OMG this was so freaking good! I read this in practically one sitting because I could not put it down. I’ve never been so terrified of snow in my life. It is everything creepy and eerie that you want in a horror. Warning… this story is not for the faint of heart (the body horror alone… don’t eat while reading this lol). It is brutal and gory. But holy shit was it thrilling! It has the stranded, locked-room element with a whodunnit mystery where everyone is a suspect. I loved every second of it. It is truly an edge of your seat read that will have you turning the pages. It will make you question everything. I was excited and terrified and I felt every tragic, gruesome moment of it.

The thing that spoiled it all for me into not being a five star was the end. I had the twist guessed really early on and then at the end it was like that comical infodump that all the villains do when they reveal their evil master plans and reasoning shortly before being thwarted. But I still highly recommend this to thriller and horror readers! I will definitely be watching for this author’s next release.

NetGalley supplied the book, I supply the review. I prefer reading mysteries over suspense but this book intrigued me. With a mystery I can continue reading but with a suspense when something scary happens I have to put the book down, that happened a lot with this book. Who would have thought so many of these winter vacationers would end up with their heads hanging from a tree when all they had planned on was a winter vacation at Blackstone Alpine Lodge. They realized early that one of them was guilty but they couldn’t understand why one of them would want them all dead. They had nothing in common…or did they. The author takes us through each gruesome beheading leading us to suspect one, then another, then another of the group. She does a good job in keeping us guessing and does a wonderful job at the end of explaining it all. You’ve got snow storms, great location, interesting individuals with a great and to me a surprising ending. Hats off to the author for coming up with so many ways to chop off a head.

Now THIS is a page-turner. I've been looking for something unsettling to read and have been disappointed with all of my choices. Until I found this book.

I was hooked from the start and could not put it down (don't start reading late on a Sunday night when you have to get up early for work the next day). I found myself saying, "Just one more chapter' because every single chapter ended with a cliffhanger. Good thing the chapters were short!

I thought I had the plot figured out many times during the read and as I neared the end, I wondered if it really was that simple - a let-down, really - but then the true identity is revealed and I was blown away.

Running now to see what else I can read by this author because this was done really well.

Towards the end, there were quite a few errors, words missing, etc., but I'm assuming this is because it's an ARC and these will be fixed before the final release.

I love reading anything by Darcy Coates, and Dead of Winter was no different!

The start of the story was kind of slow for me, but once Christa made it to the cabin, it took off. Every time I thought I figured out who the killer was, another curve ball was thrown (I should've stuck with my initial guess). I couldn't put this book down, it was such an amazing read.

Must read! So many twists and turns in this whodunit. Will definitely keep you up trying to figure out who the killer is. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Mystery/Thrillers.

This book kept me guessing! Intriguing, brilliant, terrifying and fascinating in equal parts. Love this author and can't wait til the next book!

4 STARS

Another one of my “group trapped in a remote location during a blizzard” reads! I do recommend this - I was surprised with the beginning of the book as it drops you right into a tense situation that I thought would have been the ending. But oh there is so much more!

As each character is brutally picked of by “the butcher” it becomes clear that no one can be trusted. I wasn’t shocked by the identity of the killer as there’s subtle clues throughout, but I was quite surprised by a couple of twists and turns! I have an issue where I usually figure out the end of the book too soon and the book becomes boring, but this kept me engaged with unexpected moments and second guessing myself!

This was such a good locked-room mystery! Gripping in the beginning and tense throughout. Coates’ descriptions made you feel like you’re in the story, freezing your tail off in a blizzard with a group of strangers. I loved that I guessed every single character and was completely wrong. Each chapter was short, suspenseful and left you on the edge of your seat. I couldn’t put a majority of it down. Toward the end, it felt repetitive and drawn out. I enjoyed learning about all the character connections in the end. I don’t think I’ve read anything like this before.

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

And then there was….yet another take on “And Then There Were None”.

The pros for me:
*Quick read.
*Well written.
*Does have suspenseful moments.

The cons for me:
*Too much lingering on EVERYTHING. Too long describing scenery, observations, and gore. It all felt longer than it needed to be.
*A very easy to guess antagonist.
*Ending is neither satisfying nor dissatisfying. Just is.

The problem with doing a new take on an old classic is that it’s been done A LOT. The formula has been set for so long that it’s going to be fairly easy to figure out who the bad guy is. Knowing that, you have to make the journey a whole experience assuming that your audience already guessed who done it. If the experience along the way is still suspenseful and enjoyable then hooray! Unfortunately for me, this ain’t it.

