"The trouble with sociopaths, really, is that you never know where they draw their boundaries."

Darcey Coates is obviously a talented and well known author. Having read "Craven Manor" previously I came away from that experience with high regard for Ms. Coates' detailed character studies and sublime plotting. Although I was captured by her reputation as an accomplished horror novelist I found her writing (and subject matter) interesting, smooth flowing and surprising. Interesting ending to say the least.

I then read her first novel in "The Gravekeeper Series" which is titled "The Whispering Dead". In that story a young female hides from pursuers in a cottage next to a cemetary. Since she has lost her memory she finds herself becoming comfortable in this isolated small village and makes several friends with the local residents. Unfortunately she also finds herself surrounded by ghosts living in the cemetary and becomes obsessed with a young woman who was murdered several decades ago. This story also built to a surprising and dramatic ending.

NetGalley offered me "Dead of Winter" by Ms. Coates and I was eager to get my hands on a copy, Luckily, even though I am relatively new to this forum, my request was granted and I set about reading her newest tale. A young female protagonist is also at the forefront of this story, a woman damaged by a past event that haunted her to this day, a result of being powerless to save someone's life. Her new boyfriend arranges an off-season trip to a lodge in the mountains with a small group of travelers who are also seeking a break from their normal lives. Little did they know what fate had in store for them.

I found this novel to be a weaker effort than the other two books I previously read from this author. Most of this
story takes place in a small isolated cabin and in effect it becomes more of a "who done it" than a horror story. Yes there are some horrific events that occur but these are repetitive and become anticipated by the reader. The shock value soon wears off and the subsequent action becomes somewhat tedious and boring. As I worked my way to the ending I found myself discarding several 'red herrings' as I waited for the truth to show itself. By then I was somewhat bored and the denouement left me still wanting. This is simply not one of the author's better efforts.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Christa and her boyfriend are headed into the mountains with a tour group made up of lots of different people from different walks of life. On their way into the mountains their bus gets stuck and Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan go off to explore. Of course they become lost in the snow and separated, Christa was lucky to find a cabin which also had the other passengers from the bus. After their first night together their tour guide is killed and his head placed on the tree outside the cabin. After that it’s a killing spree and I was just jaw dropped the whole time. I was really impressed by this book. I’ll admit I guessed the killer half way through but the motivation behind all the killing went so much farther back. Christa was such a resilient character and so pure of heart; even injured she refused to give up. What got me was how the bodies were all displayed in that tree, I couldn’t imagine seeing that especially as more are added and never knowing who would be next. My only complaint is that once all the action got going about halfway through I had trouble differentiating between the characters. Though that may have been my fault too as I was flying through eager to know the end. Amazing read though and one I will pick up again.

WOW!

This is the first time in a long time that a book truly scared me. This book also got me out of my book slump! Finally, a book that was truly worth the read.

What is scarier than being stuck in a secluded cabin in a winter storm with total strangers? Then, bodies start to drop. Who’s killing everyone? Who can you trust? As paranoia and tiredness sets in, it would leave anyone on the verge of losing it.

I definitely recommend this read to anyone! But be prepared to stay up all night with fear and the intense need to finish the book!

Christa and Kiernan join a tour group going into the Rocky Mountains. When a bitterly cold snowstorm passes through and they are forced to hold up in an abandoned hunting cabin. The quarters are claustrophobic and the temperature outside is rapidly dropping but Christa believes they will be safe as they wait out the storm. She could not be more wrong.

Deep in the night the tour guide goes missing. Only to be discovered the next morning, his head severed and impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified and completely isolated by the storm,Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of the kills for sport and they’re far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide whom she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her grave.

I love winter horror and this, did not disappoint. I could hear the wind whistling and feel the cold in my bones as I read. Full of twists and turns right up till the end. Darcey Coats does it again.

