Unfortunately, I do not like this book. I actually did not finish it. I was able to get 26% of the way through the story before realizing I was not enjoying it. The author spent so much time in the descriptions of the women with red hair. I would have tried to continue, but the story was not holding my attention.

Blizzard by Marie Vingtras and translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman is a thriller set in an Alaskan town, where the people are always willing to lend a hand to a peer but are hostile to those they deem outsiders.

At its heart, this book is about what drives people to come or return to an isolated and hard way of life and while I do think Vingtras successfully portrays the hopelessness, loneliness, and desire to connect within these characters, there’s a hollowness to the plot and the ending. We aren’t given enough time to truly become invested in these people and the twists that were pretty compelling mysteries feel half-baked.

First, the things I did really enjoy about the book–I loved the atmosphere. I always enjoy the settings of wintery thrillers and Blizzard is one of the most wintery you can get. I also think that connecting the environment to the ways in which these characters are pariahs of all kinds was great. The idea of lonely and wandering people settling in a town where you are mostly alone yet still finding each other to bond with is compelling.

I also enjoyed that the violence was minimal for the most there. There are horrifying revelations that come to light and while I think only two of them really work, those two are pretty impactful. However, I think that some characters in this book existed only for the shock of what they do and could’ve been cut out so we could focus on the characters that do matter. There are too many mysteries in the book and tying all those loose ends felt sloppy at times because they were fundamentally about characters I did not care about.

One reveal in particular near the end of the book dropped this book down to 2 stars for me because I had a terrible feeling they were going that route with the character but hoped they wouldn’t. It wasn’t given the time it deserved to really be meaningful to the plot and felt like a cheap way to tie a loose end up. This is also why it’s great to use sensitivity readers, though part of me does feel like we should not need sensitivity readers to know why this reveal was dubious.

Overall, Blizzard is a tightly-paced thriller (for better and for worse) that has some fantastic characterization and great reveals but which is held back by its short page length, time spent on unnecessary characters, and ending. I’d love to see this book be turned into a revised screenplay because I feel like it would be a great thriller movie.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Overlook Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This review has been scheduled to be posted on Goodreads and my blog (clearsummers.wordpress.com) on January 9, 2024.

I loved this book and devoured it in two days, which is fast for me. I liked how the book is structured and has very few pages in a chapter to keep the plot going. What I also appreciated was there was some character development with some of the characters by looking into their past to give a fuller picture of what was so important about the boy that was missing. Will recommend this to friends and family.

What drew me to this book was the gorgeous, retro cover and the title. I loved the short chapters and the premise. I'm not generally a fan of shifting points of view. In this case, I had a difficult case connecting with the characters and felt it took a long time to figure out the relationships among them, but I appreciated the writing style would want to read more by this writer.

Really enjoyed Blizzard by Marie Vingtras! The story was powerful and robust and felt necessary! There was such a nice prose and writing style to it!

I really enjoyed this book! It was masterfully woven, and I felt like I learned important pieces of information at the right times. It’s not exactly the setting I would generally pick in a book, but I thought it was a thought provoking, tightly packed thriller.

Blizzard by Marie Vingtras takes you on a wild ride with the bone-chilling idea of a kid vanishing into thin air. This book will make you feel the fear down to your bones. Picture this: a crazy blizzard in the middle of nowhere, where everything changes instantly. And get ready to question what's right and wrong because this story will mess with your moral compass.

So, here's the deal. Blizzard was a damn good read, but I must admit, I wanted something more. I was expecting a survival story packed with deep characters wrestling with heavy emotions like guilt, bravery, responsibility, and all that jazz. Instead, it focused mostly on the struggle to survive in extreme conditions. And let me tell you, there were so many insane situations and unlikely escapes that it sometimes felt like a stretch.
But hold up! The book totally made up for it by weaving together different perspectives like a boss. I was hooked when all those separate storylines unexpectedly came crashing together in a mind-blowing finale. Those are the moments I live for as a reader when everything clicks and surprises you in ways you never saw coming.

Now, let's talk about the pacing. The ending was top-notch, but the build-up was slow-moving, especially considering how short the book was. And hey, the characters in Blizzard are complex and morally ambiguous, which always gets me hooked.

All in all, Blizzard is a thought-provoking and thrilling novel that dives deep into the freaky idea of disappearing without a trace. Sure, it could sometimes use a bit more action, and it might not hit the emotional depths you expect, but damn, that ending will leave you satisfied. If you're into characters with shades of gray and extreme circumstances that push them to the limit, Blizzard will rock your world.