This is my first Darcy Coates book. I'd say there's enough in the writing that I would try other books, banking on the fact that they can't all be retellings of another story so I'd be willing to see if I like other books better than I did this one.

I read this straight through! The atmosphere, the pacing, so good! This book is perfect for suspense fans who don't mind a little macabre creepiness and want to feel like they are there watching the scenes unfold. I enjoyed the characters, the plot twists, the setting. The closer to the end you get, the more you feel like you're fighting along with the main character for survival.

I am a fan of Darcy Coates haunted house novels, so I was excited to try something different from her. I really enjoyed the book, but I was able to guess who the killer was from the very beginning. It was pretty obvious, but besides that the book was a good read. Not my favorite from her but good nevertheless.

This is a good mystery/thriller but not a horror book. The group of tourists starts getting picked off one by one and the reason at the end is pretty compelling. The person responsible is a complete psycho but the monologuing is captivating. It's hard to stop reading this. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

I love Darcy Coates's books! I have read all of them and they have been nail biters - Including this one! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time reading and when I wasn't able to read it, I couldn't wait to get back into it! There were so many twists and turns throughout the story and the ending was a complete surprise!

Thank you to NetGalley and the amazing publisher for the ARC of this title! I am so grateful to be auto-approved for this title!
I look forward to reading and reviewing. More to come!

I’m sure if you’re a long time lurker—first time caller—you may know that I absolutely LOVE survival thrillers. This was my first Darcy Coates book and it will not be my last. Her writing is fantastic. Granted, I had a feeling I knew exactly what was happening from the beginning, which was later confirmed for me, but she still kept me in suspense on a lot of the events. It also made me want to keep reading. It was a bloody, gory book, and I felt the tension to my marrow, which is exactly what I love about stories like this.

When Christa’s boyfriend finally convinces her to come on a trip with him into the mountains in winter, she is packed up—if not entirely ready--to go. Maybe this is exactly what she needed to shake the ghosts that have haunted her for the last few years. Plus, Kiernan grew up in the area and is the one person she feels she can trust, so coming out of her comfort zone in order to make him happy is important to her. However, when a sudden snowstorm blows in out of nowhere, separating Kiernan and Christa and stranding the tour group in a cabin in the woods, all bets are off. A member of their group is most likely dead and there’s no way to call for help.

They soon have a bigger problem on their hands as members of their group are brutally murdered one by one, their heads impaled on the tree outside of the cabin door and their beheaded bodies are found in shocking places. Suspicions turn inward. Someone in this cabin is picking them off one by one.

As tensions grow and supplies dwindle, the group needs to figure out who the killer is before they all starve to death or end up as gruesome ornaments hanging from the creepy pine outside.

The descriptions are absolutely horrific and the characters are so well thought out that they feel like real people. You also can’t help but root for Christa, who may have made some mistakes in her past, but is definitely a survivor. I highly recommend this story!

Thanks to Netgalley, Darcy Coates, and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced e-book in exchange for this fair and honest review! Posting on 6/21/23

A group of people get stuck in the snow on the way to a mountain resort and then they start disappearing one by one.

Overall, this was a fast thriller, but the gore factor was too high for me. In several parts I had to pause and/or skim over because the visceral descriptions of the mutilated bodies was just too much.

Darcy Coates is one of my favorite horror authors so I was thrilled to get an E-ARC of Dead of Winter. This was a FUN horror/thriller. I love me a good slasher read any day. I also love secluded cabin settings like this one so this was a win win for me.

If you're a fan of this author's work, or love the horror and thrillers genres...keep this on your radar. It comes out on July 11, 2023.

I sincerely appreciate the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I read this book within 2 days and that wasn't nearly fast enough. Be prepared to not want to put it down. There is no lull at all and it's hard to put it down once you start reading. I did figure out the killer earlier on thanks to a couple clues, but the storyline still had me 2nd guessing what I thought. Very fast paced and anxiety inducing. I would recommend it to anyone who loves thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Let me just say, WOW! Eight people go on a trip in the snowy mountains, but one by one someone is killing them off. Who is it? Why are they doing it? Every time I thought I had it figured out I was wrong, then that ending just came out of nowhere! Christa is a BA and I was rooting for her to make it out alive. This is my first book by this author, but probably won’t be my last!

Holy cow. I would give this book 10 stars if I could. Perfection. Absolute perfection. This now takes the place of all her other books for me - the new number one. How the heck did she do it?! The book starts off with a bang and when I say it doesn’t stop… it not only keeps going but ratchets up the suspense and horror until you almost can’t take it. You might think you know who the antagonist is. You don’t. I’m calling it - this is my top book of 2023. Hands down. I bow to the QUEEN.