro hockey — and Elmore Trent — a professor of Indigenous Studies who, despite having been born on a reserve and raised in a Residential School, treats his First Nations ancestry more as a subject for academic study than as culture to be lived. These strands, and characters, intersect in unpredictable ways, and the thriller is set up.
“Hmm, interesting. So, are you saying legends, in whatever their form, are restricted to time immemorial? There are no potential legends in the making today? The days of free-ranging legends or traditional stories regarding Indigenous people, places, and things are unfortunately a thing of the past? That’s a very dim view of contemporary life, Ms. Fiddler.”
As an unseasonable cold descends upon the city and a series of gruesome murders occur — which put both Elmore and Paul, unrelatedly, on the investigating detective’s radar — the professor is forced to wonder if the murderer is actually a legendary monster from his people’s mythology come to life. And if that is so, where can he find a modern day warrior to help him defeat it?
All of this was sounding crazier and crazier. But sometimes in life, the world became crazier and crazier through no action of your own . And coincidently, leaning in to the absurd was the only way you could fight back. In the frozen blizzard of the conundrum that had suddenly enveloped him, Elmore Trent could see a trail sketched hesitantly ahead of him. The question was: would he be walking it alone?
That’s as much plot as I’ll share, but I also want to note that Taylor discusses many other Indigenous authors’ works in this book. In the voice of his professor character, he positively recommends both Waubgeshig Rice’s novel Moon of the Crusted Snow and Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (which I also enjoyed as dystopic explorations of the fears of Canada’s modern day First Nations peoples), and it makes sense that Elmore would recommend Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse to Paul (as it’s about hockey). Less enthusiastically, he refers to Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road as “well-written but contextually questionable” and Tomson Hiway’s play Dry Lips as “more a misogynistic play than a play about misogyny.” And it’s in the context of these other works that Taylor references that Cold felt lacking to me: it’s a decent mystery with thrilling elements, but I didn’t learn anything from it. Still: entertaining for what it is and I am happy to have read this.
February 3, 2024
I'm a fan of genre mash-ups, especially those blending horror, thriller, and murder mystery. I enjoyed "Cold," but with a few reservations.
It revolves around several characters whose paths eventually intertwine, but it takes some time to build momentum and reveal all connections. Unfortunately, not all characters are equally compelling.
The slow start results in an uneven middle section, leading to a rushed and somewhat predictable ending. Still, it remains enjoyable for the most part, and I appreciate its take on Vendigo myths. In all, "Cold" is a decent mystery that has its thrilling and horrifying moments.
It revolves around several characters whose paths eventually intertwine, but it takes some time to build momentum and reveal all connections. Unfortunately, not all characters are equally compelling.
The slow start results in an uneven middle section, leading to a rushed and somewhat predictable ending. Still, it remains enjoyable for the most part, and I appreciate its take on Vendigo myths. In all, "Cold" is a decent mystery that has its thrilling and horrifying moments.
January 28, 2024
"The Cold" is centered around a small plane crash that leaves two women stranded in the Canadian wilderness, kicking off a series of events across the nation. From the book's synopsis, I expected this to be more of a survival story, so I was surprised when the story of the plane crash immediately took a 90-degree turn into academia and an author’s book tour. It all ties together in the end, but the 90-degree turns do keep coming, giving somewhat of a disjointed feel overall. Contrary to the book's description, I did not get a “hilarious” vibe at all, in fact, it’s quite dark. I did enjoy this novel, though, and found myself frequently intrigued. I appreciated the inclusion of indigenous folklore which gives the book a supernatural edge. It can sometimes be difficult for me to engage with indigenous storytelling, which I find has a different pacing than I'm typically used to, but this one was immersive.
January 28, 2024
This book manages to be a police procedural, mystery, thriller, horror. Great characters and the last act was brilliant!
February 28, 2024
I went into Cold not knowing anything about it and borrowed it from the library because I loved the cover. Part mystery, part Indigenous horror with a sprinkling of dark humour that made me laugh aloud a few times, it did not disappoint. I feel like the less you know about it going in the better. It took about a third of the book to set everything up, but once it got going I felt like it was pretty fast paced. I listened to the audiobook and felt that it added to my enjoyment, as each point of view has their own narrator and I got to hear the pronunciation of the chapter names. I also felt like it would make a good tv mini series, so it doesn’t surprise me that the author originally intended it to be a movie.
February 21, 2024
While eventually the story makes its point, I found this plane-crash/hockey/academia/journalism/supernatural/crime story mash-up tedious and boring. With so many characters, so many POVs, so many plot lines, you might expect the opposite…. but it was kind of a thready and meandering mess. Plus, there is an uncomfortable, heteronormative male chauvinism that lies beneath a lot of the relationships which often made me cringe.