Thank you Ms. Coates, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advance copy in exchange for my unbiased opinion.
This should be released for purchase on July 11th, 2023

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates: A compelling tale that is a perfect combination of thriller/mystery/suspense/horror with many twists and turns will have you turning the pages as fast as you can. A small diverse group of people on a bus heading to a lodge in the Rocky Mountains find themselves stranded and forced to take refuge in small remote cabin during a snowstorm, where someone starts eliminating them one-by-one. The vivid descriptions of the cold, brutal weather, along with the one-by-one slaughtering of members of the group who seemingly have nothing in common, will keep you on the edge of your seat. A great read for fans of locked room mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and author Darcy Coates for the advance read copy of this terrific book.


Tag line: A compelling tale that is a perfect combination of thriller/mystery/suspense/horror with many twists and turns will have you turning the pages as fast as you can.

Oh my gosh... I cannot recommend this book enough. As a major fan of thriller & suspense novels, I was excited for this book from the beginning but I didn't know exactly what I was getting into. But this book absolutely shocked me in the best ways possible!!! Darcy Coates did an incredible job with the characters and plot of this novel. You were drawn in from the very beginning and hooked until the absolute last page.
It is set in a snowy landscape isolated from civilization with a cast of characters that are there for an idyllic mountain getaway. But on their way to the lodge, their bus getting stuck in a snowstorm and they have to find shelter in a nearby cabin who's occupants are gone. But one by one, the members of the group start dying mysteriously and the snowstorm isn't letting up. They have no way to contact the outside world and attempts to get to safety go awry. I continuously thought I knew who the killer was and who would be murdered next but I was so wrong and completely thrown with every body. The gruesome aspect of the story I found very entertaining, no extremely graphic but definitely more so than a traditional mystery novel. Throughout this book I would constantly get up and pace and scream and gasp, I was 1000% hooked!! It gave similar vibes to Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, both of which I loved as well. This is my favorite read of 2023 so far and I cannot sing Darcy Coates' praises enough, I will be reading more of her in the future! Overall, an incredible 5 star read that I will be recommending to every thriller lover I know! I am still thinking about it days later and will most definitely be purchasing a physical copy for my bookshelf on July 11th!

@netgalley and @darcycoates THANK you so much for this twisty turny page turner that I enjoyed tremendously! I have a few of the authors books on my shelves and started reading one of the books but wasn’t able to finish. Not because it wasn’t good but because I had a bunch of books come in that required feedback. I’m definitely going back and reading all their books!

I did find that the middle of the book dragged a bit and it could have been a bit shorter but overall, I loved this story, it was very original and kept me guessing right until the end!

Thank you again for the advanced copy and I definitely recommend this to any horror, thriller, mystery book lovers

Imagine if you will........ Agatha Christie if she added 80's slasher movie themes to And Then There Were None and you would have this book. I had a blast reading it. Horrific weather conditions, isolated cabin, strangers locked in said cabin, no one can trust anyone, severed heads in trees........ what's not to love, right? Christa and her boyfriend are on a tour bus, bus gets stranded, the group ends up in a remote cabin with no form of outside communication and people keep getting murdered. I had a pretty good idea who the killer was early on, but this was still a fun read. It was gorier than what I usually read but I understand that the author is primarily a horror writer, so I am not faulting her for that. Kudos for the atmosphere! I really felt the cold. I would read more from this author if she were to write another mystery.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Darcy Coates and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and various other retail and social media sites upon publication.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 out of 5 stars.

I love suspenseful horror: I cut my teeth on Dean Koontz and Phil Rickman before I hit middle school. But it's been a minute since I've assaulted my heart in this manner. I've been reading almost everything else: magical realism, fantasy, memoirs, poetry, thrillers, general fiction.

With a job, a weekly volunteer event, my children, my dogs, all my in-laws living around us, working outside because it's spring, working on a certification course quickly so I can go back to school and finish my BA this fall.... My reading time can sometimes be limited to an hour or so before I fall asleep.

Let me tell you. I forgot how books could my heart feel like it's going both forward and backward and up and down and going way too fast and my ears get all cottony because of the suspense.

