Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this great novel in return for my honest review.

This is my first book by this author but is definitely not my last! What a ride you take while reading this book. I found myself forgetting about the clothes in the washer and dryer, dinner??? Only if I can read while it cooks. This was a non stop thrill ride and I just wanted one more chapter before bed and then I was up all night!

Compulsive and gripping! Suspenseful, addictive and complex! A very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters. The suspense builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds. Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. Worthy of your TBR list.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

This was a fantastic book. The main character was such a fighter and kept going no matter what. Dead of Winter was a fun and thrilling read for me. I haven't read one book that Darcy hasn't kept me wanting to keep reading. Christa was such a character that you wouldn't think would be a fighter considering she wasn't completely prepared for the winter, however with what she went through, she deserved the win. The twist of the real killer, in the end, surprised me. The person I thought was the killer was killed. This book had me wanting to read more. Fantastic read and a nail-biting thriller that's for sure.

Rating: 3.97 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3.5/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 3.5/5
-Writing: 4.75/5
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
-Horror: 2/5
-Mystery: 4.75/5
-Thriller: 4.5/5
-Suspense: 3.75/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Yeah

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Even though I have another one of Darcy's books on my TBR cart in my room this one was actually my first. It wasn't a bad read, actually a pretty quick one for me. It was a good basic murder/mystery though for the horror aspect... eh? It is also your basic horror that comes with a book like this.

The plot itself is good, I did like the whole reason behind all of this but I did find some things kind of... odd? Dev didn't really belong or, well, it wasn't done well. Like, I got what Darcy wanted to do with it and it was a pretty darn good idea but having the MC find something and figure it out so quickly really threw me out of being in the zone on this book.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

Thank you to @netgalley, @poisonedpenpress, and the brilliant author, @darcybooks for the opportunity to read this #advancedreadercopy in exchange for my #honestreview!

Two years removed from an incredibly traumatic car accident, Christa accompanies her boyfriend Kiernan on a trip into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. The trip is billed as a romantic and secluded getaway from the day to day hustle and bustle of life and Christa is determined to make the best of it. But things take a turn for the unexpected when the harsh blistering weather forces the group to abandon their bus and seek shelter in a nearby seemingly abandoned cabin. When the group members start getting picked off one by one it becomes survival of the fittest and the cleverest.

Holy. Freaking. Crap. This had me legit on the edge of my seat! I knew I had to finish this before the end of the night or I wouldn’t be able to sleep. It’s horror, it’s suspense, it’s twisty, it’s murder podcast and amateur sleuthing, it’s traumatic backstories, and a dash of romance. The payoff when my “what if?!” that was nagging in the back of my head was right - chefs kiss (we learned not to trust unless you see a body in PLL, IYKYK!)! It’s just so damn good and you definitely need to read it!

TWs: manipulation, stalking, suic-de, framing, violence, gore, gaslighting

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5

Winter in July?
I live in Texas. It's like 103 degrees outside, but this book still chilled me to the bone.

Imagine trying to get away from stress and walking it to a game of cat and mouse, and you sadly are the mouse. That's what happens to Christa. That poor, poor girl.

Darcy is an amazing author!! I say she is one of my comfort authors because her books always just bring me a sense of joy. This book was no exception.

The characters were great. Sometimes, I was hiding behind the pages of the book, hoping they would be safe, and others I secretly hoped they had died. The book was action-packed and didn't let up. I read it in a day because I NEEDED to know the answer. It's definitely worth checking out!

Please stay calm, though. I would hate for you to lose your head

This is the perfect cozy winter thriller! I’m such a mood and seasonal reader and I’m
mad I read this in July! Will be recommending once it’s cold for sure!

I am very grateful for the opportunity to read Darcy Coates new novel (I love her work).
I thought this was fast paced, and I truly only had an inkling of who might be committing the murders-as well as I enjoyed figuring out how everyone was connected.
But I skimmed large portions of this to get to the end. Something kept me from being hooked, and I think it’s largely that the characters just didn’t feel fleshed out enough for me to care about them. They felt a tad too one dimensional.
I know this book will find its right audience and I will continue to reach for the author’s future novels. This one was “just ok”

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
A winter getaway turns into a frosty nightmare for Christa and the eight others on the tour. As part of a tour group going into the Rocky Mountains, a sudden winter storm turns the happy getaway into a fight for their lives. The group takes shelter in a small, sparse hunting cabin to wait out the storm. However, one of the group is killing off the others one by one. Who can be trusted?
This story grips you right from the beginning. There are lots of twists and turns. I did not see the ending coming. Well written, great character developments and just enough suspense to keep you up way past your bed time. Enjoy!!!

