Cold Storage {Book review} + HUGE BOOK HAMPER GIVEAWAY!

Black Friday?? How about BOOK FRIDAY? Today we’ve got a review and a WHOPPER of a book hamper up for grabs!!! Check that out at the end of the review 😉 By now, you all know that thrillers are my jam!! What you may not know is, HORROR, not so much! I mean, there’s a distinct difference between thrillers and horrors……  I just can’t do horror! When I received Cold Storage to review, I stared at this book for days… I wouldn’t even touch it. Horror has me all sorts of horrified….lol. Then I realised, this is David Koepp, the screenwriter responsible for Jurassic Park…. maybe this wasn’t clown-in-the-sewer-horror that has me all sweaty. Was I horrified? Did I survive?? Keep reading to find out!

What is Cold Storage about?

When Pentagon bioterror operative Roberto Diaz was sent to investigate a suspected biochemical attack, he found something far worse: a highly mutative organism capable of extinction-level destruction. He contained it and buried it in cold storage deep beneath a little-used military repository.

Now, after decades of festering in a forgotten sub-basement, the specimen has found its way out and is on a lethal feeding frenzy. Only Diaz knows how to stop it.

He races across the country to help two unwitting security guards—one an ex-con, the other a single mother. Over one harrowing night, the unlikely trio must figure out how to quarantine this horror again. All they have is luck, fearlessness, and a mordant sense of humor. Will that be enough to save all of humanity?

My review

The characters and storyline

The book starts back in the 80’s where we meet Roberto Diaz, as he and his colleague embark on a ‘mission’ to contain a horrific mutant fungus. Once they have completed their mission, we are in the present day, where we meet workers at a storage facility, Teacake and Naomi. The storage facility that houses this fungus, that has somehow managed to make a bit of an escape. Time is of the essence, as Roberto now has to come out of retirement, to attempt to save humanity…along with Teacake and Naomi.

Teacake and Naomi are kind of like a bundle when I talk about them….I absolutely adored their characters. The banter between them (strangers until this fateful night) is very cute and amusing, with plenty of laugh out loud moments. Roberto is hopefully our hero, and also a pretty likeable guy, but to me, Naomi and Teacake stole the show as characters. Also we meet the fungus…..scary fungus that is super intelligent…. I can safely say, I have never read anything like this before!

My thoughts

As I said, horror is not my thing, but I found this to be pretty tolerable as a non-horror lover. I think because it’s a fungus….and not a scary monster under my bed, I could read without feeling too scared.

The book moved at a bit of a slow pace and it mainly takes place in one setting – the storage facility. We go through the discovery of the fungus really really slowly. The actual storyline, was not enough to carry a whole book I felt. I skimmed through a lot of it, there was just too much information (scientifically speaking, as to how the fungus was evolving) and flashbacks that really didn’t bring anything to the table. This book could have easily been around 100 pages only.

We also move around a bit with other people and their interactions with the fungus, and at one stage I was wondering how this would all tie together. It totally does, even though you really need to just suspend reality for a moment while reading this book. I definitely felt like this was more of a movie script, and it would make a fantastic movie!

Criticism of the pace aside, the book was really well written, descriptive….very descriptive….. And I enjoyed the laugh out loud moments as Naomi and Teacake bantered. The relationship between them….honestly, they were so funny, so the comedy really distracted from the body invading fungus!

Rating

Cold Storage has a Goodreads rating of 3.67 out of 5 stars. I’d personally rate it at around 3 stars myself. Cold Storage is available at all leading book retailers and is around R235 currently on Takealot.com.

GIVEAWAY

Jonathan Ball has provided me with a stack of books for today’s giveaway! The lucky winner will get to choose as many books from the stack that they want, some of the titles being:

• Nectar by Upile Chisala (Poetry)
• The Bee Bible by Sally Coulthard (Non-fiction)
• Menus that Made History (Non-Fiction)
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Young Adult Fiction)
• The Scorched Earth by Rachael Blok (Thriller)
• Beyond The Known by Andrew Rader (Science, History)
• The Irrational Ape by David Grimes (Science, Non-fiction)
• The Truants by Kate Weinberg (Mystery, Fiction)
• Who put this Song On by Morgan Parker (YA, Mental health, Fiction)
• The World According to Star Wars by Cass Sunstein (Star Wars, Pop Culture, Non-Fiction)
• The Photographer of the Lost by Caroline Scott (Historical fiction)
• What happened? by Hanif Kureishi (Non-fiction, literature)

How to enter?

1. Comment on this post with what your favourite genre is to read, or which book from the list you’re most interested in.
2. Bonus:
   1. Make sure you’re following me on Facebook and tag a friend (or 3) on the post who would be interested in entering.
   2. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram and tag a friend (or 3) on the post who would be interested in entering.
   3. Sign up for my newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any upcoming posts and giveaways!

Rules:

1. This competition is only open to readers residing in South Africa.
2. The giveaway will run until MIDNIGHT, on Friday, 6th December 2019, with a winner being selected at random shortly afterwards.  I will announce the winners of my giveaway on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, so make sure you follow me so you don’t miss the announcement.
3. If no reply to my email has been received within 48hrs, a new winner will be selected.
4. Ensure you complete the necessary steps to validate your entries. I have no choice but to disqualify any incorrect entries received.
5. Please allow Elizabeth Arden 2 to 4 weeks for delivery.

Don’t forget to check out my other giveaways, where you can win a LUSH HAMPER or a TOY HAMPER!

Disclaimer: Cold Storage was sent to me by Jonathan Ball Publishers for review, but all opinions are my own. All the books for the giveaway are sponsored by Jonathan Ball Publishers.