Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Fear of Winter by S. C. Sterling in exchange for an honest review. This book felt like an episode of Criminal Minds sans the BAU group. I really enjoyed it and the dark feeling of the book. The characters had emotions that were completely believable and relatable. I'm interested to see where the series goes.

This was a great quick read (I listened to the audio in one day) - if you love crime and thrillers. The plot was solid and I loved the way you gradually were let in on the secrets of the characters which helped to build the story.
The one thing I noticed in the audio was the switch of character perspectives sometimes happened so quickly that it would take a moment to realize it. And the chapters were long.
As a first book in a series, I look forward to seeing how the author continues to build and grow.

Thank you NetGalley for this free audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This story felt completely implausible, melodramatic, and with unlikable characters who constantly made bad decisions. I found myself cringing and rolling my eyes frequently with the dialog, and just wanted it over. The rarity of an evil genius serial killer, plus a psychotic drug-dealing murderer, and everyone seemingly abusing some substance or another, on a dark road to self-destruction, all circling the drain in the same small mountain area was just too much. Not for the discerning reader.

Wow! I absolutely could not put this one down!

Two years after his daughter, Megan, disappears from the small town of Fraser, Colorado, Tom Floyd can't move on.... even when his wife makes it clear that she has. Determined to find out what happened to his daughter, Tom hires Private Detective Marshall York & his assistant Hannah Jacobs to dust of the case files and push the investigation further than the police did. Marshall & Hannah do find new evidence, but it leads them down a very dangerous path.

I started this audiobook this morning around 5:30 on my way to work and absolutely could not put it down. I listened all day while I went about my tasks and continued on the car ride home and while walking my dogs. I kept going all day until I hit the end. I absolutely loved it. The writing is so compelling, the characters are flawed and real, the setting is interesting, and the ending wrapped everything up well.

I was really excited to see that this is going to be Book One of a series, I can't wait for the next one!

What a plethora of characters, perhaps an over-abundance of characters? I took me more than half of the book to really identify who is important, who is worth really remembering, and also when are we- the jumps in time were a little disorienting combined with the change in POV? Or maybe we tried to tackle too many people's voices/point of views in too short of a book-span. I'm grateful for the ARC audiobook, and enjoyed the narrator, Jess Nahikian, and props for her attempts at providing unique voices to each character POV change, but it just wasn't quite as distinct as I could hope for - it might have found a bit of balance from using a co-narrator to help with the male POV's? I'm just rambling at this point about how confusing it felt to make it through the whole book.

I've been drawn to a good mystery/suspense novel lately and I really want to find a mystery that I can't put down because I have to know how it ends. I don't believe that this is that book, but ultimately, it's also not a bad book. The characters were really well fleshed-out stereotypes/tropes, but easily recognizable as we wade through the story - the setting was perfect, though I think we could have played on the feeling of isolationism a little bit more.

Overall, I thought this one was okay - it was only really suspenseful in the idea of whether the criminal was going to get away with the crime, but seeing as how this is a series, the assumption is that there was going to be a pretty clear cut close to the case and I wasn't disappointed in that respect!

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook ARC - in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: No Bueno Publishing
Publishing Date: January 18,2023

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an awesome audiobook. Narrator was great and the storyline was very good. I finished it in less than two days. Author did a great job.

I listened to this in one go, which says lot.
The narrator gave a stunning performance.
There was plenty of side drama and character exploration. This would be a must listen for anyone who lieks crime fiction for sure.

This was very well narrated and the style suited the story.


The plot itself was right up my street deliciously dark. There were many different points of view, on occasion it got me confused as there was jumping around.

There are loads of trigger warnings in this book.

I didn't understand one of the key plot endings and why Tom didn't know so much about Megan's lifestyle.

I was given a free copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

This is the first book I've read by S.C. Sterling and is also the first in 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙾𝚏 series! It’s the perfect book for you if you’re a fan of true crime, serial killers, and murder mysteries like I am. Also? Holy suspense, Batman! I did the audiobook and this book had me up past my bedtime to find out what happens next. I finished it in two days! 😱

Here’s a quick synopsis 👉🏼 A cop’s daughter vanishes, and after a year (and presumed dead) he hires a private investigator to find out what exactly happened in this cold case and by whom. The private investigator’s assistant is also struggling with her older sisters murder. (Many characters wrestle with their own demons). Insert a drug ring, the long winding roads and Colorado mountains in the winter, isolated homes, kidnappings, shootouts, and pay phones…and you have yourself an intense murder mystery.

I totally enjoyed this book. I loved how it was multiple third person POV’s, and you know the narrator is good when you don’t have to think about her skills, you can just enjoy the story. I thought the pace was great and very detailed. I did find the chapters to be quite long. This whole book only has 8!

{TW ⚠️} That said, parts were difficult to read. It was intense. There was a lot of language, as well as descriptive scenes about kidnapping, murder, cutting, depression and suicide.

Thank you @netgalley and No Bueno Publishing for the opportunity to listen and enjoy the first book in “The Fear Of” series!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

This was a fun suspense book especially because I live in Colorado and am very familiar with the places mentioned. That makes a thriller much more interesting for me to read. I liked the way everything tied up at the end- and I could definitely see this book turning into a series. There were a few subplots that I didn’t necessarily think worked for me but that could also be because some nuances are harder to catch when listening to the audio. I would recommend this to my Colorado thriller readers.

Book 1 in The Fear Of series

Featuring ~ multiple 3rd person POV, crime thriller debut, missing woman, abduction, serial killer, r@pe references, suicide, depression, self harm, drug and alcohol abuse, long chapters

There are quite a few perspectives to keep track of:
Tom & Lisa ~ parents of Megan, who is missing
Marshall ~ private investigator
Hannah ~ Marshall's assistant
Kevin ~ serial killer

A cold case of a missing woman ~ yes please! An action packed solid crime thriller debut that kept me mostly engaged throughout. The grief and broken marriage was written realistically for characters wondering what happened to their daughter. The prologue + 8 chapters were awfully long and we are abruptly thrown into another perspective without warning.

