Christa Bailey and her boyfriend Kiernan are heading to Blackstone Alpine Lodge deep in the Rocky Mountains for two weeks of vacation with a private tour group. The other nine people on the bus are all strangers to each other, including Brian, the driver and tour director. The passengers are a mixed bunch: an older married couple, a father and his teenage son, and four people travelling alone – three women and a man. Late in the winter season, with heavy snow covering everything, they’ll have the luxury lodge to themselves. However, a fallen tree across a remote road stops the bus and the travellers are forced seek shelter in a nearby empty cabin where they should be safe, except that one of them is a killer.

This is a tense and chilling locked room mystery with Christie-esque vibes as travellers disappear and turn op dead. The freezing weather, snowstorms, isolation, lack of food and electricity and the claustrophobia of being trapped in a small space with strangers all added atmosphere and worked to turn up the suspense and fear factor. Christa is wary of trusting anyone as she desperately tries to work out who is doing the killing and wonders if any of them will make it out of the mountains.

Although this is an entertaining mix of horror and suspense, I found it a bit relentless initially with one person after another disappearing and not much else happening. It did become more interesting later in the book as the reason behind the deaths began to clarify and the killer finally stepped out of the shadows. I also wasn’t totally convinced by the killer’s motives and ability to carry out their plot. Overall, an entertaining read, especially if you like freezing cold, wintery scenes and a nightmarish locked room mystery.

This isn’t a genre I usually read, but as I’ve become interested in true crime lately, this story appealed to me. I’m glad I read it. I could not put it down. I plan on reading much more by Darcy Coates!

This Is an action packed, fast paced, Isolated, edge of your seat thriller. I love this Trope. I didn’t allow myself to read It at night, because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put It down!

Christa and her boyfriend, along with a group of travelers are heading to the Rocky Mountains to stay at a lodge. When the storm moves in and continues to hammer the area, their bus has to stop and pull over. A tree has fallen over blocking the road. Stranded in the bitter cold, the travelers must find shelter and fast. When they set out, they find an abandoned cabin and take shelter trying to wait out the storm.

After Christa is injured and her boyfriend goes missing in the snow, Christa wakes up in the cabin with the other. Sometime that night, their tour guide went missing. Did he go for help? Has he found a way to get to the lodge? Or is there something more sinister going on?

Tension mounts as anger builds. The travelers begin looking at each other knowing they are the only ones there. Is one of them a killer? They must get out of there before It’s too late.
I gave this book a 4 star rating and would recommend to those of us who love Isolated thrillers.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, The Author,Darcy Coates as well as NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Dead of Winter.

*Thank you for the ARC!*

Even though I think the plot was a little obvious, I enjoyed the book. I'm a Darcy Coats fan, as her books are always quite riveting.
The characters were well written and likable (for the most part). The setting was also very well established.

A horror read that keeps you on the edge of your seat! Told from the perspective of the female protagonist, a group of strangers set off for a cozy vacation in the secluded mountains, but instead meet with horror and a fight for their survival. The writing is engaging and keeps you wondering how it will end, with many twists and turns. I highly recommend this read!

In this claustrophobic whodunit, Chrissy goes to the mountains for a weekend with her boyfriend Kieran for what should've been a great time. Instead, a snowstorm strands their group heading up to the Blackstone Lodge. First, Kieran is lost in the snow. Then the guide winds up very much dead. This chilly read from Darcy Coates is high key perfect on a hot day. It's paranoid. People are dropping left and right. It's based off a few different Agatha Christie novels, so it feel like a fresh take so it almost feels like an Easter egg when you find the links.

Thanks to Poison Pen for the arc! It was a fun read!

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
8 people snowed in a cabin with 1 killer. Simply amazing. This was my first “locked room” mystery and it did not disappoint. I’m sad that I guessed the killer early on but it was still an amazing ride. There were lots of her great twists throughout the story making me second guess myself. This was much more gorey than her previous novels so be warned if you’re squeamish. One of her best, I already want to reread 10/10 #netgalley #deadofwinter #darcycoates @netgalley @darcybooks

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates is chilling, disturbing and creepy. There were moments of tongue gnawing as I plowed through the book set in the Rockies during a winter blizzard where vision is distorted in swirling whiteness and depth is impossible to judge when trudging through the snow. There was a lot of trudging and a lot of blood!

Main character Christa and her boyfriend join a tour group in the Rocky Mountains in winter during a nasty blizzard. After passage is impossible for the bus, the group deserts the bus and finds shelter in a deserted building where their food and cell phones are in short supply. Things start going amiss immediately as people start to disappear and found later. Each person is a suspect and has something to hide. Christy is no exception...she has a past, too, which she hopes to escape on the trip. But skeletons in closets rankle loudly.

The story starts off with a bang, the setting is atmospheric and the ending is satisfying. Though I'm not squeamish, the grisly aspects distracted me from the other goings-on and were foremost in my mind. But then I am not a Horror reader and the blurb did mention Horror along with the Mystery/Thriller genre. I wanted to give it a go but it just isn't my thing. If you enjoy thrillers injected with horror, this may be your next read. I will stick with Mysteries and Thrillers.

My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this novel.