Sorry, this one just didn’t resonate with me.
2/5
Sorry, this one just didn’t resonate with me.
2/5
November 19, 2023
What could be more Canadian than a wendigo killer and an Indigenous hockey player hero? Wry, amusing, and so entertaining -- this isn't the usual description for a larger-than-life-horror-thriller but it fits Drew Hayden Taylor's Cold perfectly. I loved the tight writing and the tension of this page-turning thriller. I also appreciated the homage to so many great Indigenous Canadian writers. This refreshing and entertaining novel will amuse every reader who is willing to suspend their disbelief for just a few hundred pages.
February 27, 2024
Picked this up during a recent trip to Montreal and found the Canadian author's storytelling to be different and compelling.
March 9, 2024
Fun plot, slightly overwritten and with lots of understated humour in this author’s signature style, with great characters and an intrinsically Canadian ending. My favourite characteres were Merle the pilot ("I may look like your mother but I can hit like your father") and "Ojibway hockey ninja" Paul. This would make a great movie. 3 1/2 stars
February 9, 2024
A mix of different genres, "Cold" was alternately funny, horrifying, mysterious and sad. It opens with a plane carrying three people to northern Canada:
-Anishnawbe pilot Merle Thompson
-Black, former refugee from the Caribbean, now successful journalist Fabiola Halan, on the hunt for a new story
-An indigenous teen returning home from surgery
The plane crashes and a storm arrives; the teen is dead, Fabiola is immobilized due to a broken leg, and Merle is injured but mobile. Having a bad feeling about the storm, and their chances of being found, Merle decides to go for help, leaving Fabiola behind.
A year later, the story picks up again in Toronto, where we meet:
-Elmore Trent is a survivor of a residential school and has no connections to his heritage. He's a middle-aged professor teaching indigenous literature. He's separated from his wife, a successful white realtor, and having an affair with one of his students, Katie Fiddler, a young Cree woman.
-Paul North, a thirty-five-year-old Anishnawbe hockey player in the Indigenous Hockey League. He's a former star looking at retirement in the face, doesn't have the stamina or drive of his much younger teammates, has no other training, and does not know what he'll do next.
Author Drew Hayden Taylor brings these people together through a book.
Elmore reluctantly attends a book signing with Katie for a new book by a journalist who survived a plane crash in the north--yup, it's Fabiola, who's already been to several cities for her book tour. After, Kate bumps into Paul at a restaurant, and the two bond over being Anishnawbe. Paul later meets Fabiola, who attends one of his games out of curiosity.
Meanwhile, two women are murdered, and Detective Ruby Birch begins investigating, gradually making her way to both Elmore and Paul. Both look pretty good as suspects to the detective, for the Toronto murders and for others across Canada, so Elmore and Paul get together on their own investigation to find out who really killed the women, culminating in a totally Canadian ending at a hockey rink.
The novel's's opening drew me in immediately, and all the characterizations were vivid and compelling. The author's tone is often wry, describing Trent's and North's experiences or impressions. And there is humour sprinkled throughout the story, which is often dark, with moments both horrific and graphic. But Taylor manages to take the many tonal changes and weave them into an engaging, entertaining whole, blending indigenous stories, shameful Canadian history, the complexities of identity, a murder mystery and hockey.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.
-Anishnawbe pilot Merle Thompson
-Black, former refugee from the Caribbean, now successful journalist Fabiola Halan, on the hunt for a new story
-An indigenous teen returning home from surgery
The plane crashes and a storm arrives; the teen is dead, Fabiola is immobilized due to a broken leg, and Merle is injured but mobile. Having a bad feeling about the storm, and their chances of being found, Merle decides to go for help, leaving Fabiola behind.
A year later, the story picks up again in Toronto, where we meet:
-Elmore Trent is a survivor of a residential school and has no connections to his heritage. He's a middle-aged professor teaching indigenous literature. He's separated from his wife, a successful white realtor, and having an affair with one of his students, Katie Fiddler, a young Cree woman.
-Paul North, a thirty-five-year-old Anishnawbe hockey player in the Indigenous Hockey League. He's a former star looking at retirement in the face, doesn't have the stamina or drive of his much younger teammates, has no other training, and does not know what he'll do next.
Author Drew Hayden Taylor brings these people together through a book.
Elmore reluctantly attends a book signing with Katie for a new book by a journalist who survived a plane crash in the north--yup, it's Fabiola, who's already been to several cities for her book tour. After, Kate bumps into Paul at a restaurant, and the two bond over being Anishnawbe. Paul later meets Fabiola, who attends one of his games out of curiosity.
Meanwhile, two women are murdered, and Detective Ruby Birch begins investigating, gradually making her way to both Elmore and Paul. Both look pretty good as suspects to the detective, for the Toronto murders and for others across Canada, so Elmore and Paul get together on their own investigation to find out who really killed the women, culminating in a totally Canadian ending at a hockey rink.
