Dead of Winter is a riveting locked room mystery with a nice helping of gory horror as well! the story is dark, twisted, and I really was on the edge of my seat for this. There were good twists that honestly surprised me and I am glad to say I didn't guess the killer (that to me proves the author knows what they're doing when it comes to suspense and mystery).

Christa embarks on what is supposed to be a romantic trip with her boyfriend to a remote lodge, but when a storm hits and a felled tree stops the bus, eight strangers are stranded in a remote location and one of them turns out to be a killer.

the story really jumps right in and wastes no time getting started. I appreciated that there wasn't too much time spent on backstory (and instead you learn pieces along the way). I felt that the story had a nice pace and I loved all the red herrings and clues. It kept me guessing until the end. The characters were also interesting. They all had something to hide but not what you might think and I appreciated Christa's perspective of the others.

my only note is that I wish there had been a little more closure in the end. I was disappointed that some of my questions were not answered and that left me wanting more.

overall, I truly did find myself wrapped up in this mystery and couldn't put it down. I will definitely be picking up other titles by this author!

thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read an early copy of this book!

I’ve read several Darcy Coates novels, and I’d never seen them as something other than kind of fluffy to read. They were basic, 3-star books that sometimes contained dialogue that felt really unreal. I think this is because she was quite young when she started writing and didn’t have enough life experience yet.

She’s gained a reputation for writing basically cozy horror, which is fine but isn’t my thing. This book looked like it might be different, though, so I decided to request an ARC. And let me tell you; Coates has finally arrived.

This book was written with real skill, and with a much better understanding of human nature than her previous efforts. Plus, there’s some really good gore-filled sections, too. If you like Coates as a cozy horror writer, you might want to skip this one. But if you want a horror whodunnit with so many twists and turns you’ll get whiplash, then this one just might be one of the better ones you read this year.

I loved the tension that Coates brought to this story. There were several moments when I realized I was holding my breath, lol. There were also a couple of moments that made me cheer.

Regarding the ending, this is another issue I’ve had with some of Coates’ other books. But this time, there is some ambiguity at the end, which I absolutely loved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC. At first reading the description of this book it seems like many other books, until you get to the part about severed head impaled on a tree. This is what made me want to read this book; I love horror books. I like how each of the characters are described, each one is very different. The main character, Christa, is still recovering from a traumatic event that occurred two years past, and how the author ties that event into the story is fantastic! As the story progresses, she gets stronger and braver. There are so many twists and turns in the book, it kept me interested. I really enjoyed the ending; I didn't quite see it coming but had my suspicions. This book keeps you guessing all the way to the end, I would definitely recommend!

This book has all the elements of suspense, creepiness and the inability to stop turning the pages. I was hooked. I admit there were spots where my interest weaned a bit, but then something else would happen and I was right back in it. The twists and turns had me guessing till the bitter end. This is one heck of a story that makes for one interesting read.

I very much enjoyed Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates. I have read many of her other titles, and this newest entry was a solid addition. Dead of Winter is essentially a locked room mystery; the protagonist is on a holiday retreat that goes very wrong very quickly, resulting in a number of strangers holing up together in a tiny cabin, in an isolated area, in the freezing cold of winter. One by one, their numbers dwindle as they are gruesomely murdered. It’s up to our protagonist to try and figure out what’s going on, and survive.

Things I liked: the book was so atmospheric! I felt the claustrophobia, the biting cold, and the tension. This, to me, is where Darcy Coates excels. She really knows how to set the stage for her tales so that you as a reader are drawn in.

What I didn’t like: unfortunately it was very easy to guess the killer’s identity. I was suspicious of this person from the start, picked up a few clues along the way, and was unsurprised by the time the big reveal happened. That was a bit of a letdown.

Overall, I still enjoyed Dead of Winter. It was well done, as tense as I want a thriller to be, and it did manage to surprise me at a few points along the way. I look forward to the author’s next book!

