Cold-Blooded Liar

The San Diego Case Files, Book 1

By: Karen Rose

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Brace yourself for a scorching new series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose, where San Diego means sun, surf, sand…and serial killers.

Sam Reeves is a kindhearted psychologist who treats court-ordered clients. After one of his patients—a pathological liar—starts revealing plausible new details from a long-unsolved serial murder case, he’s compelled to report anonymously to the SDPD tip line, though his attempts to respect patient confidentiality land him facedown and cuffed by the aggressive (and cute) Detective McKittrick.

San Diego homicide detective Kit McKittrick loves the water. She lives on a boat, and when she’s not solving crimes with the SDPD, she’s assisting her foster sister with her charter fishing business or playing with her poodle. But there’s nothing that intrigues Kit more than a cold case, so when an anonymous caller leads her on the path of a wanted killer, she’s determined to end the decade-long manhunt.

Sam is soon released but goes home with both a newfound distaste for the SDPD and a resolve—not unlike Kit’s—to uncover the truth. Kit and Sam repeatedly butt heads in their separate investigations but are forced to work together to find one of the deadliest serial killers the city has faced in years.

©2023 Karen Rose (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Cold-Blooded Liar had me in its grip from the first chapter. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Keep the coffee brewing -- you’ll be up all night.”—New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood

“Rose gives her audience many impressive costars and a diabolical villain, leaving even the savviest of readers on pins and needles throughout the novel and absolutely shocked at the ending. Fans of strong female protagonists, titillating crime dramas, and the novels of Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson, and Rose herself will find this unputdownable.”—Library Journal (starred review)

"Cold-Blooded Liar is a tense, complex, emotionally charged story that kept me turning pages in an effort to figure out what I was missing...Highly recommended to fans of suspense and psychological thrillers."—Mystery & Suspense

Great Story!!

This is a great story with many twists! Narration was clear and added to he ambivalence of the setting.

GREAT Story AWESOME Author but narrator...

I agree with other reviews where the narrator did a good job with the majority of characters had a great voice but when it came to the main male character, UGHHHH. he sounds like he has major issue and the mentality of a 6 year old. he is a professional psychologist. Now to read the book to see why the narrator choose this type of voice. ughhhh

Very interesting story

I thought this was a great suspense story. I didn't have any idea of who the killer was. Hopefully, there will be another book to explore the relationship between Kit and Sam. Hillary Huber was a great narrator.

Kept me interested

Police, therapists, and foster kids with twists throughout. I like Karen Rose's books. Will look forward to the next one.

Grate Story

Loved the storyline and couldn’t stop listening until I completed the story. I enjoy listening to Hillary Huber has a narrator but, I would like to suggest having a male narrator added for the next series.

I was a bit disappointed

The story was great as usual. Evildoer=unexpected.
It was the 2 protagonists storyline that left me unsatisfied so I’m hoping to see them in next SanDiego book. But the character development= excellent.
The writing smooth. Scary.
I re-read all of Karen Rose’s novel so I’m hoping by then I will be more settled.
I didn’t like Sam’s voice it sounded too immature for a full grown man. I don’t usually criticize Ms Hunters narration but this didn’t fly with me

But I do highly recommend this book even with my 4.5 less than perfect rating

Wonderful Story, horrible narration

The story itself was classic Karen Rose. Grabs you from word one and keeps you enthralled until the end. Now for the narrator. I usually love Hillary Huber but her portrayal of the main male character sounded like an unintelligent, sulky teenager instead of a highly educated professional. Please, if there's a 2nd story (and I'm pretty sure there is) do a better job with Sam.

Cold~Blooded Liar

I really enjoyed this great read by Karen Rose. As always your friend and lover of good books. Patsy

Still Karen Rose, but different

Karen Rose is a master at her craft and I’d happily put any of her 26 mainline Romantic Suspense series against any other mystery/suspense book out there. Her story telling is masterful and her characters are extremely well fleshed out. As an added bonus for the audiobook format, Hilary Huber (from the Cincinnati series) is back with her excellent interpretation of Rose’s subtext.

Cold Blooded Liar has Rose’s trademark flavor, but the pacing is slightly different. Her other novels fully explore the two primary characters over the course of their 500-600 pages. Cold Blooded Liar only scratches the surface, and combined with the altered naming convention, sets the expectation of future books in the sub series where their story continues to be at center stage. Because Rose is my favorite author and has stuck to the same excellent pacing (with each book exploring a new pair of primary characters, but strong continuity of the story line among different groups in different cities), the departure caught me a bit off guard. However, as I have often wanted to see many of her characters more, I look forward to seeing how the story of Sam and Kit develops over future books.

ok, not great

Story was ok. I liked that there weren't any sex scenes in it. It's really more of a mystery suspense novel than the romantic mystery she usually writes. I agree with other reviews that there should have been another narrator for the male main character.