Christa and her boyfriend, Kiernan, are traveling to Blackstone Alpine Lodge. Their bus stops due to a tree across the road. Kiernan convinces her to go exploring. She falls over a ledge, and she finds herself in the deepening snow, with Kiernan nowhere in sight. Christa manages to find an abandoned hunting cabin, where the others on the bus and their tour guide are, but no Kiernan. To make matters worse, someone or something is, killing them, the tour guide first. They find his head impaled on a branch of a large tree outside the cabin!

Darcy Coates is known for her haunted house horror, but now she is tackling a serial killer thriller. There is suspense and she still applies the horror, this time to an unknown killer and a snowy mountainous range where none of the victims know where they are, no cell phones are working, and are suspicious of each other, wondering who the killer among them is. Ms. Coates sends the reader through a thrilling icy race with the same heart-pounding scares she uses in her haunted-house books.

4 1/2 stars.

This book made me shiver although it’s very warm outside.
It’s like the most graphic gruesome slasher film cime to life.
The theme is revenge. People get stuck in a mountain snow strip and literally Lose their heads. Don’t read if you have a delicate stomach.
I had no clue who the killer was but it all made sense.
For the more bloodthirsty readers.

Happy Pub Day! Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for advanced copy for honest review.


Let me start by saying, this was my first Darcy Coates book and I have since downloaded three other books of hers.
With no spoilers…Christa and her boyfriend set off into the mountains of a remote area, during off season, with 8 other strangers, to stay at closed resort with a snow storm looming, what could possibly go wrong?!? Well, everything! Now that we are all cozy in this locked room mystery, Christa wakes up surrounded by 8 complete strangers in a very very small cabin. One by one and for one reason or another, when they get separated from group, the next time they are seen, they are are a head above, dead. Things grow tense as they all start suspecting each other. Who is doing this? Why? Are they all here by mere happenstance?

Hooked in and remained seated till the last page! 5 stars, highly recommend

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, Darcy Coates, and Net Galley for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I have been a fan of Darcy Coates for ages and while most of her books I find to be best described as “cozy horror” (usually with supernatural aspects) this book is more of a “mystery horror”. Think Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” but make it violent and bloody! As in “head on a stake” bloody!

We are immediately pulled into the action as ten people head to a lodge in the Rocky Mountains for a two-week vacation far away from civilization; Nothing but snowy mountains and blizzards. Their bus stops because of a fallen tree across the road, just before they reach the Lodge. A few go off to see the scenery and get lost, while others cut the tree. Some find a small (but poorly stocked) cabin to seek refuge. Lost, hungry, and cold, they decide to stay the night in this cabin. What awaits them as they wake up the next morning is terrifying. There is a killer in their midst. But who of the eight strangers on the bus is the killer?

This was a creepy read that kept me turning the pages and kept me up way too late! Always the mark of a good book! There are a lot of chapters, but they are short so the book flies by. The story is told in first person, through the eyes of our main character, Christa. This really puts the reader in the midst of the events. As the story unfolds through the eyes of Christa, we know only what she knows and feel all the anxiety and paranoia that she feels. This makes the reader more immersed and invested in Christa’s horrifying journey.

This would be a great Winter read or if, like me, you are looking to escape the heat of summer and long for the snowy days of Winter. 4 star read! Don’t sleep on this one. This is one of Coates's best works!

WOW! What a ride. Winter tour group's bus breaks down, tour guide goes missing, let the killing begin. That's all I'm going to say about that.

What I will say is this book was fantastic. Had me going one way, then another. Well-written, heart thumping thriller. If you like this time of book, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

4.5 stars - I loved it.

This was such a edge of your seat whodunit mystery thriller that I just could not put down.

I really enjoyed reading from the MC POV, and all the other characters were at times likeable but also had a fair amount of flaws that had you question everything that you thought you figured out. I hate winter weather so this felt extra nightmarish to me. This was amazingly written, its my 5th book by Darcy Coates and I think its safe to say that she is officially a favourite author for me.

Even though I was able to guess the "big twist" it did not take anything away from the overall enjoyment of the book, the path to the big twist was wonderfully suspenseful and heart pounding.

Only issue for me, is that I wish it had one more chapter. I don't want to spoil anything so I'm just going to say that I wanted one other little thing answered and it was not. This is the only thing that prevented me from giving it a full 5 star rating.

read this if you love: Rocky Mountains, winter settings, remote settings, whodunit mysteries, survival, light body horror.

