Very tense with lots of twists and turns. Main character, Christa, is strong, deductive and loyal. With death all around her she keeps her head while trying to help solve the killings of her companions. The snow and brutal cold is just one more enemy to survive.

I DNF'd this book at 30%. Both the main character and the plot were not vibrant enough to keep me entertained. I often found myself reaching for and finishing other books while this sat off to the side and waited. I'm sure there is an audience for this book, but unfortunately I am not one of them despite loving the horror and thriller genres.

There is nothing I love more than a book that makes me go WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If that is you, this is your book.

Meet Christa. She’s had a rough couple of years after being in a car crash where a young man went over the side and died. It was a tragic accident and multiple people stopped to help, but there was nothing they could do. It has stuck with Christa. She never leaves her house. She has huge guilt.

When she is invited to join a tour group headed to the Rocky Mountains and a lodge in the middle of nowhere with a lot of snow. Her boyfriend is going as well and she feels safe with him. She should not.

As they get closer to the lodge a storm has kicked up a lot of snow. With a downed tree on the road, they will have to find another way to the lodge.

Christa and the boyfriend set out on their own and that will be a mistake. Lost in a blinding storm, unfamiliar with the terrain, one false step could be their last.

When Christa returns to the group alone and in bad shape, the others have found a cabin to shelter in. With a storm raging outside, searching will have to wait. Things get real in the morning when they find their tour guide's head in a tree. Yes. Now Christa is trapped with a bunch of folks she does not know and fears one of them is a killer.

That’s all I’m sharing. This was a thrill ride all the way to the final page! And I read it twice. So many red herrings and sketchy characters. I loved every minute of it!

NetGalley/ Poisoned Pen Press July 11, 2023

Ehhh, this just wasn’t my thing.

I had thought this would be more horror/supernatural based, like the author’s other stories I’ve read.

This was a “whodunnit” survival thriller. The killer seemed kind of obvious to me despite the red herrings and misleading plot points. None of the characters really stood out to me. More information and description about the area would’ve benefited the book. It didn’t seem that much research had gone into the setting for the story.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for a copy.

Wow! That was a wild ride! For some reason, any thriller set in the snow always goes at the top of my Want to Read list and this one perfectly scratched that itch.

It was pretty darn gruesome so be prepared for that. But I really loved how the story unfolded. The ending took me by surprise and was more open ended than I typically prefer but, you know what, I think wasn’t that mad at it.

Seriously well done on this book, it finally took me out of a several book reading slump and is exactly what I needed!

Thank you to net galley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to get my hands on an ARC, this one was a thrill!

As a mystery I'd give this 3.5 stars; as a horror thriller, I'd give it 4 stars

This is a non-stop action fest of an isolated closed circle thriller that throws you right into the fire (or snow in this case). While I found the "whodunnit" immediately obvious, I think the tense vibes and effective setting made this a really entertaining read, and there was some body horror in here that I think made things even more intense. Recommended!

A fresh twist on the closed door mystery trope. I really enjoyed this one. It started immediately with action and there was hardly any slow moving parts at all. I did guess the 'who' early on, but was absolutely surprised on the 'why'.

Once I started reading this, it was hard to stop. The action starts right away and the story kept me intrigued throughout.

This is definitely different from the other Darcy Coates books I've read (mostly her haunting books). This was a relatively fast paced thriller with a side of gore and plenty of suspense. As always, Coates does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere that sucks you into the story.

I loved the reveals and the little hints left throughout for the readers to figure out who the killer is. It was fun to piece everything together. I found that my theory about the killer was correct but it didn't detract from my enjoyment at all.

I'd highly recommend this if: you enjoyed other books by Darcy Coates, enjoy books about survival, or loved thrillers like No Exit.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Darcy Coates for providing me with an ARC for review.

I only recently started to get into mystery books, but Darcy Coates is going to become an automatic purchase for me as I add her entire collection to my collection. This book kept me on my toes, holding my breath as I turned the page quickly to find out what happened. This book is going to be released on my birthday and I can't wait to buy it for myself to celebrate.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

Publish date: July 11, 2023
Publisher: Poised Pen Press
Page count: 384

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A big thank you to @netgalley for providing me a E-ARC copy of this book!

Short summary: A group of strangers are on their way to a winter retreat when they get stranded in a snow storm in the middle of the mountains. One by one they are killed off by a mystery murderer until only one is left.

Very much a locked room horror if I ever read one. If you liked Shiver by Allie Reynolds’s or The Sanitorium by Sarah Pierce you will like this one. What makes this one different from others is Darcy’s ability to draw you in with the unknown. I’d say she is a very talented Horror writer and the twist in this book was on point!

Trigger Warning: Graphic/gory descriptions

I liked the setting, and there were a few unexpected, but in general, the book missed the mark for me. The characters were underdeveloped, and the story dragged in many parts, which pulled me out of the story. A tighter edit could have helped. The plot was far gorier than expected. That may appeal to some, however.

