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Karin Slaughter
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Cold, Cold Heart: A Short Story (Kindle Single) Kindle Edition

by Karin Slaughter (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 1,616 ratings
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First comes love.

Then comes marriage.

Then comes revenge.

In this sensational short story from the bestselling author of The Kept Woman and Pretty Girls, fifty-two-year-old Pam has done her utmost as a loyal wife to her now ex-husband John. He dropped her cruelly . . . but with a terminal illness about to claim his life, Pam now sees an opportunity to settle the score, in a way that no one—not their children, not her ex, and certainly not the reader—will see coming . . .

Surprising, suspenseful, and diabolically clever, Cold, Cold Heart offers old fans and new readers alike a taste of the writer Gillian Flynn calls “one of the finest crime novelists at work today.”

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  1. Print length
    61 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Witness Impulse
  5. Publication date
    August 23, 2016
  6. File size
    823 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01J16UVT8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Witness Impulse (August 23, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 23, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 823 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 61 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 1,616 ratings

About the author

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Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter

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Karin Slaughter is the author of more than twenty instant NEW YORK TIMES bestselling novels, including the Edgar–nominated COP TOWN and standalone novels THE GOOD DAUGHTER, PRETTY GIRLS, and GIRL, FORGOTTEN. She is published in 120 countries with more than 40 million copies sold across the globe. PIECES OF HER is a #1 Netflix original series starring Toni Collette. The Will Trent Series is on ABC (and streaming on Hulu in the U.S, and Disney+ internationally). THE GOOD DAUGHTER and FALSE WITNESS are in development for film/tv. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programming. A native of Georgia, she lives in Atlanta.

www.karinslaughter.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/AuthorKarinSlaughter/

Instagram www.instagram.com/karinslaughterauthor/

Twitter @SlaughterKarin

https://linktr.ee/karinslaughter

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
1,616 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

M.B.
5.0 out of 5 stars What a great read!
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
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I liked this story because the woman scorned got her revenge in the end. The ending was not what I expected.
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Yankjun
3.0 out of 5 stars Quick Revenge
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2021
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An ex wife's revenge written with Slaughter's style .. A fast novella read with just enough small twists to keep you flying through the words. A little predictable and it would make a great gateway to Kristin Slaughter writing a book using the journals and making it a true Slaughter novel. Good quick read for someone wanting to get a taste of the author's style.
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RedRedtheycallmeRed
4.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 STARS...Quick but satisfying story
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2017
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This is a quick tale (about 15 minutes to read) of revenge. Jon (who dropped the "h" from his name to make himself cooler, cue the eye rolls) is a huge a****** who treated his wife like dirt for most of their marriage. When he goes from high school teacher to millionaire self-help author he drops the old wife to find a new teenage one. But Jo(h)n gets what he deserves (brain cancer) and his ex-wife gets the last word.
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Ron K
5.0 out of 5 stars What was Jon Thinking?
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2016
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Cold, Cold Heart by Karin Slaughter is a Kindle Single and is truly a short story. The story itself is over and done by the 39% mark in the downloaded epub. It is then followed by an excerpt from The Kept Woman advertised to be on sale 20 September 2016. The prolog to that excerpt should guarantee sales. This is one of those times when it is good to take Amazon’s offer of a free sample. But back to the short story Cold, Cold Heart.

Jon (previously John, before the later than mid-life crisis) and Pam had been together and married for a long time. Both were high school teachers; they had little money and had to live on a tightly controlled budget. And Jon controlled the budget very strictly even refusing to give Pam lunch money when she had run out early in the week. He did give her advice; she was to budget more wisely.

Jon believed he had superior intellect even though Pam was the one with a doctorate in biology. Jon held no advanced degree. For any problem that popped up, Jon shrugged his shoulders and replied that they should just let things work themselves out. That did not work out so well with their son Zachary. Pam informed Jon about the drugs, the alcohol, the exuberant sex life of their teenage son but Jon just shrugged it off. But Jon could not shrug off Zachary’s death in a car accident. Jon could not get over ignoring Pam’s earlier concerns when it was found that Zachary’s blood alcohol content was six times over the legal limit. Jon blamed the failure of their sex life after the death of their son on depression.

But Pam already knew about some of Jon’s infidelities. She put up with some but could not ignore the one in which he ran away with a younger woman, went to California, and married her. Jon had spent a lot of time prior to his divorce from Pam writing a book. It was hugely successful; Jon became rich. He tried to give some money to Pam but the betrayed wife accepted none of it. And now Jon had phoned her to invite her to visit him in California and witness his death.