Such a good read - I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

Wow !!! What a great book. This was a locked room... and then there were none... type of book. Christa and Kiernan go on a vacation to a remote lodge in the Rocky Mountains. They are on a bus with others. On the way there, a tree is down blocking the road, thus the tour guide must chop up the tree to remove it. While he does that Kiernan suggests he and Christa take a walk. Kiernan is from that area and is familiar with the landscape. It is brutally cold with a blizzard brewing. The blizzard begins while they are on their walk and they get lost. Christa steps off a ledge and falls and can't find Kiernan. I've never read anything by this author, but she made the landscape and brutal weather come to life. The blowing snow, the screaming wind, the bone chilling cold. Christa wanders and wanders and eventually comes upon a cabin where everyone on the bus is except for Kiernan. Her fellow travelers bandage her hand which wax exposed to the cold and now has frostbite while she sleeps, totally exhausted. They barely have any food and use the fireplace for warmth. Luckily the door to the cabin was left open. Their tour guide goes outside to use the facilities but doesn't return. They begin to worry so set off outside to look for him. The snow has reached knee deep, wind still howling. Instead of finding him, they find something absolutely awful. He is dead. Thus begins the game of who amongst them is the killer. This is quite a long read as there are quite a few members in their party. It was so well written, I will certainly read more by Darcy Coates. I could feel the chill and cold she described. The ending was absolutely spectacular. I didn't see it coming at all. I would have never even guessed who the killer was or why. And there is a reason. Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Books for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I totally enjoyed it.Wow !!! What a great book. This was a locked room... and then there were none... type of book. Christa and Kiernan go on a vacation to a remote lodge in the Rocky Mountains. They are on a bus with others. On the way there, a tree is down blocking the road, thus the tour guide must chop up the tree to remove it. While he does that Kiernan suggests he and Christa take a walk. Kiernan is from that area and is familiar with the landscape. It is brutally cold with a blizzard brewing. The blizzard begins while they are on their walk and they get lost. Christa steps off a ledge and falls and can't find Kiernan. I've never read anything by this author, but she made the landscape and brutal weather come to life. The blowing snow, the screaming wind, the bone chilling cold. Christa wanders and wanders and eventually comes upon a cabin where everyone on the bus is except for Kiernan. Her fellow travelers bandage her hand which wax exposed to the cold and now has frostbite while she sleeps, totally exhausted. They barely have any food and use the fireplace for warmth. Luckily the door to the cabin was left open. Their tour guide goes outside to use the facilities but doesn't return. They begin to worry so set off outside to look for him. The snow has reached knee deep, wind still howling. Instead of finding him, they find something absolutely awful. He is dead. Thus begins the game of who amongst them is the killer. This is quite a long read as there are quite a few members in their party. It was so well written, I will certainly read more by Darcy Coates. I could feel the chill and cold she described. The ending was absolutely spectacular. I didn't see it coming at all. I would have never even guessed who the killer was or why. And there is a reason. Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Books for the copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I totally enjoyed it.

Dead of Winter is a thrilling story that will keep you awake well into the night turning pages as the author brings the story to a riveting conclusion. It is such a twisty and turny thriller with a super cool setting. It has an interesting blend of horror and thriller elements, with lots of different characters, each with interesting backstories. This book is heart-pounding, and will keep you guessing all the way until the end. I highly recommend it. I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of this book.

What a phenomenal trip this book was! As you read and price together this masterpiece, it continues to shock and confuse. I really enjoyed the ebb and flow as the ending came into view.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC! I loved this book! Non-stop for the very beginning. It kept you guessing the entire time. Who was going to be next? Who was the killer? I thought I have it figured out so many times but then I was wrong! Such a great job at creating the feeling of isolation and the confinement of the characters. It was amazing how everything came together yay the end and gasped when it was all revealed.

There is plenty of gore and I loved her ability of creating the anxiety of what is going to happened to the characters. There are a lot of character at the beginning to keep track of but she does a great job at reminding you of who people are, almost as if Christa, is trying to remember herself.

My only complaint or confusion was knowing the distance of landmarks around the cabin. Sometimes it felt that is was a longer ways away and other times close by

Solid 4.5 stars and I can’t wait to read more from Darcy Coates.