The novel's's opening drew me in immediately, and all the characterizations were vivid and compelling. The author's tone is often wry, describing Trent's and North's experiences or impressions. And there is humour sprinkled throughout the story, which is often dark, with moments both horrific and graphic. But Taylor manages to take the many tonal changes and weave them into an engaging, entertaining whole, blending indigenous stories, shameful Canadian history, the complexities of identity, a murder mystery and hockey.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.
May 30, 2024
3.5 Stars
Audiobook - Narrated by: Wesley French, Lawrence Bayne, Susan Roman, Jani Lauzon, Cara Gee, Mirphie Kinanga, Drew Hayden Taylor
“Cold” is not the genre of book that I would normally read, and much less listen to. It’s categorized in the horror, mystery, thriller and contemporary mythology which I tend to shy away from.
“Cold” kicks off with a plane crash in the cold winter of the desolate wilderness in the Canadian North. Two women are left stranded and fighting for their lives. One of those woman is a journalist named Fabiola who is a beautiful, black woman. Fabiola and the native female pilot are the lone survivors.
Suddenly, the story veers off, and in an unexpected direction. While I was initially confused from this ‘whiplash’ moment, I was still enjoying the story and was invested in the characters. I also wanted to know the ending! In that ‘whiplash’ moment, we find ourselves, a year later, in Toronto, with Fabiola promoting her book about her survival in that plane crash. We also meet several characters, who, although separated from each other, find their paths intertwined, and their connections revealed. Once you connect the dots, it all falls into place.
Excellent to listen to with a superb cast of narrators.
Hats off to the author, Drew Hayden Taylor who weaved in a mythology creature from the spiritual tradition of North American Algonquian-speaking tribes. The story has dark humour that made me laugh aloud a few times, it certainly does not disappoint!
Audiobook - Narrated by: Wesley French, Lawrence Bayne, Susan Roman, Jani Lauzon, Cara Gee, Mirphie Kinanga, Drew Hayden Taylor
“Cold” is not the genre of book that I would normally read, and much less listen to. It’s categorized in the horror, mystery, thriller and contemporary mythology which I tend to shy away from.
“Cold” kicks off with a plane crash in the cold winter of the desolate wilderness in the Canadian North. Two women are left stranded and fighting for their lives. One of those woman is a journalist named Fabiola who is a beautiful, black woman. Fabiola and the native female pilot are the lone survivors.
Suddenly, the story veers off, and in an unexpected direction. While I was initially confused from this ‘whiplash’ moment, I was still enjoying the story and was invested in the characters. I also wanted to know the ending! In that ‘whiplash’ moment, we find ourselves, a year later, in Toronto, with Fabiola promoting her book about her survival in that plane crash. We also meet several characters, who, although separated from each other, find their paths intertwined, and their connections revealed. Once you connect the dots, it all falls into place.
Excellent to listen to with a superb cast of narrators.
Hats off to the author, Drew Hayden Taylor who weaved in a mythology creature from the spiritual tradition of North American Algonquian-speaking tribes. The story has dark humour that made me laugh aloud a few times, it certainly does not disappoint!
January 17, 2024
3.75 rounded up! Started this at the beginning of a cold snap, and finished it at the end of one. It was very apt for the occasion. I love a multi-cast narrated audiobook, and this delivered! It might be inaccurate to say but it almost gave off some Lost vibes (plane crash, a big cast of seemingly unconnected people, a fantastical being lurking in the night…) I loved the blend of genres here, a little bit horror, a little bit mystery, a little bit character study, and especially loved the exploration into the history and lore of the wendigo. In the end I think I was craving more mystery, but I loved how unique this was, and how suitably chilling!!
March 25, 2024
I have been looking forward to this one for a minute now. It sounded so intriguing.
Unfortunately, I didn't love it. The book felt strangely choppy. There wasn't much setting given throughout so I never really felt like I was in the story. The characters were interesting, but I never really connected with them wholly either.
The story started off very slowly for things sort of happening, and the middle wasn't much better. The ending was interesting and had such good pieces. I wish more of the spark that was in the last bit of this story was more prominent everywhere else.
I loved that this was an indigenous story at its heart.
Unfortunately, I didn't love it. The book felt strangely choppy. There wasn't much setting given throughout so I never really felt like I was in the story. The characters were interesting, but I never really connected with them wholly either.
The story started off very slowly for things sort of happening, and the middle wasn't much better. The ending was interesting and had such good pieces. I wish more of the spark that was in the last bit of this story was more prominent everywhere else.
I loved that this was an indigenous story at its heart.
