Really good story, full of great characters and plotting. Really enjoyable and would highly recommend to others.

Dead of Winter had a interesting plot, but it fell short for me. Having another plot within the book that didn't quite connect with the main plot with irritating.

Attorney Alexa Williams is unfortunately no stranger to finding corpses, but with her love interest Reese returned from a Big Cat conservation project in Africa, she just wants quality time with him and her new friend, social worker Tyrell. Testing out a new drone yields camera footage of what is unmistakably a deceased human. It's not long before suspicion and then panic create hysteria over potential Islamic terrorism. Alexa, of course, finds herself smack in the center of trouble.

A body is discovered in the woods. Looks like terrorist killing, but is it what it seems?
Thank you Netgalley for this nice thriller.

The book opens with attorney Alexa Williams and her friends flying a drone and they discover a corpse. This dead body opens up a can of political, religious and ethnic themes.

It was an interesting read but I should have paid closer attention to the synopsis as I do not like to read books regarding politics and ethnic prejudice.

It can be read as a stand-alone novel. Twists and turns abound with a surprise ending.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

The story opens with three friends Alexa, Reese, and Tyrell flying Tyrell’s new drone. They discover a red spot and decide to go and find it. They discover a dead body rifled with gunshot wounds and one eye was obliterated by a bullet. All the makings for the start of a great novel. Then our author introduces a side story of a slave who made it to Harper’s Ferry and freedom during the time that John Brown was making his stand. I usually love stories set in two time periods. This time it did not work for me, There were too many plots going on during this book. I think the author had a great idea with the main plot and should have stuck withi developing it. Thanks to NetGalley and Sunburry Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alexa Williams, an attorney, is spending the day with her two best friends. Reese is a former Park Ranger, recently returned from Africa on a conservation project and bu the way, an old boyfriend. Tyrell is a social worker, working mainly with immigrant families.

They are out in the boondocks playing with Tyrell's new toy ... a drone. They're all having a really good time when Alexa spots it. "It" turns out to be the body of a young man. One eye is missing and it's obvious he's been shot ... multiple times. Next to him is a sign ... with Allahu Akbar printed in large letters.

Shortly after, another man is found murdered, and then another.

The community is afraid ... is this the work of a terrorist group? Or something else altogether? Reese has become the prime subject ... but is he the one who is responsible?

There are many things going on in Alexa's life ... and when she starts connecting the dots, her own life is targeted by a militia group. She will have to risk her life and the lives of her loved ones in order to save maybe hundreds.

Highly suspenseful, this is a well-written thriller that come easily have come from today's headlines. The characters were credible and I enjoyed how the friends interacted with each other. It's action-packed and will keep the reader engaged and riveted to the pages.

Many thanks to the author / Sunbury Press, Inc. / Netgalley / TBC Reviewer Request Group (FB) for the advanced digital copy of this suspenseful thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Alexa Williams seems to have great capacity for falling headfirst into trouble. On this occasion she is out flying a drone with two friends and they spot a corpse in a field. Things rapidly go from bad to worse as law enforcement try to implicate her and her friends in the murder. With implied religious overtones at the heart of the death there is soon racial targeting against a Syrian refugee family who Alexa tries to help.

interwoven with the current day murder and violence is interspersed the tale of Elijah, an escaped 18th century slave, making his way North to freedom drawing on the links between John Brown and Harpers Ferry, where the modern day tale was set. This in itself was a really interesting and well written story but the link between the two tales was lost on me. I would love to read more about Elijah and his bid for freedom in a stand alone book, but interspersed in this thriller it didn't really add to the story for me.

The title is fitting, this story is mostly dead. Incredibly boring until the last part, with a lot of descriptions that has very little relevance to the mystery.

Oh, this was a rather interesting book! It turns out that there are other books which feature these characters, but this is the first one I have read and it reads well as a standalone. I hope there is another book after this one, I would like to read more!

Alexa and her friends, Tyrell and Reese are out and about with a drone and they discover a body. As you do. What has been done to the body is particularly gruesome and the trio are questioned at length by the FBI as there appears to be a terrorist aspect to the killing, with an Arabic sign left with the body. What makes this more complicated is that Tyrell has Muslim clients he is trying to keep safe, despite attacks against them from the community, and emotions are running high. Alexa and Reese have a history but they are still attracted to each other, who knows where this will lead?

In amongst all of this, Alexa tries to get on with her job as a lawyer, whilst keeping herself safe and fit, learning martial arts. The people she meets through it though, are an interesting lot, but do they have something to hide?

The only thing that confused me was the story of Elijah. I enjoyed reading the story, but I think it would have been lovely to have had some link to a current-day resident of Harpers Ferry, his story just kind of petered out.

All in all, an interesting, relevant story with enough to keep my interest throughout.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley, TBC and Sunbury Press.

Dead Of Winter by Sherry Knowlton is a murder mystery novel that follows Alexa Williams, a family law attorney with an unfortunate knack for discovering dead bodies. Alexa and her small group of friends are trying out a new drone that Alexa’s friend Tyrell has recently purchased. They are viewing the footage from the days initial test flight when Alexa spots an unusual looking anomaly in the footage. The footage seems to reveal a slumped figure in an open field behind a deserted house. The slumped figure is surrounded by a sea of what appears to be blood. Not wanting to alert the authorities to a possible false alarm, Alexa and her friends get back in the vehicle to visit the location where the drone caught the possible body on camera. When they find the location, their worst fears are confirmed when they discover the desecrated body of an individual who clearly met a violent end. The scene has aspects of religious overtones to it. Alexa and her friends soon become the focus of an FBI investigation only made worse by the fact the Alex’s friend Reese had already discovered a body with a similar signature. Few months earlier in the town of Harper’s Ferry.

