Darcy Coates is truly the spooky queen when it comes to horror and thriller. This novel was intense and gripping, with plenty of action and edge-of-your-seat storytelling, the injured female lead becomes trapped in a cabin with strangers while her boyfriend has gone missing. As others go missing to later be found in a grisly scene, the finger pointing begins!

A wonderfully paced whodunnit with shocking twists and turns. Make sure you have a cozy blanket because this one is best served COLD!

I was given this book by the publisher in return for an honest review.

We have a bus full of strangers going to a remote lodge. Our MC is going with her BF but they're quickly separated. We meet the ragtag group of people with them and start to build our theories. Ones by one their heads get added to a tree like macabre Christmas decorations. No one can trust anyone.

I'll be honest I knew who the butcher was about 1/4 a way through the book. But once I heard the secret from August I knew I was right. I honestly thought it was blazingly obvious. I appreciate the attempts at misdirection but it was obvious.

You get a lot of frustration from watching the characters struggle with what seems simple and their inability to truly attempt to investigate.

The end was satisfying but I'm still frustrated about the lack of closure on two points in the storyline. I think they should have closed.

It's a decent thriller but not a very good mystery I give it a 3.75⭐⭐⭐

A snowstorm comes in at the worst possible time - when Christa has joined a tour group which is exploring the Rockies. The group of strangers is forced to take shelter and ride out the storm in a small hunting cabin. During the night, the tour guide goes missing, only to have his severed head discovered by the group in the morning. Being isolated in the wilderness two things are for sure - one of them is a killer and the rest are in danger.

Christa isn’t sure who to trust but is left to figure out how to not only survive the killer, but also the elements.

I’ve read Darcy Coates before and enjoyed her, and I absolutely love isolated locations, especially weather-related isolation. So why didn’t I love this?? I can’t really say. I found the story itself to be a bit boring? The pacing felt strange, I was bored at times. There was a lot of predictability of who/how murders would happen…obviously you can’t trust your group but is wandering off on your own really the way to survive? Not likely…

Overall I think Darcy hits, but this just did not work for me.

~thank you to netgalley & the publisher for sending my an advance reader copy~

honestly im a little disappointed in this one. I love snowstorm/survival horror books so I expected this one to be a new favorite and sadly it was a miss.

I will say the atmosphere of this book was on point. It definitely provided some eerie imagery. I also appreciated the character dynamics and the overall mystery was fun.

It just felt like there was something missing in this story. the whole time I kind of felt like I was waiting for more and it just never happened :(

I couldn't put it down! The best way to describe this books is "unputdownable"
I love how eerie and tense the story is. WOW.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am a huge fan of Darcy Coates and this did not disappoint. Just when you think you have everything figured out... surprise. And oh boy what an ending.

Buy the book, you won't be disappointed.

I enjoyed for what it was. I loved the atmosphere. The gore was too much for me but it’s a me thing. Darcy Coates can write atmospheric and make you squirm.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Just fine. Turns out this kind of twisty thriller just isn’t really my genre.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

Stranded in an old hunting cabin, a group of people are hunkered down during a storm. One of them is a killer...

I live Darcy Coates! This did not disappoint!

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates was an engrossing and gripping story. I enjoy stories of suspense and twists and turns that leave me flying through pages to see what was going to happen next. I recommend this to anyone looking for a read that will grip you from beginning to end.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates excels in its atmospheric world-building, creating a setting that profoundly enhances the novel's suspense and horror. The story is set against the backdrop of the unforgiving Rocky Mountains during a severe snowstorm, which Coates uses to amplify the isolation and claustrophobia felt by the characters.

The abandoned hunting cabin, where the characters are forced to take shelter, becomes a character in itself, with its eerie, dilapidated state adding to the sense of dread. The cabin's dark, confined spaces and the howling wind outside create a palpable atmosphere of menace. This isolation is crucial, as it intensifies the characters' vulnerability and the threat posed by the unknown killer among them.