Christa is heading to a mountain lodge in the Dead of Winter with her boyfriend (hopefully soon to be fiance) Kiernan. They are on a bus with Steve and Miri (an older couple), Blake (a severe woman), Alexis (a surprisingly quiet and withdrawn young woman), Hutch (a DJ), Denny and his son Grayson (very tall and intimidating father and his brooding, emo-ish son), and Simone (secretive woman who seems to like being in charge).

Their guide, Brian, stops on a mountain road on the way to the lodge because a tree has been felled, blocking their path. It should be a quick resolution if some of the passengers help him cut it up. While that is happening, Kiernan asks Christa to walk with him up to a ridge, and Christa is fairly certain that he is going to ask her to marry him.

But high up in these mountains, winter storms can roll in quicker than one can imagine unless they are used to the place, and they are devastating and severe. Suddenly lost and caught in freezing gale-force winds, Christa and Kiernan start trying to find their way back to the bus. Trying to take a shortcut across a ledge, Christa falls, Kiernan grabbing her glove and taking a scratch of her hand with it.

Christa comes to covered in snow, and after a terrifying moment of being uncertain which was was up, she is able to climb out. She is hurt - her hand bleeding and her hips sore, but she starts going in a direction she hopes is back toward the bus.

Meanwhile, Brian and the others have found shelter in a hunting cabin, and Brian has gone out to try to find Christa and Kiernan. Christa is found but she is in and out of consciousness. She awakens in the cabin, someone huddling over something by the fireplace, someone pointing at her hand and recommending it be amputated, the others talking about someone dying.

When Christa awakens clear enough to ask, she finds that everyone else believes Kiernan dead. The storm is too much for too long - no one can survive out there. Christa is certain that he could if anyone could.

Then the travelers start dying in very gruesome, very violent ways, and it is painfully clear that the killer Christa comes to call the butcher, is doing things in a way to create the most terror in the current survivors.

But is it one of them? Is it an outsider? One by one, I thought it could have been anyone, but as the bodies start piling up, the list of potential butchers becomes smaller and smaller.

A thrilling whodunit in a vicious winter storm in the mountains far away from any civilization, I could not put it down, even reading it in waiting rooms at doctor's appointments, on lunch, and during a family cookout.

This is my first Darcy Coates read, and I must say, I was impressed. I imagine I will be reading more of her in the future, but I will definitely have to space them out so I don't read myself into an actual heart attack.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates is a gripping thriller set in the snowy Rocky Mountains, where a tour group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin during a bitterly cold snowstorm. But when their tour guide goes missing, only to be found with his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin, it becomes clear that someone in the group is killing for sport.

The has well-paced plot and unexpected twists, which kept me on edge and guessing until the end. The character of Christa was particularly relatable and likable, and I found myself invested in her survival and the outcome of the story.

Overall, Dead of Winter is recommended for fans of psychological thrillers and murderous mystery. It is a well-written, chilling story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

I love locked door suspense mysteries! I liked how we’re in the first person perspective because we see everything through Christa’s eyes. We feel the same paranoia, suffering and heartache as Christa. The twists and turns this book put me through as a reader was fantastic. Never a dull moment. Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen and Darcy Coates!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book. This book was supposed to be a locked room mystery. This is sort of true. It is mostly a bloody, outdoor mystery. Chrissy, who is traumatized and we don’t know why at first, and her boyfriend Kiernan, go on a bus trip to a lodge out in the Rockies. They haven’t been dating long and this is a big step in their relationship. The trip is supposed to be a time for them to get to know each other better. The story starts out with Chrissy and Kiernan trying to get back to the bus in a blizzard. They get separated and Chrissy is found. The group manages to find shelter in an abandoned cabin, nothing like the fabulous lodge that is their destination, and then it starts to get crazy. People die one after another. This is not the locked room mystery that you are expecting. People start dying by having their heads cut off. UGH. There was a lot of gratuitous blood and gore. Not really my cup of tea but I am sure it could be a slasher movie. If you want that, read this. If you don’t, go to the original, And Then There Were None.

This is my first book from the author.