Thanks to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press, and Darcy Coates for sharing a digital copy for me to read and review. As always, opinions are my own 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻

I was so excited to receive an early copy of Dead Of Winter.

The queen of horror wrote a locked in style thriller. But oh, this is not your ordinary locked in thriller at all.

I LOVED this book. It was hard core and so fun. I had an idea who ‘the killer’ was but kept wavering as the red herrings are real here.

Christa is trapped. In the mountains. In a crazy snowstorm. With strangers. Strangers that keep dying one by one in the most horrific way. Can she figure out who is doing this to them and why?

Loved it. So well written and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. I need more. 🤌🏻🤌🏻

Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of this great novel in return for my honest review.

This is my first book by this author but is definitely not my last! What a ride you take while reading this book. I found myself forgetting about the clothes in the washer and dryer, dinner??? Only if I can read while it cooks. This was a non stop thrill ride and I just wanted one more chapter before bed and then I was up all night!

Compulsive and gripping! Suspenseful, addictive and complex! A very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters. The suspense builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds. Will keep you swiping the pages furiously. Worthy of your TBR list.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from in order to read and provide a voluntary and honest review, should I choose to do so.

This was a fantastic book. The main character was such a fighter and kept going no matter what. Dead of Winter was a fun and thrilling read for me. I haven't read one book that Darcy hasn't kept me wanting to keep reading. Christa was such a character that you wouldn't think would be a fighter considering she wasn't completely prepared for the winter, however with what she went through, she deserved the win. The twist of the real killer, in the end, surprised me. The person I thought was the killer was killed. This book had me wanting to read more. Fantastic read and a nail-biting thriller that's for sure.

Rating: 3.97 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3.5/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 3.5/5
-Writing: 4.75/5
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
-Horror: 2/5
-Mystery: 4.75/5
-Thriller: 4.5/5
-Suspense: 3.75/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Yeah

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

Even though I have another one of Darcy's books on my TBR cart in my room this one was actually my first. It wasn't a bad read, actually a pretty quick one for me. It was a good basic murder/mystery though for the horror aspect... eh? It is also your basic horror that comes with a book like this.

The plot itself is good, I did like the whole reason behind all of this but I did find some things kind of... odd? Dev didn't really belong or, well, it wasn't done well. Like, I got what Darcy wanted to do with it and it was a pretty darn good idea but having the MC find something and figure it out so quickly really threw me out of being in the zone on this book.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

Thank you to @netgalley, @poisonedpenpress, and the brilliant author, @darcybooks for the opportunity to read this #advancedreadercopy in exchange for my #honestreview!

Two years removed from an incredibly traumatic car accident, Christa accompanies her boyfriend Kiernan on a trip into the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. The trip is billed as a romantic and secluded getaway from the day to day hustle and bustle of life and Christa is determined to make the best of it. But things take a turn for the unexpected when the harsh blistering weather forces the group to abandon their bus and seek shelter in a nearby seemingly abandoned cabin. When the group members start getting picked off one by one it becomes survival of the fittest and the cleverest.

Holy. Freaking. Crap. This had me legit on the edge of my seat! I knew I had to finish this before the end of the night or I wouldn’t be able to sleep. It’s horror, it’s suspense, it’s twisty, it’s murder podcast and amateur sleuthing, it’s traumatic backstories, and a dash of romance. The payoff when my “what if?!” that was nagging in the back of my head was right - chefs kiss (we learned not to trust unless you see a body in PLL, IYKYK!)! It’s just so damn good and you definitely need to read it!

TWs: manipulation, stalking, suic-de, framing, violence, gore, gaslighting

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5

Winter in July?
I live in Texas. It's like 103 degrees outside, but this book still chilled me to the bone.

Imagine trying to get away from stress and walking it to a game of cat and mouse, and you sadly are the mouse. That's what happens to Christa. That poor, poor girl.

Darcy is an amazing author!! I say she is one of my comfort authors because her books always just bring me a sense of joy. This book was no exception.

The characters were great. Sometimes, I was hiding behind the pages of the book, hoping they would be safe, and others I secretly hoped they had died. The book was action-packed and didn't let up. I read it in a day because I NEEDED to know the answer. It's definitely worth checking out!

