This book was an enjoyable read. It was filled with loads of mystery and suspense with a few good twists and turns thrown in. The only negative I have is that it tended to get wordy at times. This is a book which I would recommend to others.

The Dead of Winter is a locked door thriller, with some horror vibes. It is fast paced and just creepy enough. Darcy Coates did a great job with the characters and setting. I will look forward to more of her books.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my ARC.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates got everything right - atmosphere, tension, suspense, psychological mind games enveloped by a winter storm that will not stop, nor will the killer. I was pulled in and could not put this book down. The story moves at a pretty fast pace with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. The author did a good job pulling it all together at the end. I recommend the book and am grateful that I was given the opportunity to read it by the publisher for an honest review.

What an amazing book. This was my first Darcy Coates novel and definitely not my last. Between the suspense and back-to-back-back murders I was guessing until the last chapter! The imagery of the Rocky Mountains and the gruesome winter storm was so detailed, I felt like I was there myself. I swear I actually shivered once or twice. I would’ve loved an epilogue continuing the ending of the story. I feel like it left on a cliff hanger and i’m eager to find out what happens next. This is a serious page turner that will have you second guessing your next winter vacation.

This was a great thrill ride in a book with all the perfect twists and well developed characters. Unfortunately the ending just left me hanging. I need to know did they live?

ARC: Dead of Winter is gripping, each chapter leaving on a cliffhanger. It's gorey and full of mystery that will keep you guessing until the last pages. The characters and story line are woven together masterfully to gradually reveal information and keep the reader hooked. However you think this story will end, you're wrong. This is a fun, exciting read for fans of horror set in harsh winter settings.

I loved this! The isolated winter setting was so good. I thought every character in the book was the butcher at one point or another. Just when I thought they were going to figure out the killer, it would take a turn and they’d be back at square one. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I’d say it’s my favorite read so far this year, and I need to read more Darcy Coates ASAP!

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

This is a high suspense, action packed novel that kept me reading late at night, early in the morning and any other time I could spare. Christa and her boyfriend go on a bus trip in the mountains during the dead of winter to a remote lodge. She has been feeling maybe he is going to propose on this unique winter experience. They run into problems on the way up, and the group on the bus has to lodge in a mountain shack. Slowly people start turning up dead. Just when you think you know who is the murderer-you don't! It is a well written "who done it?" with a great surprise ending. Thank you Darcy Coates and Black Owl Books for this advance copy of this excellent book. I loved it!

Darcy Coates never disappoints in the horror department. I love locked doors books and this was scary!

I’m from Texas and have only seen snow twice in my life, but Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates transported me to a secluded cabin in the middle of a snowstorm where a group of strangers that soon realize there is a killer among them.

This was a fun thriller/mystery/horror/suspense story that has twists and turns that are so unexpected. There were some Agatha Christie vibes though this book leans a bit more towards suspense/horror. So, this was right up my alley!

I spent a couple of nights unable to put this book down, staying up way later than I should have! This is the second story that I’ve read by Darcy Coates and am looking forward to reading more of her work.

Thanks so much to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Christa and her boyfriend, Kiernan, are lost in a blizzard, trudging through the snow until they get separated.

We learn that they had been on a bus, heading to a remote lodge, when the bus got stuck on a mountain road.

Eventually, Christa finds her way to a cabin where the rest of the passengers are huddled against the cold. With no cell service and no way out, they settle in for the night. But where’s Kiernan?

Then people start disappearing…and dying. Is one of her fellow travelers a murderer, or is it a stranger in the woods? Christa has to fight not just the elements, but an unseen enemy, to survive.

This book was just ok. While it was well-written, there just wasn’t any tension for me. The characters were one-dimensional; maybe there were too many, but I honestly didn’t even think the protagonist Christa was very well fleshed-out either.

I just didn’t particularly care about the characters, didn’t feel any tension building, or feel any surprise at the ending (it did, however, leave me irritated because of loose ends).

It was a quick read, and I didn’t DNF because I kept thinking there would be a big twist that would redeem it.

Even though this one missed the mark for me , it was well-written enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to try another book from this author.