February 6, 2024
What a fun ride! I can’t believe I haven’t read anything by this author before. This book is scary, funny, and super entertaining. I also love that it’s mainly set in Toronto. Will definitely be seeking out more books by the writer!
February 9, 2024
I ended up really enjoying this book after a slightly dubious beginning (I am so sick of watching professors having affairs with their TA’s or students). I eventually started really enjoying the different POV characters and the way they overlapped and interacted. Once things started coming together, they started coming together FAST and I really liked the slightly more manic and action-packed final scenes.
I also really, really loved how the author name dropped other contemporary novels written by Indigenous authors (like Moon of the Crusted Snow and The Marrow Eaters). I never see that in fiction and it was so cool to see.
I think the description slightly oversells the comedic aspect, but it really is a fun story that doesn’t pull any punches at the end. Recommend for anyone who likes an X files episode that meets a fun multiple POV romp around Toronto.
I also really, really loved how the author name dropped other contemporary novels written by Indigenous authors (like Moon of the Crusted Snow and The Marrow Eaters). I never see that in fiction and it was so cool to see.
I think the description slightly oversells the comedic aspect, but it really is a fun story that doesn’t pull any punches at the end. Recommend for anyone who likes an X files episode that meets a fun multiple POV romp around Toronto.
February 5, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up. i liked the characters a lot. found the plot slightly predictable, but enjoyable. the humor was well-placed and very funny.
December 5, 2023
This book!!! Could not put it down - seriously, make sure you give yourself time before starting it because it's the definition of "unputdownable". Incredible story, kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page. I will be thinking about this one for a while.
April 15, 2024
3.5 rating.
May 4, 2024
Started out okay but soon got clunky and silly and unbelievable. I finished it but... just not a good read.
January 12, 2024
I think this book wanted to be more... "proper literature" than it ended up being. It wanted to be an important kind of book that happened to have monsters and gore. (Or maybe that is just what I was hoping/expecting it would be). It was a valiant effort but I think it fell just short of the goal. It was very entertaining and I'm glad I read it, even if it sort of collapsed into a weird old school Stephen King homage toward the end.
I sound like I'm slamming the book, but I'm not. The representation is fantastic, and the people feel like characters instead of caricatures created to check a box. The story was good, the writing was solid, that cover is gorgeous. It might not have lived up to my expectations but it WAS a good time.
I sound like I'm slamming the book, but I'm not. The representation is fantastic, and the people feel like characters instead of caricatures created to check a box. The story was good, the writing was solid, that cover is gorgeous. It might not have lived up to my expectations but it WAS a good time.
Read
June 4, 2024I was excited to be granted access to Drew Hayden Taylor’s latest offering, promoted as a mystery-horror. I went in hoping for horror and creepiness, but came out slightly disappointed.
Taylor has a knack for creating characters that can portray difficult moments and situations. But the horror elements never quite surfaced for me. The horror elements felt contrived, and strained. I loved the reference to indigenous legends and traditions, although I didn’t connect with the story overall.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Taylor has a knack for creating characters that can portray difficult moments and situations. But the horror elements never quite surfaced for me. The horror elements felt contrived, and strained. I loved the reference to indigenous legends and traditions, although I didn’t connect with the story overall.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.
April 4, 2024
I was hopeful going into this book. The reviews and introduction were encouraging. I was disappointed. It sometimes felt like it was written by 2 people. I almost didn’t finish, as I found the descriptions were wordy and overblown. Then the story would catch my interest. And then the writing would get clumsy and silly. I thought maybe it was his first novel but looking him up I found that wasn’t so. Not a fan at least of this one
February 25, 2024
3.5 for me. It was surprisingly funny for what I assumed was a horror novel, but filled with very layered and deep Indigenous characters, all trying to solve a mystery and keep themselves alive during a Toronto winter storm. Part police drama, part horror, part sports memoir, part fable, it really kept me invested. Certainly one of the most original uses for the Wendigo monster I’ve encountered in literature. Highly enjoyed.
A little far fetched at moments with how much leeway some characters got, ie: avoiding a murder charge when they just absolutely would have been arrested under the circumstances. Dropped it from a four for me. But overall, very good.
A little far fetched at moments with how much leeway some characters got, ie: avoiding a murder charge when they just absolutely would have been arrested under the circumstances. Dropped it from a four for me. But overall, very good.
Shelved as 'meh-dnf'
March 14, 2024DNF at 24%......I just couldn't care less about these characters or the murder plot. I was hoping for more plot of the survival of a plane crash in the tundra, but was given a murder plot I didn't care about.
March 10, 2024
One of the best books I have read this year! Hockey player and prof team up for a sci-fi and modern Wendigo retelling. So good. Recommend
March 28, 2024
The story is a bit far fetched, with elements of magical realism, as are the connections between the characters. But overall I enjoyed reading the book and found it to be a page turner.
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