Cold Evidence

I have read several of Ms Grant's novels and enjoyed them. I particularly like the strong heroines, good dialogue, thoughtful plot lines and motivations for chatacters which actually make sense. Ms Grant also appears to do careful research so her technical, historical and political details are credible. So it pains me to give this novel a lowish rating. It's not much of a spoiler to say this romance is premised on a 22 year old man sleeping with a 16 year old girl who he thought was 19 and where the girl actively encouraged him to think she was of legal age. This sets off a sequence of events which change the course of the two MC's lives. I can't get over my unease with the author using this as a plot device. In an era when we hear more and more terrible stories of girls being abused by older men where the defense for the man is that she wanted it and/or he thought she was older or she acted so sexual for her age that it was her fault, I just can't get why the author would perpetuate the myth of the underage temptress who was asking for it. Yes the author does a good job of making both MC's sympathetic characters. The reader can feel for Luke and understand that he was not a predator and can forgive Undine for her careless deception which can be put down to her youth and lack of friends of her own age. The author's portrayal of how Luke works through his anger toward Undine and her father is realistic and the reader can feel his revulsion when he remembers first finding out that Undine was only 16. Nevertheless there are so many ways the author could have created tension and a past between the MC's without using a plot device that is demeaning toward women who have been groomed by and suffered from abuse by older men and who have been accused of being sl*ts and jailbait. Just consider the awful justifications for sex abuse from people supporting the would be Alabama senator Roy Moore in 2017 and how his accuser has been defamed and sl*t shamed.

This is the main reason for my low score but in addition I also found the novel got a bit bogged down in technical detail and thus boring in the last third of the story. As well the descriptions of sex became repetitive. There were endless references to H and h fantasising about him being buried deep inside her. Finally I thought it was off key for a professional woman to call her boyfriend babycakes in a professional meeting where no less than the AG of the US and the CIA director were present!

To quote myself when I finished reading the last line "Holy cow, that was awesome!"

It's no secret, I am a huge fan of Rachel Grant, and her sixth offering in the Evidence Series completely exceeded my expectations. I won't go into plot details, you can get that from the other reviews. What I will say is that Rachel writes with an intelligence and talent that is sadly lacking in most fiction. Her books feel well researched and are written with pace that grabs you from the outset and never deviates until the last word. I cannot recommend her books enough!

Thank you Rachel, please 'force' yourself to go on another research trip soon, I am excited for your next one.

I really enjoyed this book as well as the rest of Ms. Grant's books. The main characters are well developed and the story is well researched (which always blows my mind in a good way).

There is one issue with this story that kept setting me off: Siberia. It is mentioned in the story that if a bomb goes off near Seattle (US), the tsunami can reach Japan or even Siberia. So, it looks like the term of Siberia is used for the Asian part of Russia, which pretty much is the whole country. In that case Ms. Grant should just say that tsunami can reach Japan and Russia. Because Siberia administratively DOES NOT have access to the Pacific Ocean. Siberia only has access to the Arctic Ocean. The said tsunami can certainly reach the part of Russia called Far East (which is in broad historic term can be considered a part of Siberia, but no Russian will ever call Far East a part of Siberia). I know what I am talking about, I am from the Far Eastern part of Russia (Japan sea).

With that said, I had to put this book down a few times to get over the image of a tsunami reaching Siberia. Otherwise, the book is great.

Cold Evidence by Rachel Grant is the sixth book in her Evidence series. All of these books make one of the best series in Romantic Suspense with strong and intelligent heroes and heroines, interesting locations and extremely well researched information woven into all of the plots.
Undine Gray is an underwater archeologist working in Neah Bay, Washington looking for the remains of a Cold War era sub that went down for unidentified reasons. When a supposed accident occurs, that she narrowly survives, she finds herself afraid to dive again. Former Navy SEAL Luke Sevick, now working for the NOAA is closest to the explosion and pulls Undine out of the water. He wants nothing to do with Undine, who he believes destroyed his career twelve years ago, but he finds it impossible to reject her plea to get her back into the water.
When the two dive on the wreck, Luke becomes intrigued when they discover someone else is digging on the site that supposedly holds no interest except in a historical sense. When more attempts are made on Undine’s life, Luke can’t walk away and the two are pulled into a twisted international plot with both of their lives on the line.
The romance in this book is so strong because it moves at a realistic pace. Before the H/h can have their HEA there is a lot of old hurt, misunderstanding and lies to get through. Forgiveness, friendship and love are all covered with great empathy. The suspense portion of the plot has spies, murder, and a lot of surprising twists throughout. Ms. Grant has once again written a strong book that makes archeology and history interesting, characters to cheer for and intrigue that keeps you turning the pages. This is a great addition to the series!
I received this ARC from the publisher, which in no way impacts the content of my review.

Rachel Grant’s Cold Evidence combines steamy romance with taut suspense. It’s the latest in her evidence series, stand-alone thrillers loosely connected by a circle of characters. In Cold Evidence, set in the northwestern corner of Washington state, the action revolves around a small submarine sunk under mysterious circumstances in 1962. Undine Gray, diving on the wreck, is the sole survivor when an explosion destroys the dive boat above her and the people on board. Weeks later, unnerved by the accident but determined to dive again, she asks Luke Sevick, the most accomplished diver she knows, to dive with her.

But Undine and Luke have history, going back twelve years, when a lie and one night ruined Luke’s plans for a career in marine biology. Now an ex-seal, Luke is a commissioned officer with NOAA, still angry at the Undine of the past, but drawn to the Undine of the present. In spite of their past, Luke understands Undine’s need to reenter the deep, and agrees be her partner for one dive.