Please stay calm, though. I would hate for you to lose your head

This is the perfect cozy winter thriller! I’m such a mood and seasonal reader and I’m
mad I read this in July! Will be recommending once it’s cold for sure!

I am very grateful for the opportunity to read Darcy Coates new novel (I love her work).
I thought this was fast paced, and I truly only had an inkling of who might be committing the murders-as well as I enjoyed figuring out how everyone was connected.
But I skimmed large portions of this to get to the end. Something kept me from being hooked, and I think it’s largely that the characters just didn’t feel fleshed out enough for me to care about them. They felt a tad too one dimensional.
I know this book will find its right audience and I will continue to reach for the author’s future novels. This one was “just ok”

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
A winter getaway turns into a frosty nightmare for Christa and the eight others on the tour. As part of a tour group going into the Rocky Mountains, a sudden winter storm turns the happy getaway into a fight for their lives. The group takes shelter in a small, sparse hunting cabin to wait out the storm. However, one of the group is killing off the others one by one. Who can be trusted?
This story grips you right from the beginning. There are lots of twists and turns. I did not see the ending coming. Well written, great character developments and just enough suspense to keep you up way past your bed time. Enjoy!!!

I received a gifted eARC for DEAD OF WINTER By Darcy Coates – thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley!

DEAD OF WINTER follows Christa as she sets out on a group tour to a remote lodge in the Rocky Mountains. She is looking forward to spending the time with her boyfriend, but things quickly go awry and take a deadly turn. A tree down on the road and an unexpected snow storm cut the traveling group off from the world short of reaching their destination.

Christa winds up trapped in a small one room cabin with a group of strangers, injured and without the ability to call out for help. Worse yet, people begin to die and no one can be trusted.

I have really loved many of Darcy Coates’ books so I was thrilled to hear she had a new book coming out. The timing of this one was great as I was really in a thriller/horror mood. This book I think straddles the line between thriller and horror. There is definitely some gruesome body horror combined with mystery as we follow in Christa’s head trying to figure out who could possibly be to blame. The atmosphere is really well done which is no surprise for this author.

While I think a lot of the answers in this one were pretty easy to guess at, there were a few surprises along the way. Even knowing the ultimate bad guy pretty early on, I did really appreciate what the author did to try to throw the reader and the characters off the scent.

I think if you enjoy Darcy Coates’ writing or are looking for a fun wintery summer slasher/thriller, this is one to definitely pick up!

First a big thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving a copy to review.

This was a very well done thriller mystery, I had so many constant and changing theories about what might be happening, some twists were less surprising than others but it kept me on my toes the whole time.

The main character had very enjoyable POV to read, and the rest of the characters all had just enough flaws to make them seem guilty while also having enough reason to see them as innocent.

That’s really all I can say as I don’t want to spoil any of it, highly suggest this book for those who love a good thriller mystery.

If you like “And Then There Were None”, then this book is for you! “Dead of Winter” by Darcy Coates is a brilliant closed room thriller. Christa goes on a trip with her boyfriend to a mountain cabin. They get separated in the woods Christa is forced to share a cabin with ten other travelers. One by one, they are brutally murdered. This book had me turning the pages so fast to see what would happen!!!
I don’t want to give away too much, but this was a really great read! It had me guessing until the end. Many thanks to the author, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

dead of winter definitely reads as a classic darcy coates story — full of suspense and keeps you at the edge of the seat while you’re unable to put the book down!

the plot is pretty straight forward: a group of people who don’t know each other are going to a cosy lodge in the middle of nowhere until their bus gets stranded during a snowstorm. with nowhere to go they’re forced to hide out in an abandoned cabin until the storm is over… but one by one they’re killed off and it can only be one of the people in the cabin, so who can they trust?

it’s a pretty classic plot and it’s got all the fun little tropes, which also means that it’s pretty easy guessing who the killer is from the beginning with the motive becoming clear about halfway through. it’s one of the main criticisms i’ve seen from other reviews, but i genuinely think it doesn’t take away from the book since coates manages to keep you intrigued all the way through. she’s an excellent writer and it shows.

not to mention, the revelation of the killer and their motive really just felt like a win to me since i was trying to pick up clues along the way and being proven right is always a neat feeling.

i’ve still got a ton of other darcy coates books i need to read but so far she’s not disappointed me!

// arc courtesy of the publisher, poisoned pen press, and netgalley.