The Cold Trail

The Sean Kruger Series, Volume 4

By: J.C. Fields

Narrated by: Paul J McSorley

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

With the help of his friend, JR Diminski, retired FBI profiler Sean Kruger rescues a female graduate student after she is kidnapped from the university campus where he teaches. He finds the abduction too familiar. From 1999 through 2002 six female college students vanished, without a trace, from four different college campuses across the country. As the lead FBI investigator on those now cold cases, his failure to find the women and the person responsible still haunts him. 

When JR discovers a clue to the identity of the kidnapper, Kruger comes out of retirement to reexamine the abductions. His ensuing investigation will lead him down a dark trail - one of dark money and even darker passions.

Will Sean succeed, or will the past repeat itself? 

Tightly plotted with the trademark twists and turns of a J.C. Fields novel, The Cold Trail will keep you listening late into the night.

©2018 John Cawlfield (P)2018 John Cawlfield

Wonderful Sean Kruger suspense series continues

Let's start with the narration. Paul McSorley, who I had not heard of until listening to A Lone Wolf several months ago, is one of the best narrators I have listened to. Since there are over 3000 books in my Audible library I've listened to many narrators.

PhD psychologist Sean Kruger is now teaching in the psychology department at a Missouri university while working for the FBI part time. In THE COLD TRAIL he is working for the FBI dealing with a 20 year old cold case involving several missing young women. The suspect is a US senator from Washington state. Kruger seeks to balance his work with his young family without much success. THE COLD TRAIL is a marvelous addition to the Sean Kruger series. Very highly recommended!

Russian connection

You've probably heard the expression "Torn from the headlines", right? This audiobook definitely went down this road. I think in the series, I liked this book best of all.

This is a cold case that Kruger comes out of retirement to solve. Women have disappeared and their bodies are never found. There are politicians involved and a lot of money. When I was getting to the end of this audiobook, I remember thinking "Robert Mueller's on one end and Sean Kruger is on the other. When Kruger is solving this cold case, he inadvertently uncovers political intrigue". This storyline was a great example of how politicians can be influenced. Fields provided detailed backgrounds for his villains, the path they took and how they ended up completely corrupted.

Fields writing is very tight. This mystery is a box of puzzle pieces. Through Kruger, we see the pieces being dumped out, but out of order. Kruger and his team methodically gather the information and sort it.

It feels unfair at times that criminals can break the law yet lawmen must stay within the law to catch them. What I enjoy is that Kruger doesn't play that way. His concern is with stopping the criminals from hurting other people. He does have a code but it isn't always lawful. He is a flawed hero who is torn between wanting to be with his family and doing what it takes to apprehend the criminal he is pursuing.

I also love the ongoing Keurig vs Mr. Coffee debate between Kruger and JR.

I am really enjoying Paul McSorley narration of the Sean Kruger Series. His voices for each character are distinct and consistent. For the most part, the protagonist Kruger is a deep thinker and McSorley's narration reflects that. Fields and McSorley are a great combination and if there are any more in the Kruger series, I hope McSorley continues to narrate them.

Kruger cool

I just can't get enough of the Kruger intellect, and JR is a loyal friend with mad skills. each of the characters in this and the rest of the Kruger series are very well developed.

This Series keeps getting better!

I was pretty positive volume 3 was the end of the Sean Kruger Series, but I am thrilled to see Kruger hasn’t lost his amazing detective talents. This is volume 4 of a series but it can be a read-alone as well; readers are giving a small back story when needed to keep the flow of the story going. The kidnapper/murderer has managed to slip through Sean’s hands and I am glad the families finally got the much needed closure they needed after all these years. (This isn’t a spoiler; it’s more about the twists in the plot, than this)
The Cold Trail is as good, if not better, than the earlier volumes of the series and, as always J.C.Fields does not disappoint! This is an easy 4 Star book.
I listened to the audio edition and McSorley did a great job narrating!

Sometimes, it requires reading / listening to know

J.C.Fields will never have been enjoyable without the down to art narrator, Paul J Mcsorley. Please to get a better taste, listen to the first 3 series bundle, and also never listen that without this too. They are an intertwined scenes that you are never supposed to miss. I was not a detective oriented person, but after having listened to these pieces. I will no longer ignored stories of this kind in the future.

Don't hesitate to get your copy soonest.

Thank you.

May God bless your listening. Amen.

Superb read

The Cold Trail: The Sean Kruger Series, Volume 4.
Superb. A 5* read/listen. Fast paced with real depth characters and all believable. I throughly enjoyed this book as I have all in this series.
J.C Field's "Sean Kruger" and Paul.J McSorleys narration of this book is an award winning combination.. I highly recommend this series.
I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my own request, and voluntarily leave this review.

Cold cases get hot

This book continues the series of stories about Sean Kruger an FBI agent who becomes involved in a series of missing women. It turns out that he becomes involved in the cover up that was to protect the son of a senator. He remembered cases from the past and when he gets involved in this he is able to bring the people to justice.

This story line was superb with a lot of mystery and danger involved and ended in Sean being able to conclude his investigation.

The narration was good with fully understandable speech and a multitude of voices for the various characters.

This book was provided free of charge with the expectation of an honest review.

As always, superb writing, narration

After reading the first three books, I couldn't wait to get the fourth. I said this before and I'll say it again: I anxiously look forward to more Sean Kruger escapades, so keep writing, J.C. Fields and please keep narrator Paul J. McSorely. For Kruger fans as well as first-timers, please don't miss this opportunity. I can't stress this enough - so very highly recommended, I just can't stand it! 👀😉👀

Will Sean finally solve a 20 yr old cold case?

Former FBI agent, Sean Kruger, is now a university professor...and hating it. When a grad student from campus is abducted, Sean can't shake the similarities between this case and cold cases from 1999-2002. Sean has never gotten over the fact that he did not solve those cases and he decides to revisit them...with all of the technological advances over the years, he should finally be able to bring closure to the victims' families. Sean enlists the help of his hacker friend, JR Diminsky, to figure out the mystery...what they uncover isn't pretty. Politics, power, money, human trafficking...can Sean overcome all of this to bring a killer to justice? This is another action packed story in the Sean Kruger series that will leave you gasping and saying 'well heck, I never saw that coming'! Narration is on point and pulls you into the story. Hope this is not the end of the series!
I voluntarily accepted a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cold Case

This is the 4th book of the Sean Kruger series I have read. I enjoyed it as much as the other 3 and hopefully JC Fields will keep them coming. The story starts back in the past, 17 years back to a case that Agent Krueger had been unable to solve. Fast forward to present time and Krueger is back working with the FBI trying to solve a new case that seems oddly familiar to the cold case. Once again he enlists the help of his friend JR Diminiski. The book brings back many characters from his previous books and I love the way that we are kept in the loop as to what has been happening in his life as well as the lives of his friends and family. The story kept me so intrigued that I had trouble putting it down. Once again the narration is done perfectly. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Very good

I like more and more the characteristics of Kruger, sure, determined and always prepared in the face of evil to protect the innocent and vulnerable.
The narration was brilliant, my compliments to Paul J. McSorley.