The setting was right (though something that has been used a lot of times before), the twists and turns kept coming (some predictable, some not) but overall the story dragged in places. A good pacing is key to a book like this and the author flags at times.

A good read overall though.

This is my second Darcy Coates read, and I have mixed feelings.

A group of strangers take a private tour bus to a remote lodge in the Rockies. After a bad storm, they find themselves stranded in a one room cabin off the beaten path. One by one they're viciously killed off and come to suspect the only option is that one of them must be the killer.

Pros:
- This stressed me out. As intended.
- I'm indecisive enough that I did not guess the killer correctly bc there was lots of doubt and red herrings thrown in.
- The setting is inherently scary. As said in the Hunger Games, "exposure can kill just as well as a knife" or something like that.

Unsure:
- Ick factor like 8/10. Very visceral.

Cons:
- Is this not And Then There Were None but like in a winter cabin? I guess it's different enough technically, but like, idk... it feels too similar.
- There's nothing graceful about trekking through feet of snow (or climbing trees...) in full winter gear, and I find it really hard to believe these murders would be executed and staged so cleanly. Not to mention, snow gear isn't made for running. There's so much running and not enough tripping and falling.

Over all I really enjoyed this book I could not guess the twist at the end. I gave it 3 stars because I thought the beginning was slow and with about 9 or so characters to remember it was a little different to follow at times. The description of the setting was scary beautiful because it was a place any reader could see themselves curled up by a fire with a good book yet it was the scene of a heinous crime. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates.
Dead of Winter follows Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan on what is supposed to be a romantic getaway in a remote cabin. However, it turns out to be anything but the trip that they envisioned. Stranded by a snowstorm on the way to their destination, the group is faced with an unseen threat that begins killing them off one by one.
This was my first time reading a book written by Darcy Coates, and I was hooked from page 1. The tension and suspense were well written and had me on the edge of my seat. The descriptions of the characters, surroundings, and the gore made it easy to visualize exactly what was happening. I was invested in the story from the first chapter and continued to guess who the killer was until the very end. I am rating this book 4 out of 5 stars, as I feel it ended abruptly without a complete wrap-up of some of the storylines.
Overall, I found this read extremely enjoyable and tense. Look for this book to be released on July 11th.

This is the first book I have read by this author. I will be reading everything she writes from now on. This book had so many twists and turns from the first page to the very end. I can not stand being cold or cold weather so I don’t know how they survived as long as they did. The way she wrote this book made me feel as if I was stuck freezing with them. I will definitely be telling everyone I know to read this book!

I’lol read anything by Darcy Coates, and Dead of Winter did not disappoint. I had a feeling I knew who the culprit was, and managed to ignore the red herrings throughout the book.
It was descriptive, the characters were well thought out, and I immediately clicked with Christa. I’m also a huge fan of locked room mysteries, and this one will be recommended to everyone.

It’s best to go into this book without knowing much. This review will be as general as possible about my overall thoughts.
I loved the atmosphere of the story, the author did a fantastic job building the sense of isolation. I felt on edge a lot of the time right along with the characters. The setting was the perfect backdrop.
The characters were fine. I didn’t find myself particularly attached to anyone. I find it difficult when books have a large cast of characters. I found I didn’t really care about any of the characters even as the story progressed because I just didn’t get to know any of them well enough before they started getting killed off.
The story did have several twists and turns that ended up surprising me. I found there were several instances that the story was really dragging. It took me almost 20 days to read this book when I typically finish a book of this size in 1-2 days. I just wasn’t enthralled and kept picking up other things instead.

This was a disappointing read for me. I had higher hopes. I was hoping to have fun. The description of the book definitely reeled me in but as soon as I read the first chapter I knew it wasn't going to be a five star read. Firstly, I felt that many parts were over written and did not flow. Too wordy and filled with unnecessary adjectives to try and dramatize the story as much as possible. It became annoying fast. Secondly, I was able to guess the mystery murderer almost immediately. The author tried to confuse us not once, not twice, but three times. I just felt it was overdone. It all felt very surface level.

Even though this wasn't the book for me I could see it satisfying others. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.