Narrated by Jess Nahikian for 7 hours and 10 minutes. I was quite pleased with her skills ~ I even liked her male voices, but still wouldn't have minded a male narrator.

I'll for sure read the next one in the series.

Side note ~ I really like the cover.

Through NetGalley I have discovered some amazing crime authors that I may not have known about otherwise. S.C. Sterling is an author that I’m adding to that list!

In “The Fear of Winter” a young woman disappears in a small Colorado town. A year after her disappearance, her father hires a PI to find her. Secrets are discovered and the case consumes those involved in the investigation. The audiobook narration is well done and I just wanted to keep listening to find out what happened.

Thank you No Bueno Publishing and @netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't finish this. It felt like it was crossing the line into glorifying a serial killer.


____________________________________________________________

First off I want to thank @netgalley & @scottcsterling for my free audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing quick read this was. I listened to this one in less than a day, it was that good. So fast paced right from the beginning up until the last sentence. The setting was perfect to make an atmospheric bone chilling thriller.

There were a lot of characters but each were well developed with their own backstory and struggles. I really enjoyed the writing style of the author which kept me hooked.

The only thing was that sometimes it was hard to follow the switch between the characters, it happened fast and without telling you. The chapters were extremely lengthy.

The plot was well done and the pieces fit together nicely. The twists and secrets are all over this story. This is the first in a series and definitely looking forward to continuing it. There are some trigger warnings regarding suicide, self harm and violence to women.

If you want a fast paced, bone chilling, wintery, twisty thriller pick this one up!

This book contains the following triggers. Well, triggers for some people anyway...
Mental Health Issues: anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, self harm, substance abuse
suicide, death, murder, rape, torture, trauma, violence... lots and lots of violence.

This is normally not my type of book. Yes, I love a good mystery/thriller for the books that I read but the violence and bloodshed doesn't seem to be the main focus, as was the case, with this book.

Megan Floyd is missing. Her father, an ex cop hires a private eye and his assistant to see if they could find her. It's been a couple years since she's gone missing and the case is a dead file. Marshall and Hannah are on it and going practically full throttle, but they have pains they are recovering from themselves. Megan's father, Tom is not the only one suffering from a loss in this story, and therein lies the premise of this book.

I loved hearing how the story described Denver. I lived in Denver briefly from 1978 to 1980 and recognized all the names mentioned. It was almost like I was in Denver right there strolling down those very streets. I remember visiting Evergreen a few times and enjoyed hearing about it. This book takes place in the 90s.

But this story was way too gritty for me but I enjoyed the humanization of the characters when they talked about their pets: Tom's dog and Hannah's cat. The other thing I had a small problem but got used to was how the storyline would hop from character to character. I thought the narrator did a really good job, but it would've been helpful to have narration in a male voice for all the male characters speaking parts. That's not necessarily a distraction or a negative though, just my personal preference.

This is a debut novel, and from its description, the first of the series. I do not think I will be pursuing any more novels by this author, given the amount of violence and grittiness of the book. It was a real tough one for me to listen to. But that's just me. I'm sure others will be able to tolerate it.

Thank you to NetGalley or an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A quick, easy read which true crime fans will enjoy. The characters were well-written and felt real, and I particularly enjoyed the insights into Kevin Strand - I loved the writing style of these sections in particular, and I think they will strongly appeal to those interested in true crime.

The circumstances surrounding Megan’s disappearance were interesting, but I found that the suspense tailed off around halfway through the book as it became obvious what had happened and who was guilty. This made it more difficult to finish the book, as most of the ending was predictable regarding Megan’s disappearance, although there were some surprises with the other plot points.

Specific to the audiobook, I really liked the narrator - their voice was engaging, and they did a great job matching the tone of each scene and character.

4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📖Book: 17/100
💫Genre: Murder Mystery/CrimeThriller
🎧ARC🎧
A suspenseful story full of dark secrets, twists and turns. Tom (an ex sheriff) hires a P.I. Agency (Marshall & Hannah) to help him find his missing daughter (Megan) who didn't come home one night, and her case went cold. Setting was clearly in the Clinton impeachment era (early 2000's) due to its reference and the constant use/mentions of payphones. The cold State of Colorado is perfect to hide bodies during winter, so this was also complementary to the story's setting. S.C. Sterling does an amazing job in keeping the reader hooked to the story, but it changed characters a bit too fast for me. Don't get me wrong, I love a fast paced story but the storyline jumped oftenly too abruptly. So many characters, but all written out in deep depth including their demons/struggles. I had to go back a few times to realize who the character was at the moment. I didn't realize Hannah was the MC until the last chapters. Despite it all I really loved the plot and twists and can't wait to read the rest of the series. The audio narration was good, and I enjoyed Jess Nahikian's tone, but I would have loved there to be a male narration for the 2 other characters.
⚠️Trigger Warnings⚠️
🧠Mental Health Issues: Anxiety, Depression, Schizophrenia, and Intrusive Thoughts 💭
🚨Suicide, Death, Murder
📌Rape
📌Self Mutilation
📌Double Lives
📌Violence/Guns/Knives
📌Drugs
📌Traumas
📌Conversations with Serial Killers
📌Grief
📌Abductions

💫Thank you Netgalley for this Audiobook ARC that I enjoyed very much for an honest review.
Publisher: No Bueno Publishing
Publishing Date: January 18,2023

#NetGalley #TheFearofWinter