My first experience of this author, and it didn’t disappoint. A thoroughly gripping roller coaster ride of a thriller. Recommended.

Not my first by this author but my first non ghost story book. I really enjoyed this story and how it all played out. Will read more by this author in the future.

I found the story to be suspenseful and entertaining though a bit forgettable. The characters were interesting enough though I found the overall plot to be predictable.

Eleven strangers travel to a remote area to enjoy the wilderness. When a blizzard blows in, they get trapped in the cabin in the middle of nowhere. One by one, people go missing and are found murdered. Is there a serial killer preying on victims . . . or is there a killer in their midst? Is there an unknown connection between these strangers? They need to find answers before they all disappear.

The tension builds as the remaining travelers begin looking at each other in suspicion. No one is safe - so who can be trusted? Darcy Coates takes readers on a twisted, shocking ride in DEAD OF WINTER! The desolate, frigid landscape becomes a character in this book helping set a dire tone. I was kept guessing until near the end. More of a horror than thriller in my eyes!

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book!! I could not put it down and read it in one sitting. I loved all the characters and the story line. I thought the characters had great growth and was well written. I would definitely recommend this book.

I love me a who done it thriller! Super entertaining read! I don’t think I have ever had actual out loud WTF reaction to a plot twist before now!

This was a ton of fun! I don't read a lot of murder mysteries, but when I do, I like for them to be like this: lots of characters with odd little back stories, nobody worth trusting, and a trapped/stranded setting that nobody can leave. Darcy Coates pulled it off brilliantly and the tension was just right! I usually guess twists, but I honestly fell for a red herring and had no idea who the killer was until right before the reveal. I loved this!

This was my first Darcy Coates book and I LOVED it. I loved it so much that I immediately checked out every other book available at our library. Some I also loved, some I hated, and some were meh. Like with Ruth Ware's books, I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Coates' books. But, when she writes a five-star read, she really knocks it out of the park.

I went into this one with caution. Anything compared to And Then There Were None automatically gets a one-star deduction from me, because NOTHING can compare to one of the greatest mystery novels of all time. Fight me if you disagree.

And while Coates did earn that star back, please do not mistake that as me saying this is on par with None. It isn't. But it is an incredibly well-written, tense, horror-filled book that I enjoyed immensely. I figured out what was really going on after the main character, Christa, revealed the accident that changed her life, before the big reveal, but that did not change my enjoyment at all. Sometimes it's great to be right - when the book is good.

Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan join a small tour group comprised of individual travellers, a married couple, and father/son duo. Their tour guide, Brian, is leading the group but on the way to their destination, a massive snowstorm comes through, making the road impassable when a tree falls across the road. Knowing they can't stay on the bus and freeze, they seek shelter and find an abandoned hunting cabin to hole up in, hoping to wait out the storm. There are 11 to start with, and many will die.

As their first night in the cabin comes, Christa is injured and Kiernan has disappeared after he and Christa were having a look around, and the slope they were on gave way into nothing. By morning their tour guide is missing and at first the group wonders if he's tried to go for help. Within a short time the group discovers the truth when they find his severed head impaled on a tree not far from the cabin.

The tension is palpable upon the discovery as they realize one of them is a murderer. They're trapped on a mountain with no way to escape, the bus is useless, no cell phone reception, and very limited supplies. There's no way of knowing who to trust when it becomes clear that it must be one of them. They're terrified, exhausted, and hungry. Not exactly prime condition for thinking clearly - which none of them can do, except the killer, who has planned it all perfectly. They're constantly questioning each other, which leads to more anger and resentment. The stress of having to sit next to someone, in a freezing cabin with no food, who might be a murderer, was well-written and I could feel it myself as though I were there.

Despite being a large cast, I did not have trouble keeping them straight, something that's not always easy with a large number. They were each district enough that I wasn't constantly scrolling back to see which backstory went with which character. As they share information about themselves, their careers in particular, you can start cnnecting the dots to see WHY they are all on the mountain together, even if you don't yet know WHO had engineered it.

Given the violent and bloody ways that each was killed, I would definitely classify this as horror, with psychological/thriller elements present. Truly gruesome, especially the thing with the teeth, which I will leave you to discover for yourself.

Highly recommended.

I just finished 'Dead of Winter' by Darcy Coates, and wow. Just... wow. I'm sitting here, wishing I'd saved this book for a proper winter night. Imagine: snow piling up outside, a mug of hot chocolate in hand, and then diving into this icy nightmare. That's the vibe this book screams.
From the get-go, Coates just throws you into this isolated lodge, buried under a mountain of snow. You can practically feel the wind whipping around the corners and hear the floorboards creaking. And then, the 'something else' starts happening. Shivers. I was hooked.
Honestly, I was gripping my Kindle so tight, my knuckles were probably whiter than the snow in the book. It’s that kind of story! The way Coates builds the tension is just chef's kiss. You're constantly on edge, wondering what's lurking in the shadows. The characters aren't super deep, but they're real, you know? You feel their fear, and you're right there with them, trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
And let's talk about that ending. Seriously, my jaw was on the floor. I was convinced I had it all figured out, smugly thinking, 'Oh, I see where this is going.' Nope! Wrong! Coates just yanked the rug out from under me, and then proceeded to take me on a rollercoaster of twists and turns that didn't stop until the very last page. I was gasping, I was muttering, and I was riveted.
I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I finished, not because the ending was bad, but because I realized I didn't get the full, chilling experience of reading it in the winter. I'm already making plans to reread it when the first snow falls. It's just that perfect blend of creepy and atmospheric that you crave on a cold night.
Seriously, if you love a good scare and you're looking for something to make you want to huddle under a blanket, pick up 'Dead of Winter.' Just maybe wait until it's actually winter for the full effect! You won't regret it. It's a solid 4.5 stars from me, rounding up to 5, because honestly, it was just that good. And that ending? Chef's kiss again.

