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The Cold Kindle Edition
Seth is one of the few passengers to survive the train crash. Now he and his fellow survivors face a new world of snow, ice and freezing fog, where they will be hunted like prey in the ruins of Great Britain.
They must run.
They must hide.
They must survive THE COLD.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date22 July 2019
- File size381 KB
Popular titles by this author
Product details
- ASIN : B07TRLP91Q
- Publisher : Horrific Tales Publishing (22 July 2019)
- Language : English
- File size : 381 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 161 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 524,536 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1,501 in British Horror Fiction
- 20,079 in Horror (Books)
- 41,150 in Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
About the author
Rich Hawkins hails from deep in the West Country, where a childhood of science fiction and horror films set him on the path to writing his own stories. He credits his love of horror and all things weird to his first viewing of John Carpenter's THE THING. His debut novel THE LAST PLAGUE was nominated for a British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel in 2015. The sequel, THE LAST OUTPOST, was released in the autumn of 2015. The final novel in the trilogy, THE LAST SOLDIER, was released in March 2016.
You can find him at:
https://www.facebook.com/rich.hawkins.98
http://richhawkinswriter.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/RichHawkins4
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the story well-written with a strong storyline. They describe the book as an enjoyable, suspenseful tale that holds their attention throughout. The book starts well and is considered a perfect introduction to the author's work. However, some customers feel the characters lack depth and are not dressed appropriately for the weather conditions.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book's story length. They find it well-written, with a strong storyline and narration throughout. The book is described as an excellent read by the author.
"as really enjoyed Seth's story, i felt the cold and imagined the monsters they faced...." Read more
"...and Elder Gods....This would do this book a grave diservice It is well written, tightly plotted and hits the ground running with a horrific..." Read more
"Rich Hawkins is one of those writers who has this instantly recognizable style of writing that encompasses aspects of outer and inner horror or the..." Read more
"...got to me, an exciting graphic read with little filler, the story entertained me and kept me distracted enough not to think about how cold I..." Read more
Customers enjoy the suspenseful story. They find it a dark, fearful tale with monsters from another dimension. It's described as a good old-fashioned British horror that is hard to put down. Readers imagine the monsters they face and describe the book as a rollercoaster ride of terror.
"...This would do this book a grave diservice It is well written, tightly plotted and hits the ground running with a horrific rollercoaster ride of..." Read more
"...It is an enjoyable slice of monstrosities and mayhem and perhaps should be viewed as such...." Read more
"...The plot is quite familiar if you've read other works by Hawkins or similar writers like David Moody...." Read more
"Awesome book, couldn't put it down. Great survival/monster story with characters that the reader cares about...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find it enjoyable, with a familiar feel and an exciting graphic read that holds their attention throughout.
"...I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Oh, and it set in the UK's normally peaceful and cosy West Country," Read more
"...It is an enjoyable slice of monstrosities and mayhem and perhaps should be viewed as such...." Read more
"...I was there for 4 hours. The Cold got to me, an exciting graphic read with little filler, the story entertained me and kept me distracted enough not..." Read more
"As a fan of the genre i find precious few books set in the UK. Nice to read a novel with a more familiar feel...." Read more
Customers find the book's start engaging. They say it serves as a good introduction to the author's work.
"This book started off great. Snow, fog and a crashed train. The book continued to be good, not giving much away, everything was shadows and noises...." Read more
"...fans will lap it up, those new to his work will find this the perfect introduction. Top notch." Read more
"The book starts well but goes nowhere. Imagine kings the mist but more gore. Less plot and a worse ending." Read more
Customers find the characters weak and interchangeable. They also mention that the characters are not dressed appropriately for the weather changes.
"...The unfortunate casualty of this are the interchangeable characters who feel less like distinctive personalities and more like the next meal to be..." Read more
"...Of course, none of the characters are dressed appropriately for this extreme switch in weather conditions...." Read more
"...Well written, though, but characters seemed rather feeble." Read more
"...The characters become shallow and useless. The book felt rushed, could have put another hundred pages in, really stretched out the storyline...." Read more
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 June 2020as really enjoyed Seth's story, i felt the cold and imagined the monsters they faced. But.. the ending was too abrupt i expected more and would have liked to know why and what made changes to the Earth and humanity. A sequel maybe?
