I'm a sucker for isolation thrillers/horror and have been wanting to read Darcy Coats for some time... so when I saw her newest book Dead of Winter I knew it was time!

Dead of Winter is a locked room murder mystery perfect to read over the weekend and getaway from it all, to remote cabin in the woods, where you’ll be guessing who did it until the very end... if you survive.

Christa and her boyfriend have planned the perfect getaway to the Rocky Mountains on a guided winter excursion. But things quickly go wrong when winter storm forces the group of strangers into an isolated cabin with no way to contact the outside world. Thinking the worst is past them the tour group believes waiting out the storm is their biggest challenge, that is until they wake up to find their tour guides head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Now they must figure out who did it before they strike again. Will Christa figure out who she can trust to make it home alive or will the Rocky Mountains be her final resting place?

This was a fun whodunit, I do wish the characters were more dimensional, but for a quick chilly winter read to take a break from all the hot weather we've been having I had a good time with it, Coats held my attention and kept me guessing, leaving me in a constant "just one more chapter" mindset until the very last page.

Christa and her partner travelled with a tour group to Blackstone Alpine Lodge in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where they planned to spend two weeks off the grid experiencing adventure. Brian, their tour guide and bus driver, bemoaned the violent storm that was surrounding them but also reassured them of their safety. When a massive tree over the road forced them to stop, Brian started cutting it down with the help of volunteers from the group. They sought refuge in a nearby cabin, hoping to get to the lodge the next day despite having little to eat, no place to sleep, and the ferocious cold as their only company.

But was there a murderer there or among them? Starting with Brian, their tour guide, the group was brutally murdered one by one. They were all in fear, but Christa was trying to figure out who she could trust because she didn't know any of them. No phone reception meant they were unable to call for assistance. They ought to remain confined to the hut together, alone as the storm rages all around them.

Goodness gracious! Dead of Winter by Australian novelist Darcy Coates, who I had never read before, was fantastic and had me racing from the first page. I found it difficult to put it down because of the electric, exhilarating tension. Fast paced, wonderful characters, and a gripping story made the icy cold feel real to me! Highly suggested.

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press for providing my digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

So Darcy Coates is a hit or miss for me, I am finding. Unfortunately this one was a miss for me from the beginning. I didn't like the setting, I didn't like a single character, (sometimes you find characters you "love to hate", I didn't even have that) I didn't like the story line, nothing. I did finish, because I kept waiting to love it. Or even like it. I just didn't. I will recommend, only because I have customers who I have recommended Darcy to before who love everything she writes, and that's fantastic so I will for sure recommend but this was not for me.

Spectacular! The writing really draws you into the setting, so much so that I needed to wrap in a blanket despite it being 100andfyou degrees outside at the time of reading. Great suspense, great characters that were slowly revealed as time went on. This would be a fantastic screen adaptation that I would probably drag my introvert self out to the theater for. Shining level winter creep factor.

I am no stranger to a Darcy Coates novel but dang this was something. I can’t decide if it was the best thriller/slasher I’ve read or the worst. Maybe that’s the point of the last two hours I’ve flew through this book. You’ll never see it coming, ever.

The storyline is genius and the plot really works. It’s pure insanity at its best. I probably won’t sleep tonight. This would make an amazing movie!

This was an honest review in exchange for an advanced reader copy.

First,special thanks to Sourcebooks via Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange of my honest review.