Coates' detailed descriptions of the snowstorm and the harsh, wintry environment contribute significantly to the novel's tension. The relentless cold and the relentless storm enhance the feeling of entrapment and danger, making the setting an integral part of the narrative's suspense. This effectively draws readers into a world where every creak and howl in the storm heightens the sense of impending doom.

Yasss, Darcy Coates, you creepy queen! You are becoming one of my favorite binge-authors. Dead of Winter was a deeply creepy, eerie and quite gory story of a trip gone completely wrong. I'm a sucker for these kind of stories, and this was absolutely no exception! I would follow Darcy Coates ANYWHERE, and when the plottwist came, I might have screamed a little!

Huge fan of Darcy Coates and I loved this frozen murder mystery. This will be a book that I reread and maybe more than once!

This was quite the ride! It got to a point where I thought I knew who the killer was and then I was wrong … and wrong again … it was wild.

This was a bit longer than it really needed to be, but the descriptors that made it that way really added to the movie-like feel of this book so while I personally found it unnecessary, I do get it.

The suspense in this one was there - it felt like waiting for the final girl to triumph - but I found myself unsure who I wanted to be the final girl. There were so many instances that made each character into a bad guy, but they also had redeeming qualities - so who makes it to the end??? You’ll have to read it to find out!

There's a killer who keeps beheading people and impaling their heads on a tree outside a snowy cabin in the woods. I found the premise both hilarious and rather gory. Loved this book! It's perfect for adding some twisted Christmas cheer to your life. 😅

Whooo okay. This was a really good stranded/survivor thriller. And holy monkeys. I did not expect the twists that came. I did catch on quickly to the why, but not who the butcher was. I have no plans on going hiking in the mountains in the winter… probably ever. To be honest 🤣 this had short chapters that let me set it down, think wtf, and then pick it back up. I did want a little more at the end, but that was more for my closure sake than anything else.

Christa is on a vacation with her boyfriend, who is taking her to someplace special to him. He is sending all the signals that he is going to propose on this trip, but it quickly turns into a trip from h3ll. The tour bus is stopped by a felled tree. And then while they were exploring while the tree was being taken care of, a snowstorm came on quick. They got separated and Christa barely made it to a tiny cabin alive where the rest of the tour group was taking shelter. They went to go search for her boyfriend to no avail, but they did find something sinister. They were being picked off, one by one. They were all going to die here.

This book is an addiction.

The red herrings?! The cliff hangers?! The UNPREDICTABLE plot turns?!

This is going on my top thriller shelf.

A solid horror/thriller story! You almost can't go wrong with a premise that has a bunch of strangers trapped together in a storm with a killer among them. Throw in the missing boyfriend and that really amps up the worry. They're slowly being taken out, one by one...it's just creepy. Maybe a little bit predictable ultimately in who the killer is, but it was still fun to read.

Dead of Winter is a wild, inventive thriller with lots of twists that is satisfying from start to finish.
Eight virtual strangers, stranded in a remote cabin with a killer who gets their kicks from showcasing the victims' heads in the middle of a wintry forest deep in the Rocky Mountains. The reader obviously has no idea who the killer is and there are enough red herrings to throw us off the scent and keep you guessing.
Christa is the perfect MC-a girl who is suddenly mourning the loss of her boyfriend Kiernan but is hiding a past she's desperately trying to overcome. She's surrounded by an interesting cast of characters, all with murky histories of their own. Add in the snowy weather with the remote location, and what you get is the perfect storm of mystery and terror.
As a big fan of thriller reads, I was impressed with how well I was fooled by the killer reveal. Ms. Coates weaves a tale of suspense, with just a tingle of horror that will have you binging this book well into the night. It's inventive, redemptive (for Christa and several other characters), and the ending is both unexpected but oh so satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this title.

Rounded up from 4.5. I’m not a huge horror fan but I was impressed with this one. Each time I thought I figured out the killer, that person was killed 🫣 Kept me on the edge of my seat and was very realistic the entire time.