Book Review: Cold-Blooded Liar by Karen Rose
By Janet Webb
March 20, 2023
Prolific thriller author Karen Rose has two series on the go—last year’s New Orleans novel series and the just published Cold Blooded Liar, first of the San Diego Case Files series. In Cold Blooded Liar, Rose continues the pattern she established in Quarter to Midnight. In the New Orleans mystery, investigator Molly works for the premier New Orleans private detective agency while Gabe is a chef at the top of his game.
Romantic thrillers often pair up a larger-than-life former operative (male) with an intelligent, intriguing civilian (female). It’s a treat to have Karen Rose shake up the formula. Gabe is no damsel in distress, but he doesn’t have the military and detective chops that make Molly a lethal weapon.
Like Molly, San Diego homicide detective Kit McKittrick works on the crime solving side of the street. Nothing intrigues her more than solving cold cases, undoubtedly because years ago her foster sister was murdered. The case is still open. Readers of Karen Rose’s psychological thrillers know that “past is prologue,” because in Rose’s world, the seeds of crimes are always buried in the past.
To recap, sixteen years ago in Carmel Valley, California, two teenage girls in foster care, Wren and Katherine, were the closest of friends. One day Wren disappeared and is later found dead. Incoherent with rage and grief, Katherine (Kit) tells Harlan McKittrick, Mr. McK, her foster father, that she will find out who killed Wren. She dares him to disagree but he doesn’t say that it’s “too dangerous,” or that she’s “too young” or most scarily, that she could be the next victim.
He exhaled quietly. “Why should I tell you any of those things? You already know them.”
She looked away, knowing that he was right and hating it. “I should have watched her better. It should have been me.”
He sucked in a harsh breath. “No, Kit. No. It shouldn’t have been either of you. It should never be anyone’s child. Please. It should never have been you.”
She shook her head, all of her words gone now. All used up.
As a teen, Kit is powerless but Mr. McK exhorts her to look beyond her pain and sorrow, telling her “You’ll live for her. You’ll make yourself a good life, Kit Matthews.” N.B. Kit’s change of last name honors the loving relationship she develops with her foster parents.
Fast forward. Since Wren’s murder, there have been other murders with similar tell-tale characteristics. They’re dealing with a serial killer. Every fall Kit experiences the same desolation and despair she experienced years ago. Her antidote is to ramp up her workload. Out of the blue she receives an anonymous call at work, alerting her to a shallow grave.
Meet Sam Reeves, “a kindhearted psychologist who treats court-ordered clients.” One of Sam’s clients is a despicable human being, a fabulist and “pathological liar,” who spins tall tales—anywhere from being a former Navy SEAL to being the confidant of world-famous actors. Sam takes it all with a huge grain of salt until one day Colton Driscoll shares stories that seem plausible. Because of a tragic loss as when he was a young man, Sam has a strong interest in unsolved serial murders. He can’t ignore the fact that Driscoll’s stories seem to shed light on unsolved serial murders in the San Diego area. Sam is between a rock and a hard place. He wants to help the police solve the case but because of the strictures surrounding therapist/patient confidentiality, “he’s compelled to report anonymously to the SDPD tip line.” Right alone the lines of “no good deed goes unpunished,” Sam’s anonymous tip—followed by another call from a pay phone—is traced back to him. Kit and her partner Basil Constantine show up at his door after midnight. For understandable reasons (to Sam at least), he had set up a crime board in his apartment that night and unearthed his grandfather’s old gun. Sam recognizes the detectives through his peephole.
They’d followed up on his tips. Thank you, God.
Sam opened the door.
“Detectives. I—”
He froze once again when both detectives abruptly drew their weapons and pointed them. At me.
“Drop the weapon,” Constantine barked.
McKittrick appeared grim. And maybe disappointed?
Sam didn’t have time to analyze her expression, remembering too late the gun he’d brought to the door. Shit, that was stupid. But he could explain. They’d understand.
Unsurprisingly, the detectives don’t understand. They arrest Sam and take him into custody. Eventually he’s released but he’s pissed. When the police ask him to cease his solo investigating, he makes no promises. Kit is a talented, dogged investigator but Sam elicits information from people in pain in a way she can’t. They may not know it yet, but they make a good team.
Cold Blooded Liar is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard to read of young teenage girls being tricked and groomed by an older adult they trust, someone who drugs them before raping and murdering them. Karen Rose is up on all the latest technology. A bit of a spoiler alert is the ability of criminals to use deepfake technology: the New York Times, on March 4th, 2023, reported that, “’Deepfake’ technology, which has steadily progressed for nearly a decade, has the ability to create talking digital puppets,” which are used “to spread disinformation.” It’s vicious race between scarily intelligent murderers and often cash-strapped police departments: some of the tools used by serial killers are next generation.
Karen Rose owns this genre—she combines an accurate, vivid sense of place with believable, sympathetic characters. Her prescient plots foreshadow crimes yet to be committed. Kit McKittrick and Sam Reeves are honorable, driven characters with empathetic souls. Cold Blooded Liar is the first in their series…readers will welcome more stories illuminating the intersection between therapy and police work.
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