Cellar of Cole

A Cole Sage Mystery, Book 2

By: Micheal Maxwell

Narrated by: Vaughn MacLean

How far would you go to save a child? Listen to the heart-pounding sequel to the international best seller Diamonds and Cole.

Cole’s got a new job but fails to show up.

Do the series of child murders in San Francisco and Chicago lead to Cole’s disappearance?

A new job in a new city doesn’t do you much good if you’re dead.

Follow Cole to the City by the Bay to find out just how far he will go to save a child.

Buy the audiobook today.

©2013 Micheal Maxwell (P)2020 Micheal Maxwell

Good narration. Plot points wrap up abruptly.

This book was just ok for me. The narration was pretty good, and my issues are with the story itself. No spoilers, but let's just say that the main unsolved mystery is solved very abruptly and randomly earlier in the book than you would think, and then we focus on side issues.

Lots of trigger warnings in this book as well: child abuse, threats of sexual assault, discussion of history of sexual assault, murder of a child, murder of a family pet.

As I said, the narration was pretty good. Vaughn MacLean is a new narrator to me, and I found his voice very enjoyable. I'm probably not going to pick up any more books authored by Micheal Maxwell, but I would listen to Vaughn MacLean again.

Cellar of Cole

This was my first book by this author and I generally do not read or listen to much in this genre. I thought I'd give it a go anyway. Honest reviews are best. The storyline deals with some very disturbing subjects which were very difficult to hear in the audiobook. It started off pretty interesting, subject matter aside. As we get closer to figuring out who the cops are searching for, it seemed like that plot point was resolved way too quickly. After getting the alternating povs of the bad guy and Cole, I expected this to carry through the book. That didn't happen. Then there was yet another plot point which actually relates more to the title of this book. It all just seemed odd.

I listened to the audiobook which features new narrator, Vaughn Maclean. With this being his first book, I though he did a very good job throughout the story and he was really able to convey the creep factor of the two bad guys. Definitely has some great potential.

A lot going on in this book

There was a lot in this book, we follow a child serial killer through him luring and killing the children, and his motivation for his actions. There were a lot of descriptive scenes of his actions, and abuse in general.

At the same time we meet up with Cole who is reuniting with his family and his decision to leave his job in Chicago and move across country for a new job. We learn of his relationships with his mentor who is dying, as well as his child he didn't know he had and his granddaughter.

I felt the way they caught the killer was a bit abrupt, and with little evidence. The story then moved to the second part, to a second abuser, who kidnaps Cole and essentially leaves him to die. Cole is left to his own devices to find a way to escape and expose this abuser and peddler of child pornography. The link between the two bad guys is simply Cole, which seemed a little uneven.

I listened to the audiobook which was very enjoyable, he made the story better. I very much liked the narration by Vaughn MacLean and look forward to hearing more from him.

Cellar of Cole

I haven’t read a mystery novel in quite a while and decided to give this one a try. I enjoyed the character of journalist Cole Sage but will say that I wasn’t quite prepared for the difficult and disturbing subject matter of child molestation and murder that appears in this story. I felt that once Cole was introduced into the story line of the serial killer, that particular mystery was solved too easily and quickly. It felt like a rather abrupt conclusion. The book continues on with stories shared by others close to Cole and he is personally drawn into the drama of one of them, resulting in a rather harrowing adventure for him.

I listened to the audiobook and was impressed with the narrator, Vaughn McLean. He is a new narrator to me and I thought he did a good job voicing the characters and leading the narrative. I definitely look forward to hearing more from him in the future.