In the frozen reaches of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, fierce winter storms can hit without notice. In the white translucence of one such blizzard, Norman Haas simply walks away from his prison work detail without detection.

After agonizing days of blistering cold, Norman finds himself at the farmhouse of a lonely middle-aged woman who gives him temporary shelter while keeping him at a comfortable distance with her late husband’s shotgun. When she tries to turn him in, he escapes again. Thus begins a riveting story of Norman’s journey back to his past, back to the woman he loved—and still loves—who betrayed him, back to the brother who helped put him away, and back to a dangerous web of family allegiances, deceptions, and intrigue.

On Norman’s trail is Del Maki, the hardworking sheriff of Yellow Dog Township, a fork in the road on the way to Canada. Cold takes us deep into an intricate, fascinating tale, where love, greed, and the promise of a last chance compel six people toward a chilling and inevitable reckoning.

"COLD is a finely crafted, wild yarn set in the great north. John Smolens gives us a suspenseful tale in a style somewhere between Jack London and Raymond Chandler. A fine read."
-- Jim Harrison (author of Legends of the Fall)

Cold is a literary thriller in the vein of Fargo and A Simple Plan.