🕵️♂️ Book Review: Cold Island by Peter Colt
A chilling police procedural that digs into the buried secrets of a tight-lipped community.
Peter Colt’s Cold Island kicks off the Detective Tommy Kelly series with a slow-burning mystery set on the hauntingly quiet shores of Nantucket Island. Drawing from Colt’s real-life experience as a police officer and his years living on Nantucket, the novel delivers a gritty, emotionally resonant thriller that explores justice, trauma, and the corrosive power of silence.
🧩 Plot Overview
Massachusetts State Police detective Tommy Kelly is dispatched to Nantucket after the skeletal remains of a child are unearthed at a construction site—hidden for 35 years. The case is especially gut-wrenching for Tommy, a father himself, and even more baffling when no child was reported missing during that time.
Partnered with local detective Jo Harris, Tommy must navigate a community that’s reluctant to revisit its past. As they dig deeper, they uncover links to a possible serial killer and a decades-old conspiracy that the island’s residents would rather keep buried.
❄️ Atmosphere & Style
- Dual Timeline: The story alternates between the early 1980s and present day, slowly revealing the truth through flashbacks and interviews.
- Small-Town Secrets: Colt captures the insular nature of Nantucket with eerie precision—where everyone knows something, but no one wants to talk.
- Character-Driven: Tommy Kelly is a compelling lead—haunted, principled, and deeply human.
⚖️ Themes Explored
- Justice vs. vengeance
- The emotional toll of police work
- Childhood trauma and institutional failure
- Redemption and resilience
⭐ Reader Reception
- Goodreads Rating: 4.03/5 from nearly 3,000 readers
- Praise: Readers appreciate the layered mystery and emotional depth, especially in the final third of the book.
- Criticism: Some found the pacing slow in the beginning, with repetitive dialogue and excessive detail about Tommy’s routines. However, the payoff in the final chapters—with unexpected twists and revelations—redeems the slow start.
🏁 Final Verdict
Cold Island is a thoughtful, atmospheric mystery that rewards patient readers with a gripping conclusion. If you enjoy police procedurals with emotional weight and a strong sense of place, this one’s worth the read. It’s not just about solving a crime—it’s about confronting the ghosts a community would rather forget.