A very scary book. I loved it. Warning, once you start reading, you won’t be able to stop. I love locked door thrillers
This was one of the best I’ve read. I’ve read quite a few. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for providing this
advanced copy.

Intense, violent, scary, fast reading, hard to put down. Those would be some of the things that I would tell people about this book. This is a first time I have read anything by this author, but I intend to look up some of her other books and see if I like them as well. An interesting plot, 11 people headed for a resort are derailed by a freak snowstorm and end up in a cabin, picked off one by one. But why? What could a bunch of strangers have in common? And who will survive, if anyone? There are a lot of people to choose from to be the "bad guy" and a lot of red herrings. I thought I knew who the killer was, but I was wrong. Thank you, NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for the chance to read this book.

Fast paced and twisty! This book had me hooked from the start and I for once I didn't guess the ending until it came. I loved how all my questions were addressed and I cannot wait to recommend this to thriller and horror readers!!
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book and be prepared to tell everyone about this when released!

This is certainly a different foray for Darcy Coates! This was still in the vein of horror but more in the Final Girls sense and not haunted houses and things that go bump in the night. Ms. Coates seemingly understands that people can be monsters too and some times what we do to each other is the real horror. Go into this one with an open mind, fans.

💕 Snow storm + secluded cabin full of strangers = the ultimate setting 🔪
💕 absolutely brutal murders! People were dropping off one by one every time they went to sleep
💕 Suspects on suspects on suspects. You won’t know the killer until the final chapter. A perfect example of a whodunnit thriller!
💕 Suspenseful + scary
💕 Alexis’ journal with the hieroglyphics was a fun Nancy Drew-like addition 🕵🏻‍♀️

READ IF YOU LIKED:
⁃ One by One by Ruth Ware
⁃ Five Total Strangers by Natalie Richards
⁃ No Exit by Taylor Adams

This is one book that would be GREAT for a
⁃ map! For the cabin and the surrounding area to give us an idea of the layout
⁃ Character directory with images or their “hieroglyphics”

👎🏼 a lot of characters to keep track of. Simone and Blake were similar and I had trouble remembering who was who
👎🏼 a lot of description about the surroundings, but I had trouble envisioning it. This is why I think a map would’ve been really helpful

Another outstanding story by Darcey Coates. It keep me glued to the pages. I just love her writing and will read anything she writes!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my ARC!

Thank you to Poisoned Press, Darcy Coates and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the ARC of this novel. Dead of Winter is a fast paced, tense thriller with endless red herrings that will keep you guessing until the end. I had my suspicions of how this wild ride would end and though I was mostly right it did not detract from how much I enjoyed this story. I will definitely be checking out more of Darcy Coates books in the near future!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. The suspense really keeps you interested. Darcy Coates is amazing at writing different characters, and the character development never disappoints me. I am so thankful for my ARC copy of this from Netgalley.

In Dead of Winter Darcy Coates presents a version of the tried and true scenario of "And Then There Were None." And she does so by dropping you right into the mix from the first sentence in a runaway train that goes along at breakneck speed with few respites along the way. After their vacation tour bus gets stuck in the mountains, Christa and boyfriend Kiernan take a walk, only to soon find themselves lost in a sudden blizzard. Krista eventually finds herself in a remote cabin, sheltered with the other nine members of the getaway. But as the storm rages, the tour guide goes missing, only to have his severed head found later staked to a nearby tree. As the snow and wind continue and tensions rise, the survivors begin to get picked off one by one. And they soon begin to suspect one of those among them to be the brutal killer.
This was one intense nail-biter of a novel. The premise may not be the most original, but the execution is absolutely spot on. There are misdirections and red herrings, and everyone's a suspect. And just when you're sure you've figured it out, you find out that you were wrong, oh so wrong. Except.....I wasn't wrong. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I totally knew who the killer was and (generally) why they did it very early in the book. There were two key clues that I picked up on, and I was totally right! Except Coates did such a good job of shifting the suspicion around I eventually forgot that I had figured it out early, and attributed my suspicions to the wrong character later. But before the ultimate big reveal, I knew once again that I knew it! Which in absolutely no way detracted the powerful story laid out in this novel. This is a real tour de force from Darcy Coates. 4.5/5*