Why is it that winter makes the best setting for horror novels? Better even than Halloween. Maybe it's the bleak hopelessness of being trapped by mountains of snow and ice, the roads impassable and the slightest glitch in the power supply threatening the most extreme conditions. I don't know. But horror stories in winter are the things that spook me the most.

And Darcy Coates' Dead of Winter did not disappoint when it came to sending chills up my spine as the nine total strangers are picked off one by one while trapped alone on a snowbound mountain, with no suspects other than the people they can see every minute that passes.

Dead of Winter focuses on Christa, an introverted young woman with a murky personal history who is traveling with her boyfriend and a tour group of strangers into the Rocky Mountains in, obviously, the dead of winter. Christa is underappreciated and underestimated by the group, even by her boyfriend and especially by the group after her boyfriend disappears and is presumed dead in the blizzard conditions. Taking that indifference that borders on animosity, Christa sets out to be a part of the group because it will help her survive longer but also to look out for herself above all else, because that will help her survive. Period.

The others in the group are a diverse, falliable cast of characters, all with a small, random thing in common that they eventually find out has drawn them together on the tour bus. And the common thing is never spoiled, hardly hinted out, and almost impossible to guess until the big reveal.

And even after it's revealed, the story continues on for at a breathtaking, but fascinating pace until the last sentence.

If horror novels, murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and snow-based stories are something you like, give this book a try.

Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the chance to read this novel in exchange for a review. All thoughts are my own and no compensation was

This book was such a fun thriller and I really enjoyed it. Such a fast paced read that gripped my attention throughout. Highly recommend.

The writing was amazing. I was drawn in immediately. But I did have to DNF at about 20%. It was just so uncomfortable reading about the severed head in detail like that and then the dispatcher with her horror stories and I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle much more. But I did enjoy the writing style. I was into the story. And I skipped to the end to see what happened because I had to know! So I would give this author a try again if it were more thriller and less horror maybe.

It is slow, it is many layered and you will have suspected everyone at the end. The Rockies during a snowstorm is the perfect setting for a closed room horror thriller. How everything was tied together was excellent and very cleverly done.

I found this book to be good, my only issue was the last part of the story dragged for me. Christa and her boyfriend are on their way to Blackstone Lodge in the Rocky Mountains for a vacation, her boyfriend, Kiernan, is from the area and anxious to share it with Christa. The trip is part of a tour with a group of people on a tour bus to the lodge. On the way the bus is forced to stop due to a tree that had fallen across the road, the driver of the bus (also the tour manager) thinks they can remove the tree to continue on their way, while this is going on, Christa and her boyfriend decide to take a walk hoping to get a better view of the mountains, while on the way, Christa falls from a ledge and miraculously survives the fall uninjured. She then walks randomly to find a cabin where the rest of the tour bus group is, they left the bus after a blizzard started and they too walked to find the same cabin as Christa. Things start to go a little crazy after that, one by one the members of the group start to disappear, and when found they are dead, minus their head which is stuck on a tree. There is some backstory on Christa, an incident in her past that has a bearing on the events that happen. I did enjoy this, I just wish the ending hadn't dragged on for as long as it did. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The plot was actually really good with some pretty interesting twists and intersecting story lines. My problem came towards the end of the book. While we’re supposed to be at the height of the suspense and the action, I felt like everything started to drag on. As stated before, the story line was great but I could do without detailing every single step, action, and thought.

I will say that when I was reading this book I could feel the hairs in my arm standing, I was at the edge. Being in a cabin and bad weather outside and not knowing who will get hurt is scary for me. It was a good story that I enjoy reading.

The atmosphere created for the events in the story is fabulous.
Even reading in the summertime you get chills.
A group of tourists has to seek a refuge from an unexpected blizzard.

I really couldn't get into this one. I found the writing to be formulaic and the dialogue to be juvenile and melodramatic.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the Arc!

Wow! That's all I can say. I was terrified the whole time I was reading this, but I just couldn't stop. A blizzard, a locked cabin, a hot mess of characters? That's the recipe of success in my eyes. While I was right about my suspicions from the beginning (Thanks Dame Agatha Christie!), I was not prepared for everything that happened!
This is a solid 4.5 star book in my eyes, so I'm going to round up because it was really well written. I'm not sure if I would classify this as a thriller, as it was scary as all heck to me, but as a locked room horror. 😁

Eight people heading to a remote cabin in the winter.. Christa and her boyfriend, Kienan are two of the passengers on the bus, Driving thru the storm Has made travel difficult. . Bad weather and a fallen tree delay their arrival and the group becomes separated. The bus driver is found beheaded and the terror begins. Someone either within the group or an outsider is killing them one by one. Follow Christa as she struggles to survive and identify the killer.. Or is her death next?

