The Cold Room (A Taylor Jackson Novel)

Another great book turned in by J.T. Ellison. Every time I open a book it never ceases to amaze me the story line that is put together. The character arcs from previous books continued through this book and probably others. Start this little series to keep you occupied.

#4 in the Taylor Jackson series. This time Taylor is trying to adapt to her demotion from Lt. to back to being a detective along with a new partner since her team was disassembled. The new Lt. is making her life miserable & impeding investigations. A new killer is terrorizing Nashville and has Taylor & Baldwin seeking help from Scotland Yard because of international similarities in the murders. A Scotland Yard detective "Memphis" arrives to help and sets his sights on Taylor. The murders have an artful distinction to them and has the three traveling from U.S. to Italy on the trail of the killer or killers. Taylor must contend with unwanted attention from "Memphis" and another killer (The Pretender) she hasn't caught yet but is keeping close watch on her. Interesting premise of killers and investigation. Great continuation of the series

I'm relatively late to the characters of JT Ellison's Taylor Jackson world. So when you're on the forth book of the series, you're missing a lot of the backstory. Fortunately, the book is written well enough that if you jumped in starting with this book, you can pick up and fill in the blanks. Taylor Jackson's a well written character - most female detectives tend to not be fleshed out, especially in a macho world of male police. Naturally, her boyfriend is also in the same line of work (the FBI profiler), so it's more of a team adventure than just Jackson running alone. Personally, I would have enjoyed watching Jackson juggle a normal life (why can't she have a boring boyfriend with a day job instead?) The Conductor ranks up there with one of the more interesting bad guys in literature. Between kidnapping, performance art of watching them starve and then necrophilia, he's a dark and dreary person. So when there's parallels between the crimes in the US and in Europe, Scotland Yard is also on the hunt, making for an interesting dynamic between the three police on the hunt. The Cold Room is a decent enough read and flies by relatively fast. It's the perfect airplane book - you read it for a few hours and enjoy the escapism. 4.5 stars

Homicide detective Taylor Jackson has seen her share of disturbing murders during her career in Nashville. She's met her match with the latest serial killer, The Conductor. He captures young women, places them in a glass coffin and watches as they slowly starve to death. After they die, he assaults them and disposes them in a manner that recreates scenes from famous paintings. She mentions these crimes to her fiance, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, and finds it is reminicent of a slew of murders taking place in Europe. Has the killer come across the pond to wreak havoc on the States, or are there two killers at large? Jackson and Baldwin join forces with New Scotland Yard detective James "Memphis" Highsmythe and attempt to put an end to these killings. Once again, Ellison doesn't fail to impress me. If you want a thriller full of action and twists and turns, this is the author for you. Taylor Jackson is a character that one can't help to like, and the side story of her romance with Baldwin really adds to the storyline. Jackson is a smart, no nonsense kind of cop and I think that's a great attribute to see in crime fiction. Technically, this is the fourth book in the Taylor Jackson series, but it could definitely serve as a stand-alone. Ellison relays a great deal of back story to the reader. I would still highly recommend you read the entire series, though (All the Pretty Girls, 14, Judas Kiss). To make it easier for you, the author has made a free ebook of ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS available on her Web site. So run, not walk, to your local book store and pick up a copy of one of Ellison's books. I guarantee you won't regret it!

While searching for a new author, I came across J.T. Ellison. I love every book in the Taylor Jackson series, this one included. I have been anxiously awaiting Ellison's new book and I wasn't diasppointed. The book was a definite page turner. I had a hard time putting it down and managed to read it cover to cover in a week, which is rare for me. The definition of a good book to me is one that I find interesting, enticing, suspenseful and emotional with characters that I care about. Ellison has done that with the Taylor Jackson series. I find Taylor's character smart and sassy with a softer side. I enjoyed the way she added Dect. Memphis into the mix. I found myself reading to find out how that was all gonna play out and was glad for Taylor's choice in the end. I am looking forward to Ellison's next novel and I think she did an amazing job on this one.

Nashville homicide detective Taylor Jackson arrives at a murder scene in which her fiancé FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin is stunned by how similar the corpse is to that of an Italian serial killer, Il Macellaio, a case he has consulted on with New Scotland Yard Inspector James Highsmythe. In the Tennessee case and those throughout Europe, the Butcher starves his victims inside a glass coffin before strangling and finally having sex with them. He completes his horrific act by duplicating masterpieces of art with his dead. When a second corpse is found similar to the first yet somewhat different than that of the Italian Butcher, the Americans wonder if there are two psychopaths loose. To verify their revised assumption, Taylor and Baldwin travel to Europe to join Highsmythe to uncover the truth they fear of a cross Atlantic contest of sorts. The Cold Room is an exciting frightening serial killer thriller that grips the audience with the glass coffin scenario; a sort of Sleeping Beauty, but the Prince is Darkness not Charming; the artistic posing of the corpse adds to the eerie aura of the plot. The story line is fast-paced as cops on two continents struggle to prevent the next rape-murder, but are unsure if they are dealing with one or two psychopaths. Readers will be spellbound throughout, but don't snack as Jackson and Baldwin return for another gripping police procedural (see Judas, Kiss, All The Pretty Girls and 14). Harriet Klausner