Psychological Thriller Review: Stone Cold Fox | Rachel Koller Croft

I love a psychological thriller that features a villainous lead, and Stone Cold Fox delivered that and more! Stone Cold Fox is a debut psychological thriller by Rachel Koller Croft that will have you cheering against your will for the wickedly entertaining female protagonist, Bea.

About the Book | Stone Cold Fox

A compelling debut novel 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. After a lifetime of forced instruction in the art of swindling men by her mother, Bea wants nothing more than to escape her shadow, close the door on their sordid past, and disappear safely into old-money domesticity.

When Bea finds her final mark in the perfectly dull blue-blooded Collin, she’s ready to deploy all 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 tax bracket, particularly his childhood best friend Gale. 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 chase. As the truth of Bea’s past threatens to come roaring out, she finds herself racing against the clock to pass the finish line before everything is exposed. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | Stone Cold Fox

Books about a swindler are some of my favorite books, though I know they may not be for everyone. One reason I love them (and this book is a perfect example) is that female leads who have an edge to them where you know you (like many) are falling victim to their charms even knowing that they may not be the most moral character.

The book centers around a woman named Bea who works as an executive at an advertising agency in NYC. Bea is beautiful, wealthy, and talented—but she isn’t doing all of this work to rise the corporate ranks… She is putting in the work to make herself a desirable trophy wife for a rich husband. Bea feels that the way to obtain financial security for life is to find her way into the generational wealth that only a select few families have.

Bea learned the art of the swindle from her own mother, but she has risen far above her mother’s skills. She has firmly closed the door on her past and moved on to bigger and better things. Which is when she meets the dull but nice Colin Case. Colin is that old blue-blooded wasp-y money that Bea dreams of. He’s the perfect target to become her husband.

Bea may be an expert in deception and have her hooks in Colin, but she may have met her match with Colin’s best friend from childhood, Gale. Gale is in love with Colin and she has her sights set on exposing Bea. Will Bea be able to keep her past buried and get the life she always wanted, or will Gale expose her for the fraud she is?

Narrated entirely from Bea’s perspective, it’s hard not to secretly root for her though she isn’t exactly a beacon of morality. The more we learn about Bea’s past, the more complicated our feelings about her become. She has a really sad backstory that the reader watches unfold through flashbacks, and her story made me empathize with her. Her childhood was unorthodox and often unsettling to hear about. It’s the sort of story that will make you understand why someone may turn out the way Bea did.

At the same time, it’s hard to truly sympathize with Colin’s family and social circle. These people will never understand what it means to barely be able to afford to survive. If they knew who Bea was and her poor upbringing, they would snub her. As a result, it’s hard to not feel at times that they deserve a small comeuppance served to them by the wily Bea.

Everything about Stone Cold Fox is entertaining, from the first to the last page. Playing on themes of morality, right and wrong, and whether someone can redeem themselves from their greatest sins, this book will force every reader to face the grey areas that we often ignore.

Absorbing and wickedly fun!

About the Author | Rachel Koller Croft

Rachel Koller Croft is the author of Stone Cold Fox and We Love the Nightlife. She is also the WGA award-nominated screenwriter of Torn Hearts.

She’s currently developing her novels for film and television.

Rachel lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Charles, and their rescue pitbull, Juniper.