I received a gifted eARC for DEAD OF WINTER By Darcy Coates – thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley!

DEAD OF WINTER follows Christa as she sets out on a group tour to a remote lodge in the Rocky Mountains. She is looking forward to spending the time with her boyfriend, but things quickly go awry and take a deadly turn. A tree down on the road and an unexpected snow storm cut the traveling group off from the world short of reaching their destination.

Christa winds up trapped in a small one room cabin with a group of strangers, injured and without the ability to call out for help. Worse yet, people begin to die and no one can be trusted.

I have really loved many of Darcy Coates’ books so I was thrilled to hear she had a new book coming out. The timing of this one was great as I was really in a thriller/horror mood. This book I think straddles the line between thriller and horror. There is definitely some gruesome body horror combined with mystery as we follow in Christa’s head trying to figure out who could possibly be to blame. The atmosphere is really well done which is no surprise for this author.

While I think a lot of the answers in this one were pretty easy to guess at, there were a few surprises along the way. Even knowing the ultimate bad guy pretty early on, I did really appreciate what the author did to try to throw the reader and the characters off the scent.

I think if you enjoy Darcy Coates’ writing or are looking for a fun wintery summer slasher/thriller, this is one to definitely pick up!

First a big thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving a copy to review.

This was a very well done thriller mystery, I had so many constant and changing theories about what might be happening, some twists were less surprising than others but it kept me on my toes the whole time.

The main character had very enjoyable POV to read, and the rest of the characters all had just enough flaws to make them seem guilty while also having enough reason to see them as innocent.

That’s really all I can say as I don’t want to spoil any of it, highly suggest this book for those who love a good thriller mystery.

If you like “And Then There Were None”, then this book is for you! “Dead of Winter” by Darcy Coates is a brilliant closed room thriller. Christa goes on a trip with her boyfriend to a mountain cabin. They get separated in the woods Christa is forced to share a cabin with ten other travelers. One by one, they are brutally murdered. This book had me turning the pages so fast to see what would happen!!!
I don’t want to give away too much, but this was a really great read! It had me guessing until the end. Many thanks to the author, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

dead of winter definitely reads as a classic darcy coates story — full of suspense and keeps you at the edge of the seat while you’re unable to put the book down!

the plot is pretty straight forward: a group of people who don’t know each other are going to a cosy lodge in the middle of nowhere until their bus gets stranded during a snowstorm. with nowhere to go they’re forced to hide out in an abandoned cabin until the storm is over… but one by one they’re killed off and it can only be one of the people in the cabin, so who can they trust?

it’s a pretty classic plot and it’s got all the fun little tropes, which also means that it’s pretty easy guessing who the killer is from the beginning with the motive becoming clear about halfway through. it’s one of the main criticisms i’ve seen from other reviews, but i genuinely think it doesn’t take away from the book since coates manages to keep you intrigued all the way through. she’s an excellent writer and it shows.

not to mention, the revelation of the killer and their motive really just felt like a win to me since i was trying to pick up clues along the way and being proven right is always a neat feeling.

i’ve still got a ton of other darcy coates books i need to read but so far she’s not disappointed me!

// arc courtesy of the publisher, poisoned pen press, and netgalley.

When Christa and her boyfriend, Kiernan, take a bus trip to a remote lodge in the mountains with a group of strangers, everything goes terribly wrong.
They find themselves stuck in the middle of a snowstorm and everyone on the bus takes shelter in a nearby cabin. One by one, people start dying and everyone questions whether someone in the group is the killer or is someone from the outside watching them...and where are the I owners of the cabin? Christa desperately tries to figure all of this out in a race to save her life and the lives of the others on the bus tour before they all become victims.

This was my first read by this author and I really enjoyed it! It has everything I look for in a good thriller... mystery, suspense, twists, shock value and horror! I definitely look forward to reading more I Darcy Coates' books in the future!