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 November 2020It would be easy to dismiss The Cold as a clone of Stephen King's The Mist. Substitute endless snow for mist , add some Lovecraftian monsters and Elder Gods....This would do this book a grave diservice It is well written, tightly plotted and hits the ground running with a horrific rollercoaster ride of visceral, bloody terror. Bleak at times, considering the circumstances, how could it not be, but the human instinct to protect and survive remains strong throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Oh, and it set in the UK's normally peaceful and cosy West Country,
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2019Rich Hawkins is one of those writers who has this instantly recognizable style of writing that encompasses aspects of outer and inner horror or the apocalyptic and the personal, to great effect. Unfortunately, in the case of his latest novel from Horrific Tales Publishing, “The Cold,” the impact of this approach is somewhat diminished, and as a result I was left with a novel which whilst enjoyable, felt somewhat underwhelming with a distinct sense of déjà vu to proceedings.
I’m not entirely sure what it is about this novel that I found so disappointing. Sure, I blitzed through it in one sitting and although I did enjoy reading it, I can’t honestly say that by story’s end superlatives were spilling from my lips. I think my ambivalent reaction to the novel is that it does feel somewhat like it is sticking to a tried and tested formula. The phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” springs to mind but that is immediately countered with the thought that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same thing over and over and expect different results.
Now, before you all start frothing at the lips and hurling invective my way, I will repeat myself and say that “The Cold” is an enjoyable read. All the familiar elements present in Hawkins’ previous efforts are here to one degree or another; the sparse and lean prose, apocalyptic Lovecraftian horror, a bleak and nihilistic tone, cultish behaviour and a menagerie of twisted and tormented flesh. He does have this knack for transforming the mundaneness of reality into something ominous and threatening in the blink of an eye yet here, as the story progresses, those recognizable elements pop up and it does start to feel rather like a repetitive tick box exercise.
It’s not a feeling assuaged by the sense that what you are reading is ostensibly an English version of The Mist as the UK is blanketed by snow and fog that hides all manner of monstrosities hungry for flesh. Unfortunately, that sense of “I’ve read this before” only intensified as Seth and other survivors start to traverse the ravaged landscape in search of respite. There were several moments where I couldn’t quite shake the notion that what I was reading was effectively a re-tread of Hawkins’ own Plague series of books.
However, unlike those previous excursions into the apocalypse, the existential battle between the humanity of his characters and the overbearing otherness of their new reality feels somewhat muted. The emphasis here is much more on monstrous set pieces and meat rending action which does contribute to a narrative that rips along at breakneck speed. The unfortunate casualty of this are the interchangeable characters who feel less like distinctive personalities and more like the next meal to be served up.
I can’t say that “The Cold” is a bad reading experience. It is an enjoyable slice of monstrosities and mayhem and perhaps should be viewed as such. However, much like its title would suggest, “The Cold” left me feeling rather numb and worn out by its conclusion. Disappointing is perhaps the best way to describe it.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 2019This was one bleak story full of sadness, hopelessness, and lashings of blood; some fresh, some congealed and blackened. So of course I enjoyed it immensely!
I’m a big fan of Rich Hawkins. His Plague Trilogy was superb; a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by, not zombies, but creatures even more terrifying and grotesque, albeit with a hunger for pathetic humans. He has a skill of writing terribly depressing stories that only implore you to carry on reading. The Cold was another example of this.
Again, this is a post-apocalyptic story where humankind is plagued by strange, bloodthirsty creatures very much from the Lovecraftian school of cosmic horror.
The world is suddenly flooded with snow. In the Summer. Aah, so now you understand where the title comes from. Of course, none of the characters are dressed appropriately for this extreme switch in weather conditions. This was one of the first things that drew me in. Stories set in the snow and ice mostly have characters in big coats and the like. But here, everyone was dressed for the warm weather. Suddenly their plight was heightened, although the bloody remains of fellow humans surrounding them also added to this.
Seth is the guy we follow throughout this story. He wakes up in the snow immediately after his train crashes. He’s – obviously – very much in the dark as to what’s going on. And so is the reader, so his journey of survival and discovery of the cause of this nightmare is one you really care about.