Jon had accepted death but wanted to be decapitated and have his head and body cryogenically preserved for a later return. He also wanted to see Pam one last time, not to apologize for anything but to confess. Jon had kept journals for all of the time he had been married to Pam. He wanted her to read them. In each journal, he named the women he had a relationship with during his marriage to Pam. There were a lot of journals. Rather than making amends to Pam, he wanted to gloat, to stick the knife in once again, with a shrug of the shoulders and a smirk.

And now it is Pam’s turn. Her reaction and behavior in response to Jon’s confession makes the story worth reading.

The characters in this short story are well developed. I felt sorry for the wasted life that was Pam’s. I loathed the superior attitude of Jon (John). Zachary was not around long enough to engender feelings but he was only important as a writing prompt. The story “action” is mostly in Pam’s mind as she looks back and reflects on her married life: what she knew, what she didn’t know, the unequal and unfair life she had with Jon. As her reflections alternate between her feelings about herself, her son Zach, and her changing feelings for Jon, the story moves quickly.
I almost never read the follow on excerpts. I did so here and now feel I have to buy The Kept Woman.
10 people found this helpful
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Judith D. Collins
5.0 out of 5 stars Another deliciously evil, witty, and satisfying short story by Karin Slaughter!
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2016
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COLD COLD HEART, is yet another deliciously evil, witty, and satisfying short story by Karin Slaughter, as fans anxiously await her upcoming THE KEPT WOMAN (5 Stars). Both are Must Reads! If you haven’t already read 2015 Pretty Girls, please do so. No one quite like the "queen" of crime thrillers.

John had been dead for almost two years. They had been married for many years and had met at a young adult Sunday school class some twenty-four years earlier. They dated, became lovers, married, taught high school chemistry and biology, and had a beautiful son Zachary. Everything was perfect at first.

Pam was now alone at age fifty-two, and for the first time in her life she did not care about her appearance. Her marriage had not been good. She recalled when he was dying and asked her to come.

Zachary was gone, too. At age sixteen. He died too young. She had warned her husband about their son’s drinking. Would her son be alive today if she had stood up to her husband?

John had said he wanted to be put into stasis. He wanted to be cryogenically frozen, so he could be reanimated one day. Who wants more of the sucker? His book Biological Healing had been on the bestseller list. He wrote about his son and his ex-wife. Nine years earlier, she had caught him cheating with one of the other secretaries. He was mean, and hateful, and never mentioned the real truth in his stupid book. He had been with some woman the day before their son died, she discovered when reading his journals. The smirk on his face, when he was dying and the other wife, half his age.

However, now with his body, is her chance to get REVENGE once and for all! She will make sure he knows.

Even Slaughter’s clever short stories are entertaining! A sneak preview included of The Kept Woman. Do not miss the Will Trent/Sara/Angie saga! In addition to the e-book, also used an Audible credit and Shannon Cochran was a perfect voice for the protagonist!

JDCMustReadBooks
3 people found this helpful
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IBoughtThat
2.0 out of 5 stars I'm a big fan of Karin Slaughter so I read ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2017
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I'm a big fan of Karin Slaughter so I read everything she publishes. I'm not a fan of the short story genre which probably has a lot to do with this 2 star review. That said I found nothing interesting about the story or it's characters. That surprised me because those are things Karin Slaughter's excels in in her novels.
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AJ Holmes
3.0 out of 5 stars I was not impressed.
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2024
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I love Karin Slaughter's books and shorts, but this wasn't in the same league as any of her work. Neither the climax nor the ending had any of the coup de grâce I've come to expect from Karin's work.
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Bev
4.0 out of 5 stars Revenge is best served....COLD.
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017
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This is really a short story. When Pam gets a call that her ex-husband John wants her to come to California due to his dying, she goes. John or Jon as he is now known by, was a terrible husband and father. But he wrote a book and made millions of dollars, cheated on Pam with just about everyone they knew and thinks he has gotten the last laugh on her. Ha! You need to read the book to find out Pam's revenge. It's good! I received ARC of this book. The review is of my own opinion and done voluntarily.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Joy Hannaford
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2023
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Great story written by an amazing storyteller. I recommend you read all of her books, preferably in order.
They are almost all as clever and twisted (in all senses of the word) as this short story.
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emma
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2016
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Karin Slaughter is my favourite
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Jade
5.0 out of 5 stars Fan
Reviewed in Australia on August 4, 2019
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Fantastic read! Massive slaughter fan
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Helen
3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2020
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This isn't bad but not Karen's best, a story of a failed marriage and the final settling of years of injustice.
One person found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Hard Done By You
Reviewed in Australia on July 10, 2023
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Not what you would expect from a Karin Slaughter story. Not very stabby. Still a very enjoyable way to spend your lunch break. And I was pleasantly surprised with what was inside the cooler. Definitely thought it was something else. This was better.
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