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

Thank you to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for this ARC copy

The writing of this one is descriptive and honestly gave me chills, which I was definitely appreciative of, since summer temps are here to stay!! 🥵 The story follows multiple unreliable characters and just when I had a feeling I knew who did it, I was quickly proven wrong multiple times before the big reveal 😅. The final reveal was definitely a jaw dropping moment for me!

Once I got past the half way point, I caught myself saying, "okay I'll just read one more chapter", only to then end up binge reading the second half of the book. I have no regrets for the hours of sleep lost! Although, the elements of horror in this one might just cause me to lose sleep for days after finishing this one.

The chapters are short and are written with cliff hangers at the end of them that push you to keep reading until everything is wrapped up and revealed!

If you're looking for a page turner thriller/horror read definitely give this one a try!! I will warn you, the descriptions do get gory though! 😵

Things I loved about this one:
❄️ Mysterious pasts
❄️ Snowy locked in trope
❄️ Page turning twists
❄️ Multiple unreliable characters

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love a good locked room mystery, and Darcey Coates explores this trope brilliantly in Dead of Winter, her ice-cold homage to And Then There Were None. Eight people are stranded in the Rocky Mountains, trapped in an isolated cabin, and are being picked off one by one in grisly, gruesome ways. We get the story from the first-person point of view of Christa, one of the eight, as she desperately tries to figure out who is doing the killing before she herself becomes a victim.

Dead of Winter will transport you from the sunny skies and balmy temperatures of summer right into a frigid, menacing, bitterly cold winter landscape. Coates uses the setting itself as another character, an antagonist that prevents the characters from rescue and threatens them with its unrelenting desolation and chill. The plot proceeds at a lightning-fast pace, with cinematic writing and short chapters that make it impossible to stop reading, and the narrative is laced with tension, terror, and dread. There are plenty of horror elements here (specifically graphic violence), but Coates proves with this novel that she can write a good murder mystery, too.

I sometimes have issues with large ensemble casts; keeping all the characters straight can be challenging if there isn’t enough detail to differentiate them. But each of the characters in Dead of Winter is multi-faceted and memorable and has an integral part to play in the plot. The way Coates weaves everything together is dark and devious and quite brilliant, actually. I will say that I did guess the ending, but that didn't do anything to deter my enjoyment of Dead of Winter; Coates kept my eyes glued to the page as everything unfolded.

This is only the second book I’ve read by Darcey Coates, and I’m absolutely thrilled I still have so much of her backlist to explore. Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.

I love a mysterious thriller. This book is just that. If you're looking for a book to escape and a mindless read then this one is for you. Darcy Coates and Dead of Winter will have you guessing throughout this book as Christa, and her boyfriend Kieran, set out for a trip that quickly goes wrong. Kieran disappears when they get separated while outside when their bus is stranded in a snow storm. Kieran is missing and the others on the trip start getting murdered. This is a classic who done in. It was a fun read with shorter chapters. There are many characters that can be a bit to keep up with.

This was a really fast paced thriller that has you suspicious of everyone in the story. A group of people are taking a quiet trip to a remote lodge in the middle of nowhere. But when their bus is detoured by a felled tree and they have to hike to an abandoned cabin - the bodies start piling up!

I loved how creepy the story was and how it kept me guessing who was behind all of it. But the story is completely from one character's perspective and she left me wanting a little. She tended to see the potential good in everyone, which is honestly nice to read from that perspective, but it clouds your judgement a lot when reading the story.

Overall a wonderful read though and I'd recommend it to any lover of #thrillerbooks!

Fantastically creepy and keeps you guessing right up to the bloody end! Stranded in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers you can't trust. People keep dying one by one. It's a horror plot we have heard before, but as always, Darcy Coates keeps it fresh and tense. I definitely will recommend to any horror book lovers!

Thank you Netgalley for my copy of this book. My review is unbiased and my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this amazing ARC!

Easily my favorite book of the year! what an amazing heart-pounding thrill ride this was. Mrs Coates has a way of writing that makes you feel every emotion like you were there.
From the characters, to the setting to the twists this is a must read book that is impossible to put down.

5/5.