Many thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

It is super rare that I rate a thriller 5 stars, but this one pulled me in from the first page and would not let go.

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.

Holy smokes, this is how a thriller should be! The story is plausible, creepy but not too creepy with an ending you don't see coming. I loved how Coates dropped little nuggets throughout the entire book but I was still shocked at the ending. Looking back, I probably should have figured it out but there was a smoking gun that had me blindsided. It was good! Fast paced with short chapters makes for a super easy and entertaining read!

Highly recommend if you enjoy:
*Serial killers
*Isolation
*Unreliable characters
*Light gore

So, yes, it’s me. The one who gets a freakish glee over mysteries in the style of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. You probably know the premise: a group of people are invited to an isolated location and then they start getting knocked off until . . . .

In Darcy Coates’ version, The Dead of Winter (please note the double meaning of the title 😉 ), travelers are expecting to stay at an inn in the Rocky Mountains when they are stopped by a fallen pine in the roadway and then a blizzard that moves in swiftly and ferociously. They find refuge in a tiny cabin that barely houses them. And then one-by-one, these stranded travelers begin to die gruesomely. The remaining travelers eye each other with suspicion. Who is the killer in their midst?

The main character is Christa, a young woman who was involved in a tragedy a couple of years earlier and is slowly beginning to regain her footing in the world, much of it thanks to boyfriend Kiernan. It’s through her eyes and thoughts that the reader ventures into this mystery, who to suspect, who might be innocent, but also her lack of steadfastness in adhering to her own intuition.

For the most part this is a delicious romp of a horror (does that make me sound like I am drooling blood? hmm). When Darcy Coates is writing action and building tension, she does it very, very well. Honestly I would have said that this was a much shorter novel because I went through it so fast–a page-turner, folks. While I did guess positively who the slayer was at 65% and had guessed less solidly earlier on, Coates tossed in a nice little twist in the final scenes that made me doubt myself (oh, no!).

A gruesome little caper of survival.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dead of Winter is a suspenseful mystery revolving around a small group of people on a tour going to a lodge in the Rocky Mountains for a two-week getaway. Nature has its own ideas as a fallen tree blocks their path and a blizzard strands them near a cabin. One of the group goes missing, they attempt to locate them. But a search and rescue quickly turns into a fight for your life as one by one are murdered.

This was an intense murder mystery. I can't say that I liked any of the characters, but what do you expect when you are on a tour with people you don't know. But it was well written and holds the reader's attention until the final pages.

This was everything I hoped for!

I loved the atmosphere of the story once things really started heating up. Isolated in a frozen area without a way to reach authorities as one by one the travelers are being killed off in the most brutal of ways had me skittish and curled up in expectation of the next scene of horror that would play out. I loved the setup of the story and the characters were all very well developed and kept me guessing. I did guess the killer at one point but I admit, I moved on to someone else and then someone else as I was never certain the who and why of it all. The author gives tidbits of information along the way that had me constantly reaching for the next dangling carrot as it was never enough. The ending was satisfying and I’m questioning why this is my first book by this author. It certainly will not be the last.

Wow this a crazy good well thought out plot with a nice steady flow of twist and turns and a cast of characters that truly reflect just how flawed our prospective of others can be this was a page turner with a ending that was a total surprise it is very rare that I don't have the killer pegged within the first few chapters well done.

This was a such a good eerie book it will make you never think of a winter cabin the same again! I highly recommend this one!

A heartpounding thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt very Agatha Christie And Then There Were None vibes and really felt the cold winter setting! The perfect book to read curled up by the fire with a hot drink!

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