Diving rekindles their old attraction, although they both agree it can’t lead to anything—their lives have diverged too much. But what they discover on the bottom of the Salish Sea draws them together into a world of sabotage, espionage, and possible catastrophe.

Grant combines archeological and military technology with high emotion and thrilling suspense to produce a roller coaster of a novel. Romantic suspense at its best.

This book was very suspenseful and very well written with just the right amount of twists and turns to keep the pages turning. It was really hard to put down and trust me I got mad when my lunch time at work was interrupted.  Luke and Undine had a lot of past challenges to work out. I will also say that Luke’s past with Undine is one that I have never read about but working as a crime prevention specialist, and my husband being a retired law enforcement officer, the topic of a person being labeled for life as a sex offender when they did not know that the person they are involved with is underage is a law for some states that should be changed for extenuating circumstances (i.e. when one person is 16 and another is 18.). Politics aside, I also like how this author at the end of her books relates some of the facts vs. fiction of her stories. I always find her books extremely well researched. At times, it may be too technical for some but the story is solid, the action is awesome (definitely with a twist at the end), and the loving was hot.

I received this ARC from the publisher, which in no way impacts the content of my review.

I've been an avid reader of Rachel Grant's books for awhile now, but COLD EVIDENCE knocked me straight into fangirl stage. It's one of those books that you keep thinking about well after you read it, the kind that has you writing alternate futures for secondary characters... or, you know, writing yourself into a future story with those characters. (You know who you are, future-character-who-is-my-boyfriend).

How does she do it? Let me count the ways: COLD EVIDENCE brings the past right up to the present day with a Cold War-era sub that is far more than what it seems. The history and underwater archaeology elements were OUTSTANDING and I loved every second of the story Grant wove. In addition to being cool all on its own, that sub serves as the focal point for a mystery that slams together a hero and heroine with a LOT of history of their own. A betrayal in their past sets up a deep-seated conflict that carries through the entire tale until a fantastic ending. And then there's the secondary character mentioned above--a twist so awesome I keep refreshing Amazon to see when the next book will go on pre-order. (It's soon, right? RIGHT?)

If you like richly layered historical detail, fantastic underwater archaeology sequences, high-stakes suspense, and sizzling hot romance...then COLD EVIDENCE needs to shoot straight to the top of your TBR pile. My favorite Grant suspense yet!

I received this ARC from the publisher, which in no way impacts the content of my review

Undine Gray was a nautical archeologist and Luke Sevick was a scientist at NOAA and also a former SEAL. They had history years back. They were friends once that parted on a very bad term that filled with anger, guilt and shame. As fate had it, they ‘met’ again 12 years later when Undine badly injured in a boat explosion and rescued by Luke. Following the boat explosion investigation, they were forced by their offices to work and dive together. What they found on their dive triggered another attempted suicide on her life. As they tried to unravel the mystery and dodged a murderer, sparks between them flew high and they reconnect. What did they find? Why did someone try to kill them, several times? Would they survive, both their bodies and hearts?

A glimpse of cold war history, spies, love of a country, love of a family, true love, and BOOM –literally- in the first chapter. Hey, what’s not to love?

This book might not be as heart wrenching as Rachel’s other books (namely Concrete Evidence), but I found it more in tunes to my mood these days. What I felt first when I read this book is that how I love the heroine. Undine was strong, smart, logical, and feisty yet sweet, stubborn at times yet knew when to ask for help, had flaws, human. The romance part of the book was not dragging nor overwhelming. Understanding and love between these two main characters were built steadily throughout the first half of the book. It made readers warmed up to them, understand them as the other characters did, made us invest in their happiness. And if you’re looking for some hot romance, this one is scorching. Watch your seat!

The suspense part felt like riding waves. It came up high fast, settled down, came up higher, pulled back a bit, then crashed… Retreated, then suddenly another big wave crashed without warning before tapered off. Left you breathless, in a good way. I noticed this is a constant pattern to Rachel’s book and one of my main reasons to love them so much. You’d never know what she’d bring up to you next. I also love a fiction book that can actually give me a little knowledge on something, a nautical archeology and deep water diving in this book, though nothing too technical or deep.

In another note, Toni Anderson was mentioned in it! Haha, I like it when one of my favorite authors mentioned another one of my favorite authors in their books. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside; don’t ask me why, I’m just sentimental that way.

I would recommend this book to any romance-suspense genre lovers out there as I would recommend all of Rachel’s books.

I'm not usually a spy book kind of person, but this book was truly amazing, loved the story line, the action, and the ending was very good, can't wait to read more by this author

3.5 STARS

Cold Evidence is a good romantic suspense story. It has very likable main characters, Undine and Luke. These had a romance about 12 years in the past that ended extremely badly due to lies and miscommunications. I liked the banter between the two main characters. I also really liked that they did not bypass the past lies and how it altered both their lives. I liked how Luke was a complex and realistic character. His actions really reflected who he was but he was flawed and had to figure out his emotions by working through his feelings of the past. Undine was a lot of fun. I have to say I am in complete agreement with her love of butter! As the story unfolds, we come to find out that Undine had difficulties growing up. Though her actions when she was a teenager altered many lives, I liked how she grew up from that experience and tried to make up for her mistakes. She also had some really funny lines.

The suspense of part of the story was good but I feel the story did get bogged down at times with too much information. The descriptions of some of the weapons and/or equipment were too detailed. There were also times where characters were brought in the story that I really did not see the point of them being there.

Also, there are many references to characters from, I believe, previous books in the series. At times, I felt these references were not needed as it did not add to the story.

All in all, Cold Evidence was a good romantic suspense story that gave me a desire to read the other books in the series.

* I received this ARC from the publisher, which in no way impacts the content of my review. *