★★★★☆ Review!
DEAD OF WINTER ❄️
Pub date July 11, 2023
A chillingly perfect intro to horror.

TLDR: The grip that this book had on me! It perfectly blended the classic thriller whodunnit beats with horror-level scares. This book made me gasp aloud and even cry in public. This is a perfect read for someone who is curious about horror but doesn't know what to pick up first.

The pacing of this book is a masterclass. Each chapter is short and ends with a cliffhanger, so you can feel those pages TURN as you keep going. This book was so hard to put down simply because each time I'd think I hit a stopping point, I had to see what happened next. Scary horror moments never lasted too long to be too scary, and the set pieces flowed so well. The emotional elements of Christa's love for Kiernan gave her such an understandable reason to keep moving through the plot.

Christa was a great active protagonist. I understood her deeply and felt such strong empathy for her. Many thriller characters feel illogical in how they approach their situations, but Christa never lost her rationality. Whenever I had an idea, Christa would have the idea moments later. I felt like I was right there with her trying to figure out what was going on, and also like her, I could not guess who the heck the butcher was.

Each character in the rest of the ensemble was well-defined and I knew exactly who each person was. Some elements of characters were a little trope-y, but I was never put off.

While I was never bored, some moments felt slightly too long. Some of the thriller climax fight/chase felt overextended and could've been shortened, but again, I was not bored or mad at it.

This is an inventive horror I will be recommending to anyone curious but a little wary of the genre. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and tearing through the pages.

Make sure to pick up a copy when it comes out in July!

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THIS REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

Isolated setting

Group of strangers

Murder Mystery

Synopsis had everything that I really enjoy in mysteries. Christa with her relatively new but perfect boyfriend, joined a tour group to spend some time in an isolated lodge in the rocky mountains. Little did she know that this adventure is going to kill people. I got into the story with expectations of having a really good time but quickly I realized that I am wrong. The story felt flat to me, it had potential but the writing style wasn't able to execute it properly. I struggled in connecting with any of the characters, everyone was so dull, one-dimensional, and developed lazily. One had only one character trait that was bad back, you have an idea now. Too many details didn't let me enjoy the better part of the story. I would have enjoyed the story if it was told from a different POV. I skimmed the major part of the book, ending surprised me. Overall it was a below-average read.

Really enjoyed this book by new to me author, Darcy Coates! It was dark, atmospheric, and suspenseful - and didn’t expect the plot twist at the end. A quick read and not my last by this author.

What do you do when you’re stranded at a remote cabin with a group of people you don’t know? How do you calm your panic when one by one people are being beheaded and showcased with pride?

These are the very answers that Christa has to ask herself after the bus breaks down miles away from shelter in the middle of a blizzard. She is surrounded by strangers who she knows she can’t trust, without any sort of weapon or means to contact the police. This book was set up to be a really fun time.

This was my first Darcy Coates novel so I didn’t know what to expect. You see this stranded in the snow trope often, but the way Coates wrote this novel put it into a league of its own. This medium-paced thriller grabs you in immediately and doesn’t let go. There’s so many twists and turns that you truly have no idea who the villain is. I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend checking it out. It was a breath of fresh air, by a truly gifted author.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC! Four WELL DESERVED stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This booked sucked me in right from the start. What a crazy ride. This was my first Darcy Coates book and it won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first Darcy Coates read and I was not disappointed. From the first chapter till the end, there was was character build up and plot twists. I sincerely thought the story was going a different direction and was beginning to feel a bit disappointed at the predictability, but she delivered on several occasions by changing the stories trajectory.

As the book description states, 9 or 10 people (depending on how you view the characters' roles), are on a trip to a remote location in the Rocky Mountains. However, before they make it to their final destination they have a few distractions (not to give any spoilers of course). The story looks at first like a remake of the movie "I know what you did last summer", but with a blizzard survival twist. However, Coates allows the reader to guess the plot trajectory and then slaps them with a twist, and not just on one occasion in the book.