The way people can disappear and no one notices is a frightening concept that this book explores. Out in the wild, a blizzard can, and will, change everything. This story challenges your idea of what is right and what is wrong.

I liked the ending a lot, but the build-up was very slow—especially for such a short book. I started out disliking Bess, but the further I got, the more I felt for her. The characters were complicated and morally grey, which I always appreciate.

Overall, this was a good read, but I felt like I needed just a little more.

I prefer books with one POV, but this has a lot of good parts, and people should try it. I liked the story overall, and the writer has amazing talent.

TWs for this book: SA, racism

Blizzard is a great read for those who really enjoy a book that is driven more by characters than it is by plot. While I think this book was well written and flowed well, I don’t believe that I was the right audience for it, and it didn’t read how I expected it to based on the description. Blizzard is described as “a frantic race against death, where the destiny of each subject facing the elements is revealed.” I believe this book was far more focused on the pasts of the various POV characters than it was on their destinies, and I don’t think it necessarily maintained the suspense I’d associate with “frantic” and “race.”

Blizzard has very unique pacing, in that it is told in very short chapters (most less than 2 full pages), but very little on-page action. There’s very limited dialogue and the storytellers feel isolated from each other as they go about their separate searches. Each character has a distinct voice and personality, though the style of storytelling felt largely the same between them all and came across more as “telling” than “showing.”

Overall, it was a smooth read, but as I was initially drawn in by the central conflict and promise of suspense, this book ended up just not being a favorite for me.

The short chapters really made this book fly by, I seriously think each chapter was maybe 3 pages at most. You’ll come to love Bess, initially I couldn’t stand her but by the end I was sold. I love multi pov novels and this hit all the marks- mysterious, thought provoking and incredibly well written.

Blizzard
Marie Vingtras
She turned loose of his hand for a few seconds. A few seconds was all it took for him to disappear. The young child is lost in the midst of a blizzard in Alaska. Bess is frantic and attempts to find the boy.
When Benedict came downstairs the front door was standing open and he realized Bess and the child were gone. He rushed to his neighbor, Cole’s home begging for help searching for the two-missing people.
Author Marie Vingtras keeps readers in the dark during the first half of this book. We don’t know why Bess and the child live with Benedict. We discover Cole has a secret and so does Freedman. The chapters are short and written from various points of view. I struggled with this book. The prose is unusual and often confusing. The concept had great potential but it fell short for me.

this book was FUN. not a fav but i still enjoyed the experience - it was hard to put down, gripping & really fast paced. i loved the setting, the characters (& shifting POVs) & the tension building. survival stories just rly do something for me. def recommend!

thanks net galley and ABRAMS for the arc!!

I was interested in the idea of a child being lost in an Alaskan blizzard because of only an instant's inattention. I myself have been to Alaska many times, but always to the more southern area, so there is a certain mystique that the northern side holds in my mind, so when I read what this was about I added it to my TBR immediately.

I was a little disappointed if I'm being honest, I had not realized this was a translated work and as is often the case when it comes to translations, the writing felt clunky, a bit jarring, and dry. I imagine the French version flowed a lot more nicely. I think a lot of the essence of the character's emotions and thoughts was lost in the translation.

This was a lot different than I expected, I was expecting a survival story, maybe some in depth characterizations, or characters tackling complex and intense emotions such as guilt, bravery, responsibility and obligation. But what this was felt more like straight survival, extreme circumstances, and all that jazz. There were different POVs but they were all experiencing similar threats and journeys, in fact I felt that so many extreme situations and escapes felt a lil unrealistic and farfetched. What I did like about it was that all the separate storylines were braided together nicely in the end, those are my favorite kind of endings, when you're following several stories and get to see them connect and intersect in ways you weren't expecting.

Whenever I enjoy an ending I tend to rate a book higher even if the rest of the book was rated much lower IMO, so I'm trying not to do that here. Overall I think this was a 3 star reading experience with 4 star moments.

Blizzard is a book that FLIES BY. You can’t help but want to devour it in a single sitting - that’s how addictive it is. All the characters were super interesting, even the one who was a terrible, horrible human being. I was at the edge of my seat just waiting to see what would happen.

There is just something so alluring about escaping society to stay isolated in a tiny Alaskan town with a population of five people! I think the best part of this book was the fact that all these characters seemed to be trying to escape something from their past. overall, I really liked this book and I can’t wait to see what else Vingtras has in store!