Oh. My. Goodness! I am going to try and keep my gushing down to a minimum but no promises. This is my favorite book of 2012 to date! Cold Fury is the kind of book that makes me wish that I had a rating higher than 5 gavels. It is in the superstar league that I reserve for Harry Potter and The Hunger Games (in my opinion). I felt like it was written specifically for me. It felt super personal and I absolutely loved every page, every word, and every second of reading it! 
 Let's start with Sarah Jane. Not only is Cold Fury my favorite book of 2012 so far- Sarah Jane is my favorite heroine ever. That's right- I said EVER. She is just so cool! I instantly connected with her. Her critical skepticism and starkly realistic view of the world made her a girl after my own heart. Plus she is a fighter- both literally and figuratively. She's literally a boxer, and figuratively she never gives up. This is a girl I want on my side all the time. But the awesome thing is that she was so well rounded, but not perfect. She is pretty but she has an Italian nose. (which is a nice way of saying big nose. But I am allowed to say that because I too am an Italian with the same prominent facial feature) There are just so many quotes and lines from this book that I loved and completely captured my thoughts and emotions. I could honestly made a really cool composite of Cold Fury words of wisdom and quotes and hang it up in my room. 
 Sarah Jane isn't the only cool character. Willy is hilarious and Sarah's brother is so smart. Cold Fury is full of mystery, intrigue and tons of kick ass action and fighting. It deals with the Chicago mafia, and that aspect of it kind of reminded me of Mob Wives Chicago. Some of the stuff they say is hilarious. "once a rat, always a rat!" (I can't be the only one to watch that reality show! Such a guilty pleasure) 
 Cold Fury has you running through the streets of Chicago and through secret doors all over the place! And the way that background information and "mafia history" is flawlessly incorporated into the story had me engrossed from cover to cover. The writing is excellent, the story line even better and the characters are three dimensional and magnificent. This is going to be a hard book to top for me. Run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore on July 24th to snag a copy of Cold Fury. You won't be sorry, I promise!