Overall, the book was a great read. It was refreshing to read a horror story without one harsh word (curse words for us older gens) and without the traditional violence against women in horror scenes. There isn't the common day forced woke dialog, nor was there a political agenda. This is just a good story meant to keep the reader guessing and on their toes. Essentially, a horror murder mystery story that has the feel of a supernatural element involved.

Release Date: July 11, 2023

"When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.
She couldn't be more wrong."

I absolutely could not put Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates down and easily read it in one sitting. I was hooked from page one and even though I figured it out early on, I still loved seeing how everything unfolded.

The only Coates books I have read are the horror/haunting ones which I have thoroughly enjoyed. So I wasn't surprised that I ended up loving this thriller. I will be getting a physical copy to add to my collection when it releases.

If you love a good locked-in who-dunnit, then this book is for you.

Thanks to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for my digital ARC.

This book is EXCELLENT! You can read it in the winter to go with the snowy vibes or in the summer when you want to cool off! I love a snowed in thriller and this was PERFECT. It's unnerving, eerie, and just a good time for readers! Highly recommended.

This book made me feel like I had just watched a scary movie! I stayed up late to finish it then tried to go to sleep, might want to read it when you don’t have to get up early. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a nerve wrecking thriller that is impossible to put down!

Thank you to Netgalley and Darcy Coates for letting me read the ARC for this! This is my 3rd or 4th DC book, and as per usual, hit the spot with all of my sub-genre tropes I love. Isolated cabin in the woods, snow, whodunit type of thriller. I read this while it was snowing, added to the atmosphere! The ending got me, tbh. Not in a *good* way, either. Not saying spoilers, but as the ending was unraveling, and the who and why came out I kept going "This is absurd. All that effort. Really? This is over the top. YIKES". Overall, I did enjoy it for the type of book it was!

This book is tense, scary and gripping. Everything you want in a horror book. Love it! Christa goes on a trip with her boyfriend, and a group of strangers. They never make it to the lodge and one by one, the group is killed off. Great book!

In a life threatening blizzard, Christa and boyfriend Kiernan struggle to find shelter after leaving the tour bus but become separated.. She miraculously finds her way to a cabin where the other bus members are holed up but Kiernan’s presumed dead. From there on you have the plot of And Then There Were None, as one by one the bus members are killed. Even the ending is similar. What really saves the book for me is Coates descriptive writing. I feel like I’m struggling though hip deep snow, developing hypothermia, experiencing the death of the others,

When Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan join a tour group head for the remote Blackstone Lodge in the Rocky Mountains, she’s not sure what to expect. Two weeks of mountain views, spa treatments, relaxation and maybe…an engagement? What she gets is far different. Terror, horrific deaths, horror and above it all, the steady cold, hissing wind, and freezing temperatures of a blizzard. Eleven adventurers travel to the Lodge. They won’t all return. Without spoilers. I can’t say more about this plot.

However, there are rules. 1. Do not start Dead of Winter unless you intend to finish it in one sitting. 2. Do not read Dead of Winter at night or if you are alone. 3. Do not read this book in winter unless you have flashlights and blankets at hand. You will think you need them. And 4. Read Dead of Winter! This is the first book I’ve read by the talented Darcy Coates and it won’t be the last. I just need to calm down a bit first. 5 snow-covered stars!

Thank you to NetGalley,Poisoned Pen Press and Darcy Coates for this ARC.

"We are all going to die here."

I was about a quarter of the way through my current read, when I just needed a change.

Scrolling through Netgalley, I found the latest book by Darcy Coates. This is my 2nd book by Coates, the first being Gallows Hill (3⭐). The fact that I didn't love that book did not deter this old bag.

Kiernan and Christie are on their way to a remote vacation in the mountains when their charter bus hits a snafu and gets stuck. While waiting for the bus to be fixed, Kiernan wants to check out the views with Christie. Fast forward about an hour when Christie wakes up in a remote cabin getting medical attention and Kiernan is missing.

We've seen this trope before. A group of people get stuck together, each is killed one by one and the question is who needs psychotropic meds?

I do like a good whodunit story. I enjoyed the fact this story took place in a remote winter cabin rather than a sun drenched island.

