If you want me to choose one word to describe feelings while reading COLD HEARTS by Sharon Sala it would be creepy or, even better, chilling. Either word raptly encompasses the reader's feelings as page by page COLD HEARTS takes us on a journey to discover just what is happening to the otherwise normal fine people of Mystic. Nothing good for sure. Sharon Sala has penned a terrific whodunit, keeping us on our toes throughout COLD HEARTS. Sometimes waiting for the next shoe to fall -- sometimes hoping for a glimpse of who is behind all the mayhem.

Think your history, your past, can't hurt you? Well, think again. In COLD HEARTS, which is the second book in the trilogy Secrets and Lies, someone is out to exact revenge. Problem is we haven't a clue who or why, but the body count is growing. The stage was set in the first of the trilogy, WILD HEARTS. Sala introduced us to the characters -- and in many cases this is a true label -- that reside in this small and usually quiet place. But in WILD HEARTS we learn that a man has committed suicide. No reason that anyone can figure. The local sheriff knows all his town folks. His parents went to school there as did he and his siblings.

Now in COLD HEARTS, Chief Trey Jakes faces another death in his quiet hometown. This one looks like an unfortunate accident at work for the auto repair man. But Trey has to face his friend Mack with the news that his father was dead. Investigating deaths is like putting a puzzle together. The more pieces that became evident had Trey thinking these two deaths could be connected. Two men who graduated from high school together had so recently died. Coincidence? Well, Trey was beginning to suspect it wasn't. And if not, then the puzzle was getting more challenging.

The two men had something else in common. They were two of three graduates that survived a horrific car accident. Just what had happened that evening? Trey is now determined to get to the bottom of an incident that had long ago been considered nothing more that teenagers driving under the influence. And now this puzzle is getting close to home.

Sharon Sala does an excellent job of keeping us rather preoccupied with another serious problem surfacing in this small town in COLD HEARTS. Hard to imagine sinister characters residing in small, closely knit towns. But Sala definitely makes a believer out of the most reluctant skeptic.

The story in COLD HEARTS is riveting and chilling. COLD HEARTS continues on where WILD HEARTS began with entirely new information surfacing. So if you had an inkling of the culprits from book one -- forget it. The cast of possible killers keeps getting larger and more evolved. I couldn't wait for COLD HEARTS to be published. Each has proved to be a page-turning dream for the amateur sleuth in all of us. The final chapter of this amazing trilogy is yet to be published. Sharon Sala is finishing up the Secrets and Lies trilogy with DARK HEARTS. I'm betting that it is going to surprise us all. Looking to get involved in a wonderfully written series? The Secret and Lies series by Sharon Sala is a sure bet.