*REVIEW* Cold Fury

Synopsis:

Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance--until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It's a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies--a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense--hidden in its pages the secret to "ultimate power." It's why she's being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

Wow, what a RIDE! Cold Fury is packed full of action, violence, mystery, and surprises. After a fairly slow start (about the first 75 pages or so), things pick up and then go full speed ahead towards the conclusion of the book. Cold Fury is the first in a trilogy by T.M. Goeglein and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Cold Fury begins by introducing us to Sara Jane, a sixteen year old girl with an extremely tight-knit family. Her family is so close that she spends much of her free time with them and only has one real friend to speak of, Doug, who is hardly a close friend, but merely her fellow Classic Movie Club member. Right when things seem to be picking up in Sara Jane's life, with the addition of the hottie Max, Sara Jane's world turns upside down in the most violent way imaginable.

The Rispoli family, minus Sara Jane, has been brutally kidnapped and a masked man awaits Sara Jane when she arrives home on the scene. Barely escaping alive, and with the family dog in tow, Sara Jane begins an epic journey to discover who her family really is and what the secrets are that have led to them being taken. The revelation is shocking--Sara Jane's family is deeply involved in the Chicago Outfit and Sara Jane finds a mysterious notebook, a notebook that holds the key to how the Outfit operates and supposedly shows the way to the "ultimate power". As she delves deeper and deeper into the world of organized crime, and narrowly escapes numerous attacks on her life, Sara Jane discovers in herself a power that has been present in her family for ages, a power that may enable her to find her family before it is too late.

It would be a crime (ha! pun intended) to spoiler this book for anyone so I'm not even going to go there. Let me just say that you've got to give this book some time. I was groaning for the first 75 pages or so because it just seemed so slow but trust me, once things get going, they DO NOT STOP. The action and pacing in this book is superb and I found it extremely difficult to put it down! Everytime I thought I had gotten to a good resting place, something else would happen and I'd be sucked right back in. Cold Fury has that addicting quality that the best books master so well.

I'd highly recommend this book for anyone looking for something different. I hadn't read a mob-centered YA book before and was quite pleased! And since it's a trilogy, I can only imagine all that is to come. Because while readers do get some questions answered, there's still a lot of unknown in this fabulous world created by Goeglein. Grab this one when it releases, you owe it to yourself. Prepare for one hell of a ride... enjoy! *XOXO*

Expected publication Date: July 24, 2012 by Putnam Juvenile

*Thanks to Around the World Tours for the ARC!*