This one kept me on my toes guessing who the killer was until the very end. This is the second book I have read from Darcy and by far this one is the best.

The setting in the remote wilderness, surrounded by snow a bus load of tourists on their way to a retreat in the mountains. The bus breaks down and they are stranded, no cell signal and then one by one they are killed in gruesome detail (I loved it) you feel for the main character and try to work out with her who is picking them off one by one.

Its a good, between the eerie atmosphere, the cat n mouse games and gruesome kills I was sold. It's a solid 4 stars from me. Thats to netgalley for my copy of this book.

Dead of Winter is a suspenseful, chilling, fast paced read packed with so many twists and so much tension.

Christa and Kiernan are going on an off the grid trip to a lodge in the Rocky Mountains with a group of 8 other strangers. The trip goes south early on when their bus gets snowed in by a monumental snow storm forcing them to find shelter in a cabin that was left empty for the winter, or so they thought. One by one the members of the group begin turning up gruesomely murdered, leaving the living members uneasy and trusting nobody but themselves. Heads are rolling, literally.

The amount of times I thought “I know who the killer is!” just to find out that I was very, very wrong is actually kind of comical. I definitely recommend this novel for anyone who is a fan of horror/thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced readers copy!

Thanks so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC copy of this book!

I have scheduled promotional posts around release day for this book and I will provide a full review on my Instagram once I am able to get to this read.

Rating 5 stars on Netgalley as a placeholder for me to update later once the review is complete.

Will also complete a review on Goodreads once read.

Thanks again!

Christa's boyfriend Kiernan invites her to go on a trip to an exclusive lodge high in the Rocky Mountains. The tour company suggests that everyone leave their electronics at home so they can enjoy getting away from it all. A downed tree on the road means it needs to be moved. While the other men in the tour group work on getting rid of it, Kiernan takes Christa on a walk. She loses him in the snow and stumbles upon an abandoned hunting cabin. By the time she arrives, the other members of the tour group are there, as well. Christa has some bad frostbite and she hears someone else in the group say they might have to cut off her arm. Kiernan is not there. Christa wants to go out looking for him (and does a few times), but does not find him at first. Then during the night, the tour guide disappears and other tour members soon follow.

"The Dead of Winter" by Darcy Coates was described as similar to "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. This is true in that all the people on this trip to a remote lodge have secrets and the characters die one by one. This story, however, is far more graphic in its violence. The story was gripping and fast-paced. I figured out who the bad guy was before the end, however.

I got this thriller as an ARC (thank you @netgalley ) and i enjoyed that one so much! ❤ Its a kind of locked-room, wintery, murder mystery type thriller that has strong "and then there were none" vibes. We follow this group of people on their way to a lonesome retreat way off of civilization, when suddenly they can't move forward anymore due to a blocked street. They decide to stay in a nearby cabin due to certain reasons, when soon one person after the other gets murdered. But who is the murderer? Suspicions arise and yet you can never be sure... but they run out of time as their numbers dwindle more and more...

This was a pure pageturner and i practically flew through that book. It had all i want in a thriller: convincing characters, a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat and interesting twists. I had a thousand theories (and yes, one of them was true), but i was never sure of them until the very end (exactly what i want). The setting was so atmospheric and i loved snuggling up in my blanket while reading about that icy landscape.

I highly recommend this one to all thriller fans 🤗

the ANXIETY this book gave me was ✨ unmatched ✨
a suspense book and suspenseful it was. I was trying to problem solve the entire time I was reading and it felt like I had all the puzzle pieces but I could NOT put the puzzle together. Everyone was a suspect and my mind was constantly working to exclude people from my suspect list. Just when I confidently removed someone, they did something to make me throw them back on. They were all incredibly sketchy in their own ways which made it challenging to figure out who it was. But when you find out who it is? It’s one of those moments where you’re like yeaaaah that was right in front of me the entire time 🙃

The ending felt a little rushed in my opinion and also the last page left me enraged because your girl needs CLOSURE. I loved this book for keeping me on my toes. I struggled a bit to get into it but I think that’s mainly because this isn’t my typical go-to genre of books. So if you love a suspense, I would recommend!

Release Date: July 11, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Darcy Coates's books and this one is no different. It started from a high point and not once did it let up. I was hooked right from the start.
However, I did not care about the characters to be honest. I was engaged as I would in any other thriller, but because the characters were a little bland, this book seemed a little forgettable to me

I loved this creepy dead of winter thriller. You can tell the author writes a lot of horror but this book is so good . It’s one that you compulsively have to read
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Dead of winter starts off intense from the very first page and it sucked me in immediately. Had I not had to work, I would’ve finished it all in one sitting. I thought the characters were developed and well-written. Along with Christa, I genuinely suspected every character at some point of being the butcher. I thought the big reveal was really well put together and enjoyed the big plot twists. The only thing I wished for was an epilogue, even just a very small one. The end felt a little bit like a cliffhanger even if all the major questions were answered. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and now have a deeper fear of snow.