A perfectly wicked debut thriller about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country’s wealthiest families.
Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she’s worth and is determined to get all she deserves—it just so happens that what she deserves is to marry rich. Filthy rich. After years of forced instruction by her mother in the art of swindling men, a now-solo Bea wants nothing more than to close and lock the door on their sordid partnership so she can disappear safely into old-money domesticity, sealing the final phase of her escape.
When Bea chooses her ultimate target in the fully loaded, thoroughly dull and blue-blooded Collin Case, she’s ready to deploy all of her tricks one last time. The challenge isn’t getting the ring, but rather the approval of Collin’s family and everyone else in their 1 percent tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend, Gale Wallace-Leicester.
Going toe-to-toe with Gale isn’t a threat to an expert like Bea, but what begins as an amusing cat-and-mouse game quickly develops into a dangerous pursuit of the grisly truth. Finding herself at a literal life-and-death crossroads with everything on the line, Bea must finally decide who she really wants to be.
Like mother, like daughter?
Book Info: Print length: 365 pages. Publisher: Berkley. Publication Date: 14 Feb 2023. Audible Info: Listening length: 11 hours and 32 mins. Narrator: Carlotta Brentan.
My Thoughts:
My mate John Marrs told me to listen to this, so I did.
Stone Cold Fox is the thoroughly enjoyable story of Bea, a young, beautiful, hard-working, successful woman who has a plan… to marry the richest man possible, and she will stop at nothing to achieve her goal.
Bea grew up with her mother, a con-woman who targeted wealthy men, married them, living in luxury until Mother got bored and then moved onto the next unlucky rich man and it seems with Bea, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as Bea has now targeted thoroughly dull and totally loaded Collin Case as her husband to be.
She’s done her research and has managed to manipulated her way into Collin’s life, seducing him and making him fall in love with her, and all she has to do now is get the approval of Collin’s family and everyone else in their 1 percent tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend, Gale Wallace-Leicester. However Gale has other ideas.
Stone Cold Fox then turns into a cunning and dangerous cat and mouse game between the two most important women in Collin’s life, his wife-to-be and his best friend Gale.
I do love a psychopath, especially a female, and I thought Bea was highly entertaining, driven and determined with a huge dollop of bitchiness thrown in, but don’t be too judgemental because the relationship between Bea and her Mother is dysfunctional, to say the least, and it’s heart-breaking to hear “young Bea” recount her childhood trauma which goes a long way to explaining her actions as an adult.
Stone Cold Fox is a complete bitch-fest and thoroughly entertaining.