The writing was atmospheric at times, and a little more gruesome than most whodunit books. ✔️

It had short chapters and I would consider it suspenseful, but when "the butcher" was finally revealed, I felt like the story dragged for way too long.

In the end, I enjoyed this more than Gallows Hill, and would definitely read another book by Darcy Coates.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

Available 7.11.23

⭐⭐⭐💫

Everyone stop! Darcey Coates just pulled out a total "who dunit" in this totally engrossing thriller! I had it about guessed at 75% through but kept on reading and when I was totally disappointed that I was wrong she threw another break neck twist in that left me lingering on afterwards. My only negative is the ending, I would have loved an absolute ending to this gripping tale but sadly was left with more questions then answers. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Released on July 11, 2023

4.75 stars. I LOVE.

Dead of Winter is an incredibly suspenseful and genuinely scary action-packed thriller. It’s the perfect book to read on a cold winter evening; the blizzard setting is obviously horrible for the characters but it’s perfect to get into as a reader.

It has countless twists that will leave you constantly questioning your own theories. It’s fast paced with short chapters and the writing style is simple and easy to get through. And the main character, Christa, is a total baddie and will have you on the edge of your seat urging her to keep going.

I can expect that some readers might not like the book as much, perhaps for them it’ll feel too drawn out, unexciting, predictable, etc. But I personally didn’t find it to be any of that and loved the read from start to finish.

I wouldn’t recommend this for readers that dislike gore and prefer lower stakes kind of mystery books. But if you can tolerate gore and love a well-written, high stakes, winter themed thriller? HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

’m a solid Darcy Coates fan although I’ve only now read half a dozen of her 40+ novels. She’s got a smooth and captivating way of writing horror thrillers that continually keep me creeped out and forever guessing the outcome.

Dead of Winter is a serious page-turner; a read you don’t want to put down until you finally get to the bottom of the chaos.

As a constant traveller who is terrified of being lost or trapped in a vast wilderness, this read freaked me out! And Stranger always equals Danger in my mind so yeah, this was scary 😧

Thanks to #netgalley and @poisenedpenpress and of course @darcybooks for this awesome ARC opportunity👊🏻

Dead of Winter is EVERYTHING I could have ever wanted from Darcy Coates. It's gory, it's gross, it's brutal, and most importantly it's unforgiving (in some ways). I found myself blown away by Darcy Coates latest novel. So let's break it down -

It's gory:
- This book tells you from the get go that a head might be found on a spike and it is. This is the first time in a Darcy Coates adventure that I feel like the gore and viscera was exactly what I've wanted in other stories. Don't get me wrong - Coates is the MASTER of the ghost stories at this point, but this gave a level of gore that I was very pleased with.

It's gross:
- This book had a few moments of giving me the ICK and I think readers will love that. Did I mention the gore and viscera? Okay well let me also give you the messed up idea - prepare for a desperate cold including frostbite to scare the warmest reader.

It's brutal:
- Okay as mentioned above the gore and gross factors are going to combine together to pack a punch. And the twists and turns of this story are BRUTAL!

It's unforgiving:
- This book is going to make you feel things. It's going to gross you out, it's going make you wince while reading, you might read this book with your mouth wide open like I did. All in all for a book where there might be a lesson on forgiveness hidden within the text, this book is also unforgiving.

I can't say enough good things about this story. So run, don't walk to pick up your copies!

I did not want to put this one down. And when I did I found myself waiting to get back to it. The writing style of this book you will find yourself invested in these characters! I was completely submerged in this book. I’m this book we follow Christa and her boyfriend on a tour up into the Rocky Mountains. As weather conditions worsen the bus comes to a stop due to fallen trees. Taking shelter in a near by abandoned cabin. Waiting the storm out the next morning the group find the severed head of the tour guide atop of a tree out front and shit gets SPOOKY!! The accusations start to fly , snow starts to pile, and the body’s start stacking. What happens next?? Pick up Dead of winter and find out i promise this book is a ride and a spectrum of emotion.

Wow. Slightly disappointed at the very very end of the book but otherwise fantastic novel. The whole thing was deeply unsettling for me and most books don’t tend to unsettle me this much. Fabulous job!