While Alexa and her friends try and keep their distance from the investigation into the mystery body, circumstances draw them in as civil unrest peaks in a small town wary of the Syrian Refugees that have resettled into the area after fleeing violence and civil war in Syria. Alexa makes attempts to use her skills as a lawyer to assist a refugee family that Tyrell’s organization RESIST has helped relocate. When the family’s oldest son becomes a suspect in the murders, Alexa is hopelessly drawn into a complicated web of a vengeful murderer and a violent group of militant white supremasists. Will the murderer to be found before Alexa becomes a casualty?

I found the story to be very fitting to the current culture of this country. There was a storyline about a rescued slave boy named Elijah who escaped from slavery in the late 1800’s. The storyline did clarify some points in the current tale, but I did kinda miss the resolution to Elijah’s part of the story. I would have liked to know what happened to him in the long run. Overall, the story was engaging and fun to read.

Out test flying a drone, three friends discover a corpse. So behind a story that includes lots of action and suspense.

The book is well written, although slow at times. The ending is a surprise...worth waiting for.

Here we have a hippie writer, turning her gift toward how awful America is! She, as another liberal writer, hates America, wants to let in any Muslims, after all, they are of a peaceful religion; and Southern White RedNecks are so prevalent, our government has failed to taken them down. Poor downtrodden Muslims! I am a White Conservative Baptist, even worse, I am a Southern Baptist! According to this book, I would be considered the alt-right! Why? I am Christian, I believe on protecting all of Israel, I think people, of any color, religion, or political persuasion should have to go to jail if they commit a crime. This book has the hero as an Inman, American Soldiers as bloodthirsty savages, anyone who voted for Trump, an ignorant white redneck without a brain! My I.Q. is 157! I do n't hate anyone; I am fed up as being portrayed as an illiterate bigot!
No, I will not be giving this Author my money!
I do no recommend! Thank you NetGalley!
carolintallahassee.com

An effortless read that hooked me right away and I couldn't wait to finish it. There were plenty of twists and turns, including a former-now-current love interest, a relocated middle eastern family that naturally becomes implicated in the killings and Alex's adjustment to returning to Carlisle after a successful career in NYC. Plenty of opportunity for guessing and nice surprises at the end.

This book is part of a series about attorney Alexa Williams. Which I didn't know at first even though this was a good read I do want to go read and learn more about Alexa because I really like her character.

There were plenty of twists and turns that had you engage I like that there were numbers of suspects that had you guessing to the very end.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

Although I enjoyed this book, I was also a little confused.  The main story revolves around Alexa, her friends, family and some refugees from Syria who are having problems integrating into life in their new home. It isn't fast paced but plenty seems to happen and it is a very good read. Added to this however, are chapters set in the years before the American Civil War and apart from a quote originating in this time period being used in Alexa's story it didn't seem at all necessary.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this novel thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review and recommend it for anyone who has read and enjoyed the previous three books in this series.

#DeadOfWinter #NetGalley The story of Alexa, Reese and Tyrell was a good one with plenty of action , although a little slow to get going. I liked the character of Alexa and her relationship with Reese. Although this was not the first in the series it was perfectly able to be read as a standalone. There were plenty of twists and turns and although I guessed at numerous suspects along the way, the final reveal was not what I had expected! I would have given this book a much higher rating if it had not been for the additional story running alongside with the slave Elijah trying to gain his freedom. Whilst I understand the link between Harpers Ferry and John Brown, I did not see the need for this additional side story which, for me, detracted from the nitty gritty of the thriller. It also left me frustrated because the story of Elijah ended abruptly without knowing what happened to him. I think it would have been a much better thriller without this story but the current day story in itself was very good.

This book is part of a series about attorney Alexa Williams. This book starts out with her out with two friends out to test a drone when they happen upon a dead man with a note that suggests the killing is connected to a jihadist terrorist or terrorist cell. It's not the only one in this peaceful town of Carlisle, PA.

An easy read that hooked me right away and I couldn't wait to finish it. There were plenty of twists and turns, including a former-now-current love interest, a relocated middle eastern family that naturally becomes implicated in the killings and Alex's adjustment to returning to Carlisle after a successful career in NYC. Plenty of opportunity for guessing and nice surprises at the end.

What I couldn't understand was the interspersed story about John Brown. I kept wondering how the two stories were connected and I thought for the majority of the book that the John Brown story could have been left out. You have to read through to the Epilogue to really understand the connection and why the author wrote it into the book. I wonder if she did the same in the other books in the series.

I just don't give 5 stars on principle, but this was one of the two best books I've read this year. Very enjoyable if you like C/M/T and an author worth following..

Dead of winter by Sherry Knowlton.
Who would have thought that
Three friends Reese Michaels Alexa Williams and Tyrell Jenkins are out flying a drone for fun, would spot a corpse in a field?
This was a good read. I liked the story and some of the characters.
It was a little slow in places but I managed to read it. 4*.