At this point, I am going to say Darcy Coates is something else! I already knew she has the unique way of driving my sanity to the drain all the while chasing goosebumps all over and yet, hitting the target even better by getting, um.. how do I say it? Well, how about a shot at morbidity! For the lack of better word, thank you very much! Let’s cut limbs and stuff!
Reading this at the height of summer with 100F on the thermostat was a little ironic but the writing is so good that it feels like I did get frostbite. The scene was so creatively set and like any isolation horror tales, this kept me over the edge of guessing who the killer will take next! I kinda have the feeling of “whodunnit” halfway through but hey, this was exciting!

just finished listening to this book, and I have to say, the prologue was really exciting! It instantly caught my attention. The story begins with a situation that happened six hours earlier.
The plot revolves around a group of people who find themselves stranded in a dangerous winter setting.
As the story unfolds, they start getting picked off one by one, which adds a lot of suspense and keeps you hooked. The storyline is quite interesting, and it definitely held my interest throughout.
However, I must admit that for a story with this kind of plot, I was hoping for a bit more intensity to really make my heart race. It lacked a certain edge that I was looking for. The last couple of chapters was thrilling enough and pulled it through but I would expect that throughout the entire book for a plotline as this one. The twist at the end was really good.
Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the overall storyline, and the narrator did an excellent job in bringing the tale to life.
In conclusion, if you're into gripping prologues and an engaging storyline, this book is worth a read.
While it could have had more intensity, I found the story and narration praiseworthy. Give it a try!

The "And Then There Were None" trope, a popular classic in the realm of mysteries, has been used many times, and breathing new life into this well-trodden path can be challenging. However, Darcy Coates manages to break the mold by infusing this familiar setup with a relentless, action-packed narrative that races from the very beginning, injecting a spine-chilling dose of horror into the mix.
From start to finish, the story was a white-knuckle thrill ride, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Coates does not hold back when it comes to delivering grisly and horrifying murders that send shivers down my spine.

One of the highlights of this narrative is the choice of a locked-room setting in a remote, snowstorm-battered location. Coates expertly utilizes this backdrop to enhance the story's eerie atmosphere, further intensifying the horror element.

As the body count rose, my suspicions shifted from one character to another, keeping me guessing until the shocking reveal, and I found myself suspecting everyone until each character met their untimely demise. However, I did manage to deduce the identity of the killer before the final "And Then There Were None" moment. The revelation of the murderer and their motive was a delightful surprise, and I liked the intricate web of connections among the characters, lending an air of credibility to the story that paid off in the end.

Whether you choose to delve into this one in the dead of winter, as a spine-tingling Halloween read, or even on a scorching summer day, one thing is certain: it will chill you to the bone and keep you enthralled until the very last page.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for an ARC copy of this novel. I give this honest review voluntarily.


Wow! I just finished this novel and all I can say is that it is one chilling, thrilling ride. This is the first novel I've read by this author. I checked out her website and it says she writes horror and suspense novels. I would ask her to separate the novels into those two genres specifically- she doesn't right now. I say this because I do not care for the straight up horror genre though I don't mind a suspense novel flirting with horror as this book does. I would categorize this as bordering on the line between these two genres. I did guess who the killer is after just a few pages but that doesn't detract from the book at all. It is an exciting journey she leads us on but is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of blood and heads chopped off. Guns are not used to kill which I think makes the killing scarier. Her descriptiveness of the setting to the kills to the character's physicality and their personalities are all so vivid. She definitely enjoys writing this genre. I really enjoyed this novel and give it 4 ½ stars and definitely recommend.

8 strangers board a tour bus destined for the remote expanse of the Rocky Mountains. When the bus breaks down, they are forced to take shelter in a small hunting cabin.
As night turns to day, the tour guide is missing only to be found with his head severed and impaled to a tree outside the cabin. These 7 strangers soon realize one of them is a murderer and they all may just die out here.

The story is plausible and creepy with an ending you don't see coming. I loved how the author dropped little nuggets throughout the entire book and whilst I kind of guessed the final twist I would like to say that it was still done very well.
This is a fast-paced book with short chapters making for a super easy and entertaining read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Whoa. Dead of Winter is a masterclass in how a locked-room thriller should be done. It kept me on the edge of my seat, constantly second-guessing myself, and absolutely horrified right until the very end.

