Review: The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod

The Cold Kiss of Death by Suzanne McLeod - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the first in the series. Don’t read any further if you plan on reading The Sweet Scent of Blood.

All Genny wants is to live the quiet life and to do her job at Spellcrackers.com, but there's her tangled personal life to sort out first. She's being haunted by ghosts who want her help. Her witch neighbours want her evicted. Genny's sort-of-Ex - and now her new boss - can't decide whether he wants their relationship to be business or pleasure. And then there's the queue of vampires all wanting her to paint the town red - how long will it be before they stop taking no for an answer? But when one of her human friends is murdered by sidhe magic, Genny is determined to find the killer. She needs help to find the real murderer, and that means calling on some of the most capricious and seductive fae - but her search is hindered by the vampires, who have their own political agenda. All the evidence points to Genny - she's the only sidhe fae in London - and she's named the main suspect; it's not long before she's on the run, not just from the police, but from some of London's most powerful supernaturals. From Amazon UK

How awesome are book signings? Back in May 2009, not only did I get to meet Rachel Caine at her London book signing hosted by Murder One, but I also got to buy several books, one of which was the amazing The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod! Suzanne was also at the event, but I didn’t know – I hadn’t heard of her or her book at the time. But I feel in love with her series within the first few pages, and since reading it, I’ve been itching to read its sequel, The Cold Kiss of Death. I got lucky at Christmas, though, and I can’t tell you just how good these books are!

I don’t even know where to start, there was so much going on! It always amazes me how authors are able to write such complicated books, and have everything fit together. Genny has a series of problems in her life, some pretty inconsequential, some a little on the larger side, but when you get to the end and you realise all of the plot threads are part of a large jigsaw puzzle, it’s just wow! Suzanne is a very skilled writer!

We meet most of the characters we came across in the first book. Genny is our spunky heroine, a bean sidhe who has more problems than answers; Malik al-Kahn, the mysterious vampire connected to Genny’s past; Finn, Genny’s satyr boss and will-they-won’t-they love interest, and a range of other characters, none who seem to be being completely honest with Genny, and making things a whole lot harder for her. There’s still the hint of a possible love triangle, but even that gets more complicated – so frustrating, but in a good way!

We have action a-plenty in this novel! I can’t go into too much detail, it’s pretty spoilery, but it’s awesome to read! Some scenes are kind of disturbing, but it all has you sitting on the edge of your seat, the adrenalin pumping, jaw hanging at how unbelievable it is and how some of the characters act. I just love it all!

The ending is just so good, I can’t tell you! I closed the book feeling pretty sad, but in complete awe of how the whole story worked out. If you haven’t started this series, you really need to! It’s just so brilliant, and I can’t for the third in the series, The Bitter Seed of Magic, due in September 2010.



Published: 16th July 2009
Publisher: Gollancz
Buy on Amazon US
Suzanne McLeod’s Website

Other reviews from the series:
The Sweet Scent of Blood (Spellcrackers.com Book 1)