He remembers the train crashing after some massive monster thing with tendrils, possibly sent from Yuggoth, blazes out of the sky. Many of the passengers are killed, and their desecrated remains are described vividly.
And so we get the survival story as Seth and a group of passengers try to find civilisation and an explanation for the horrors that are unfolding around them. Along the way they meet others, some die (most die), and eventually head to an army base that’s supposedly still operational.
So yeah, the beasts. Damn, these things are grotesquely monstrous and ravenous for mankind. They’re not zombies, they’re not deformed animals, are they aliens? It’s never stated precisely, but that doesn’t matter, in fact it heightens their scariness. You could argue the beasts are a little too vague in what they are, but for me that makes them even more terrifying.
What Rich Hawkins is so good at is gore. There are some visceral deaths on display here. But its not only the deaths. The after effects of ‘off-screen’ butcherings are starkly portrayed, bringing more than a little vomiting from our survivors.
It’s hard to end a story like this, when all of humanity is either dead or soon-to-be-dead. Towards the end of the book there is some information about what the threat may be, info I’m certainly not sharing here, and although expertly handled, I really wanted to know more.
I also felt the character of Seth to be a bit of a wet blanket. Yeah I know it’s a scary thing to happen and I’d probably be much worse, but I just wished he had more balls, you know? Although saying that, by the end I could kind of understand why he was like he was. I think this book has two ways of interpreting the ending; the more subtle version being my favourite. But I can’t say anything more about that, apart from; the bit when they meet the woman who sent a distress call (for those who’ve read it).
If you want to be entertained by a depressing nothingness all covered in deep, gore-soaked snow, then you need to check this out. Just make sure you’re wearing a coat.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 January 2025I read this in a freezing car waiting for the AA to rescue me. I was there for 4 hours. The Cold got to me, an exciting graphic read with little filler, the story entertained me and kept me distracted enough not to think about how cold I actually got. It's got that Call of Cthulhu bleakness to it and is quite depressing when you think about what is going on to
people in the narrative, but you continue on because you want to know how it ends. There could quite well be a sequel, as various elements are not explained in detail. An enjoyable distraction, which is the goal of fiction is it not?
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2019Is it just me? Too similar an idea to Stephen King's "The Mist". Well written, though, but characters seemed rather feeble.
Top reviews from other countries
- VinayReviewed in India on 28 December 2020
4.0 out of 5 stars Very well written story
This was very fast paced ,and well written story of survival/at the end if the world.... Definitely worth the read
- Kevin WalshReviewed in Canada on 12 August 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Honestly a treat
Some might make comparisons to The Mist and although atmospherically it's spot on, The Cold isn't cut from the same cloth. Cosmic terror witnessed from a relatable set of eyes welcomes us to a frigid hell quite nicely. But its not just snowstorms and dark dreams, The Cold is a showcase of creative creatures. I'm rather impressed by just how many monsters, crawlies, nightmarish titans and abonimations trek the storms wrecking havoc. I think the more apt comparison would be the works of Tim Curran.
Fast paced story without feeling like a haunted hayride and the creatures are top-notch abominations.
Loved it.
- LeeReviewed in the United States on 8 August 2019
4.0 out of 5 stars Great storyline.
I really wanted to give this book five stars. Well paced. The tension was good throughout. Each of the chapters left you wanting to keep going to find out what, who, how would it end. Two items kept it from 5 stars. One: It could have been exactly the same story with about 50 pages less. And the ending was too quick, meaning 3 or 4 short chapters to end the book. I will leave it at that. Overall a fun read.
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Mister MadelReviewed in Germany on 5 September 2019
4.0 out of 5 stars Dystopie ohne richtigen Grund..
Erinnert mich stark an die Welt-Untergang Geschichten von A.C. Doyle und besonders die Kreaturen in den Lovecraft Geschichten. Gut umgesetzt aber auf Dauer nervt der Hauptcharakter.
- robert joynerReviewed in the United States on 26 June 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced and thrilling.
Right from the start this story was full throttle adrenaline. Images were very detailed. And the story was solid. A good read