I did have my suspicions about who the butcher was, but with all the twists I was never completely sure. I will forewarn, that if you have a weak stomach or books with a lot of gore aren't your thing, skip this one. As fantastic as the story is and how suspenseful it is, it's pretty gruesome at times (as you would expect with a murderer called the butcher.)

My only gripe was the ending. It's probably just me but I wanted an epilogue, simply to explain what happened after.

Otherwise, it's a fantastic thriller that I couldn't put down.
Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the eARC!
4.5/5 stars

Ahh I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this one.

The perfect winter setting, isolated location and the suspense continues to build as person after person shows up dead. The characters were written so well and mysteriously that I suspected everyone of their motives

The plot itself was so clever and I feel the reveal and twists at the end were brilliant

This book was nice and action packed and slightly gory - the perfect mix with a mystery that slowly unfolds.

Highly will be recommending this book! Thank you netgalley, publisher and Darcy Coates for this book!

Who doesn't love a good "strangers stuck in the snowy wilderness with a killer" story. I really liked this one. I had read other books by the author which were hit or miss for me but this one kept me reading until the very end. It was chilling and gory. I didn't figure out the ending which is always a good thing with a thriller. Highly recommend this one to anyone looking for a spooky read.

The first time I read a Darcy Coates book was because it was recommended to me by a librarian, I had never even heard of her before that. I devoured the book I was recommended, and immediately sought out more. Now I don’t even look at the description- if I see she is the author I will instantly pick it up.

This is of course another exciting thriller. With the winter setting I could see it being fun to read during the winter months or perhaps Halloween.

Very suspenseful. Coates has a flair for making us see her characters with great vividness and immediacy.
Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion

My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first read by Darcy Coates and it was everything I can ask for in a thriller! It took me awhile to get into through my own fault, not through any fault of the authors. Once my life finally settled down enough for me to read, I couldn't put this book down!

Coates really paints a picture that brought the eerie landscape and setting alive. Her writing is lyrical and beautiful, even as she is describing the gruesomeness that is this book. This was tense, fast paced, and brutal. I couldn't read this fast enough to find out what would happen, right down to the final page and survivor. You suspect everyone, you trust no one, and you are delivered shock after shock.

I read the kindle version as well as listened to the audiobook version. I absolutely loved the narrator of the audiobook. She did a phenomenal job of voicing each character, establishing the right pacing, and inflections. I loved it!

Dead of Winter is a lovely, dark novel. I found the writing beautiful and the prose near flawless. It was a timeless novel that I would definitely read again. What an amazing hit!

4.5 This book was an edge of your seat thriller that I loved every minute of.This story follows a tour group as they journey to a closed down ski lodge for a private two week stay. Only problem is the weather turns bad stranding the group before they could make it to the ski lodge. Now stranded in a small cabin with no communication to the outside world people start going missing and the tourist start looking to each other as the culprit.

This book throws you right into the action from the first page and it didn’t slow down from there. I though this was a unique play on a slasher and really enjoyed the originality and the twist and turns along the way. The best way to describe this book is cinematic I could easily see this being made into a movie someday and I am all for it ! My only complaint was I did have a little bit of a hard time keeping the characters straight especially a few of the men I kept getting mixed up because their characters were very similar. Even with that I really enjoyed this book and hope to pick up more from this author in the future. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

I absolutely love Darcy coates ' books usually but this one just didn't hit for me. I actually couldn't even finish it and I'm so upset about it but I've been Reading it for months and I cant anymore. I find it strange that we had zero set up to this story, I don't know these characters at all so why would I care what happened to him or what happens to her? I need the usual build up that coates often gives. I didn't like the odd sentence about a man wearing a size XXL "which still didn't fit".. felt very out of place and an odd thing to comment on. As a plus size reader this made me quite uncomfortable and was a further sign that this book was not for me sadly.

A dark, gruesome horror story. The setting in a snowstorm is perfect with unexpected twists as I tried to figure out who the killer is. A recommended read for fans of horror.

I want to thank the publisher "Poison Pen Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.