As a tour group gets stranded in an abandoned cabin in the Rocky Mountains. The group is forced to make room for everyone in the small space to wait out the storm in order to get help. One by one the group is slowing being killed off. Can they figure out who the killer is or get help before they are all gone?

A great thriller that keeps you guessing on the outcome.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

A travel gone wrong. What was expected to have a holiday in a cabin turn out to be a series of killings where there was no escape, or almost.

Dead of the winter is a murder mystery that had a very gory discription! At times I had to skip over that part. Although it didn't stop me from finishing the book because it kept drawing me back in with a story line that kept me guessing. A group of 11 people took a bus trip to the Rocky Mountains in the dead of winter. There was a murderer amongst them who was a vicious animalistic killer! Keep reading it all comes out eventually so keep reading! Good job, Darcy Coates!

Pretty disappointed with this one. A retelling of Agatha Christie but this one to me felt like it would just never end. It was so repetitive and the characters made the dumbest decisions. Mostly I just felt bored.

It is just me or this really was and then there were none!

And then there were none had heads, there was an axe, snow, cold, chilling, freezing, and blood...

I have a theory, actually a few theories, first don't travel/vacation in the middle of the winter, never ends well, there are many good sunny environments. Second, if you stuck with a bunch of strangers... RUN, run fast as you can because there is a small chance of surviving in freezing cold weather but no chance with the wrong people.

I really should stop giving theory, and the story sounds familiar in many ways, good ways, a tour group heading to the Rocky Mountains, but having to take shelter in an abandoned cabin and people turn headless.

Darcy Coates always has a great shivering way of descriptions that I enjoy, most of the story was so fast (the ending was so slow) that I couldn't reach each character, but the detail of the main one, Christa who was on this trip with his boyfriend was good enough.

Easy read with short chapters and I definitely recommended to suspense readers.

My huge thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for ARC via NetGalley, I have given my honest review.

In a heart-stopping thriller that plunges readers into the unforgiving embrace of winter's cold grip, Darcy Coates delivers a gripping narrative in "Dead of Winter." Set against the backdrop of a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains, this chilling tale unfolds as a group of strangers find themselves in a deadly struggle for survival, where trust is scarce and danger lurks at every turn.

Christa, haunted by her past, seeks solace in a tour group journeying into the wintry wilderness. Hoping for closure and a chance to leave her ghosts behind, she joins a small party deep within the snowy expanse. As a sudden and merciless snowstorm engulfs the region, the group seeks refuge in an abandoned hunting cabin. What begins as an attempt to wait out the storm swiftly descends into a nightmare of chilling proportions.

Coates masterfully builds an atmosphere of claustrophobia and suspense, capturing the frigid isolation and mounting tension within the cabin's confines. As the survivors grapple with their fears and uncertainties, the realization dawns that their shelter is no sanctuary at all. With a tour guide's gruesome fate setting the stage, the group is plunged into a harrowing game of survival where the line between trust and treachery is blurred.

The author's skillful pacing propels the narrative forward, heightening the sense of urgency and impending danger. The storm outside mirrors the storm within, as suspicions and paranoia grow amidst the dwindling number of survivors. Christa's struggle to identify friend from foe is both relatable and heart-wrenching, immersing readers in her desperate quest to uncover the killer among them.

Coates's vivid descriptions of the treacherous environment amplify the visceral impact of the narrative. The unforgiving snow-covered landscape becomes a character in itself, a harsh adversary that mirrors the relentless pursuit of the enigmatic killer. The tension is palpable as Christa races against time and nature, driven by the chilling realization that the cabin could become her final resting place.

"Dead of Winter" is a masterclass in psychological suspense, expertly delving into the depths of human nature under duress. The characters' vulnerabilities and hidden agendas, combined with the omnipresent threat of the unknown assailant, create a web of intrigue that captivates from the first page to the last. As the narrative hurtles toward its shocking conclusion, readers will find themselves ensnared in a web of mystery and peril, where survival hinges on a chilling battle of wits and nerve.

In my opinion this is one of the creepiest books I’ve read so far by this author. Set in the mountains during a brutal snow storm, a group becomes stuck and finds solace in a cabin. But one by one bodies start showing up headless. Is it someone in their group or an outsider?

Dead of winter was an intense thriller. A slasher sorta like Friday the 13th. The story takes place in an abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere and a killer on the loose and every is a suspect. All the chills of a horror moved in a book!

I had a hard time getting into this one. I wasn’t a big fan of the characters either. It was well written but not for me.