Loved this one! Although I did suspect who the butcher was early on, this book was still a good time with lots of twists and turns. I love isolated setting books and loved the snowy setting. I’ve only read a couple Darcy Coates books (although I have quite a few ready to read now) but this one is my favorite one so far!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

Christa and Kiernan are on a small tour group going to a lodge in the Rocky Mountains for a two-week getaway. But when an unexpected and dangerous snowstorm strands the bus on the way to the lodge, the group finds themselves forced to shelter in a nearby hunting cabin. When a second member of their group goes missing, people don’t panic until they they find his head stuck on a tree limb outside. As the storm grows more intense and the group grows more paranoid, Christa can’t help but feel that none of them will be making it out alive.

This is a locked room, suspenseful read told from the first person perspective of Christa. The suspense is very high, at the start as the reader is thrown right into the intense snow storm. I do think the story is a bit too long, and the middle part dragged on quite a bit. I assume that was to build up the suspense for the ending. The beginning and the end are action packed, nail biters!

3.5 rounded up!

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and the author for an ARC of Dead of Winter for an honest review.

This was the first Darcy Coates book that I have read and it was quite the ride. Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan are headed for a winter vacation in the Rocky Mountains. The tour includes other individuals, a couple and a father/son. The bus ride to a remote lodge comes to a halt when there is a tree covering the road. Christa and Kiernan leave the others to find the perfect view. During this time a storm hits and Christa and Kiernan are separated and lost.

The book is told by Christa's POV. There wasn't a lot of character development. For most of the book I felt like it was the same story being told over and over. They are fearing for their lives and who is next. It was hard to figure out what was going on in the book because until the last 80% we really didn't know anything about any of the characters. There was some backstory on Christa, but even that wasn't a lot.

The beginning of the book starts off strong but the middle dragged for me. The ending was intense and definitely made the story. I did not see the ending coming!

I would rate this a 3.5 rounding up to 4. I would have liked to have seen more character development and less explaining the same crime multiple times.

Christa goes on a mountain getaway with a small tour group. She is excited to get back into the world and be around people again. While at the getaway a snow storms comes through and the group are holed up in a small remote mountain cable. Things seem to be great, they can just wait out the storm there. Only thing is first the tour guide disappears and then another and another disappear. What is happening? This thriller keeps you on your toes and guessing. It's a face read. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

Absolutely LOVED this book and yet again further convinced that Darcy can do no wrong - including releasing an extremely atmospheric wintery read in the middle of summer and I could not get enough of it.

I was so pleasantly surprised by how gory Darcy got with this book and it was such a welcome change of pace from her usual work. Proving yet again that she can explore new sub genres within horror and absolutely knock it out of the park.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Poisoned Pen for my early copy!

Loved this book! Darcy Coates is one of my favorite authors and will continue to be for good reason. Twists and turns throughout, never a dull moment!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Darcy Coates for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Dead of Winter coming out July 11, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Christa has always had anxiety but, at this moment, life seems more hopeful with her boyfriend Kiernan. They decide to get away for a vacation in the mountains. The tour bus climbs a narrow road up the side of the Rockies. Blue skies turn bitterly cold mid-afternoon as a blizzard pushes the group of 8 strangers out of their bus and to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin.

Deep in the night, in the dark their tour guide disappears…they discover him the following morning, his severed head impaled on a large pine tree. Eight people drops to seven and it becomes crystal clear that someone is going on a killing spree. Will they survive?

I pretty much have all of Darcy Coates’ books. She’s one of my favorite authors. I usually read her ghost stories, so this one was different. I’m obsessed with it! It was so fast paced and full of horror. The stakes felt high. There was so much going on and I felt glued to the story. I loved the characters and the backstory of how they ended up in this situation. I’ve read a few survival stories set in the cold. This one was so good! I couldn’t get enough of it.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys survival horror books!

The minute I saw Darcy’s name I immediately requested this one since I enjoyed the other book I read by her so much! This is another intense, locked room, suspenseful, horror novel where the only monsters are the people around you. If you enjoy fast paced, action packed books this one is definitely for you. This is one where the minute I thought I had figured it out boom I was wrong! Darcy is an amazing writer and I can’t wait to read more of her books!

This book was definitely a little more graphic with violence than I thought it was going to be. It starts off fast with a few flashbacks that help to build up to an interesting twist at the end. Would have been interesting to see what happened after the culmination.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review, but all opinions are my own.

Darcy Coates never disappoints with their ghost tales, and I was excited for a tale about people trapped in the wildness and getting picked off one by one. Did I guess who the villain was? Yes. Did I still enjoy the trip to the end? Absolutely. I highly recommend.

Once again, Darcy Coates does not disappoint and keeps you on the edge of your seat until the literal last page. I've read a handful of her novels this year, and Coates ranges from cozy spectral mysteries to flat out blood chilling horror. Just when you think you know what's happening, she lobs a curve ball at your head and keeps going. I really enjoyed the journey this book takes - I found the protagonist believable, the murderer to be absolutely stomach droppingly sick in their kills, and the isolation of the Rocky Mountains the perfect setting for a disturbing read.

Wow!! This is the second book I've read by this author. It did not disappoint! I thought the story started off really strong, kept the reader interested with all the characters being picked off one by one. When Christa sees the actual cabin, I thought it was over, but that's where it all comes together! I did not guess who the serial murderer was at all! I only wish we knew what happened to two of the characters at the end. So good overall! Thank you to enthralled for the ARC via kindle.