This was so good! It was very intense, especially the last few chapters. It was gruesome, but not too much that it was unreadable. I feel the characters could have been developed a little more, I didn't care a ton for the lead.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates is a read not to be missed. Tense, atmospheric and chilling. There is real terror in these pages.

Summary -

"...Did you find his body?' It's the worst question. The sort of thing that, in any other situation, I might have wrapped in softer, cushioning language.
There's no time for delicacy, though, I need an answer. I need it faster than anyone seems to want to give it to me.
Brian crouches. He braces his forearms on his knees. His lips work, slightly dry and tacky as he feels out his answer.
I repeat myself, louder and harsher, my voice cracking. 'Did you find his body?'
'No,' Brian finally says..."

Christa and Kiernan join a group heading into the Rocky Mountains to enjoy an extended stay in a secluded lodge. A time to get away from it all. But the trip is halted when they discover a tree blocking the road and Christa and Kiernan become separated from the group. As a snow storm hits the region the group takes refuge in an abandoned hunting cabin. Christa finds the group before she passes out. When she awakens she is told that Kiernan never made out of the storm. He is out there, somewhere, lost.

At first the group searches for Kiernan but soon they realize that there own situation is precarious as well. With little to no supplies they believe their best bet is to wait out the storm in the safety of the cabin. But they are wrong.

"...I drop the crimson-tinted ice and take a few steps back. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that it's here so close to the pine. I tilt my head up to search the branches directly above.
There's something there. A shape, roundish but irregular. A bird's nest? No. Large wasp nest? Unlikely in this region. Mistletoe or some other fungal or parasitic protrusion?
It's hard to see from my angle. The rising dawn acts as a backlight, silhouetting it. I shuffle around, trying to get a better angle. The sides are smooth, but the top is ragged, somehow, strands of something delicate fluttering in the wind like fine grass. It protrudes from the end of one of the dead branches.
I take another step and suddenly the image makes sense. My mouth turns dry.
Speared onto the end of the branch is something horrendously familiar.
Brians's head..."

Christa realizes that not only are they trapped in a storm with no communication. They are trapped with a killer. One by one, the group of eight strangers is being hunted and killed. The only answer is that one of them, is the killer.

Review -

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would at first. Yes it holds pretty much to the isolation horror story. A group of individuals with nothing in common are trapped in a location, with no escape and no communication with the outside. Among them is a killer. Pretty standard stuff ordinarily. But Coates takes this to another level.

Told through the single person narrative, the reader is thrust into the fear and uncertainty Christa is feeling. Her one person, the only one she knew and trusted, is wrenched away from her. Now she is stuck with strangers and any one of them could be the killer. Beyond that is the environment that at any time kill them all on its own.

Tense, atmospheric and with characters that breathe in these frosty pages. This is a novel you will not soon forget and more so, will be comparing others to.

A terrific read!

I really enjoyed this book. I love a good stranded thriller and this did not disappoint. Highly recommend! First by this author and will definitely not be my last.

Wow! This story is one I won’t be forgetting any time soon.

There is a lot going on in this story and you won’t want to
Put it down. It’s a story of “Who done it” and I promise you won’t figure it out.
There is a twist at the end you just don’t see coming.
Mysterious, graphic, and so much more.

This book was great! The setting, the characters, the suspense and the ever changing suspicion of who did it kept me hooked. I love all things Darcy and this was no exception.

This was a very entertaining book!

Christa and her boyfriend head off for a two week vacation in the Rocky Mountains, along with several others who have signed up for the tour. They all plan to relax and unwind in a lodge in the middle of nowhere. Christa is hoping that her boyfriend will propose. Instead, the trip goes horribly wrong when the tour bus can’t get to the lodge, and they are forced to hole up in an abandoned cabin nearby.

There are some fun twists in this book. However, if you read a lot of thrillers, you’ll figure out the big twist really early on.

Dead of Winter was so fun - I'm a big fan of locked room mysteries and this one didn't disappoint. Darcy Coates is terrifying and sucks you in to her claustrophobic settings. I find her characters a little stilted at times but that's pretty par for the course with horror.

I normally love everything Darcy writes but I felt like this was such a copy & paste of No Exit by Taylor Adams. & quite honestly-I didn’t care for that book either. I was so excited for this one & it just was such a disappointment for me. But I do love Darcy & I will still read her books.

This book had me stressed! Even though I saw the twist coming, there were plenty of events thrown in to have me second guessing my choice. I'm pretty sure I won't ever be staying in a remote cabin and this has me not wanting to trust anyone! Darcy Coates books usually start off slow for me, but they go from 0-80 so fast! I enjoyed this one and I've already recommended it to friends. Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Darcy Coates for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review! Go read this winter thriller. You won't regret it.

I must say this book wasn’t bad. I enjoyed how it was witted and it kept me engaged. I have this a 4 star rating.

A trapped snowy mystery?! Sign me up! I was looking forward to reading this novel about a tour group stranded in The Rockies. However, I was able to guess early on who the killer was, and I lost interest in reading more since I wasn't invested in any of the characters who were still alive.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for a free and unbiased review.