Cold

Cold is a thoroughly enjoyable read written by Drew Hayden Taylor. Part horror, part mystery and much dry humour, this is a book that was hard to put down. 

The tale opens inside a Cessna airplane carrying three people, the pilot, Merle, a journalist, Fabiola and a young teen, over Northern Ontario. The plane has mechanical trouble and crashes down in the northern wilderness, killing the teen boy, badly breaking Fabiola’s leg and leaving only Merle able to search for help. 

After their rescue, Fabiola sets out to tell and sell the book of her story of survival in a tour to cities across Canada.

The reader meets several other seemly disconnected characters along the way. There is Paul North a professional hockey player and a right winger for the Indigenous Hockey League. Once a talented player, his career is faltering due to age, drink and heavy partying. 

Elmore Trent, is a tenured university professor of Indigenous Literature in Toronto. Married to Sarah and carrying on an affair with student, Katie, Elmore has lost the drive for his work and has disconnected from his past.  Only a few times has he visited the Indigenous community where his parents’ house is located as his world of academia has seemly pulled him back from his childhood roots. 

The horrific attack and brutal dismemberment of a student in the city starts the mystery. It is difficult to imagine such a vicious attack made by a human. Could it be a wild animal or is it something beyond the natural world?

I highly recommend Cold. Drew Hayden Taylor’s has written a well-crafted and entertaining read that intertwines a modern tale with Indigenous mythology. 

Drew is one of the Readers and Writers Festival’s invited authors for 2025. He has written numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction, is a journalist and an award-winning playwright. The festival looks forward to welcoming and meeting Drew to Denman this summer.