Wow - all I can say is what a roller coaster! This book grips you right from the start and you DO NOT want to stop turning pages. The main character, Christa goes on a "supposedly" dream vacation with her current boyfriend to a lodge deep in the smokey mountains with a group of strangers. A huge snow storm blocks the bus from making it to the lodge and they are forced to stay in a cabin found near the bus. This goes from bad to worse as each person is brutally killed and no one knows who is butchering all the people. It is a fight for survival in the worst of elements. The killings are happening fast and furious and you don't have time to stop reading if you want to know who the killer is in this book. I will say the ending was a bit abrupt and didn't really close all the loops which left me with a few questions. But overall this was a great suspenseful page turner and I would read more books from this author. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC! Non stop from page one! I could not put this one down! It's been so long since I've read a real page turner and this delivers!

This will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing until the last page. 4.5 stars!

The premise is not an unfamiliar one: a group of strangers are stranded together, and one by one, they're killed in fairly gruesome ways. However, since this is a Darcy Coates book, that relatively common set-up is imbued with an incredible amount of suspense that begins on literally the first page and continues until the story reaches its conclusion.

Christa, the protagonist, navigates the increasingly perilous situation with some actual common sense - which is typically not something that can be said of many main characters - while struggling to come to terms with events from her past that have shaped who she has become. The other characters are less well-drawn but each serves their purpose.

Coates does an impressive job of building up the intrigue and not allowing it to lag, and the unfolding mystery is well-crafted. That said, I was able to figure out who was behind the macabre events and what the motivations were very early on in the story; in fact, I thought some of the clues made it all surprisingly obvious. However, that didn't detract from the tension that ceaselessly ramped up with each successive turn of the page.

All in all, this is an entertaining, suspenseful read that I devoured in one sitting.



My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Huge thank you to Poisoned Pen Press & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates, due to be published on July 11th. Wow, what a book!! Every page, every sentence had me hanging on for more as quickly as I could possibly read it. The main character’s name is Christa which automatically gave the book cool points, even though a different spelling would have been better… 😏 Get ready to step right beside Christa every single step of this chaotic, suspenseful, deadly mountain trip. Theories of what is happening will run through your mind until the truth makes your head roll. A must-read for those who enjoy suspense thrillers & survival/isolated situations. 10/10 would recommend to fellow readers!!

I thought that this book was very inventive and kept me guessing until the end of the story. It reminded me in a way of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None set in the middle of the mountains in a blizzard. The story really delivers on the edge-of-your-seat feeling and turning the pages as quickly as you can.

I simply love Darcy Coates! Her books are so atmospheric and suspenseful. I always feel I am right there with the characters.

This book keeps you guessing, who is the killer? who will be next? I did not guess correctly at all.

This is a must must read!!

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was a real page turner locked room horror mystery.
As soon as the book starts your in it. I did find it a bit repetitive at some points. Throughout the novel I found myself second guessing myself a few times as to who the killer was. I like that I could never lock it down.

Christa and her partner go on Wilderness Luxury Trip for 2 weeks. On the way there unforseen circumstances for the bus lf strangers to take shelter in cabin. The cabin quickly becomes a place of horror. Who is killing people?

If you like
-Horror/ Mystery
-Isolation
-Twisty turny plot lines

Thank you to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Darcy Coates allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date July 11, 2023

I found this plot to have so much potential, but the repetitiveness of the daily occurrences had me struggling to push forward. At times it felt like Groundhog Day where the same things kept happening over and over. This is my first Darcy Coates and I was excited to read something that wasn’t deemed paranormal by her, but it fell a little flat for me.
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

𝘼 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧. 𝙉𝙤𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙪𝙣.

📍 Read if you like:
• Twists And Turns
• The Snowy Wilderness
• Isolated Locations
• Rocky Mountains
• Horror/Gore

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, but I’m so glad I loved it. If you plan on reading this book please stop reading my review and come back afterward - I recommend going into it not knowing much.

We follow a group of travelers who are heading down to a getaway lodge deep in the snow-covered Rocky Mountains… where everything goes wrong and they start dying one by one.

Holy Moly, the eerie atmosphere in this book was phenomenal. I found myself shivering with chills reading about this story. As soon as the storm hits we get a twist early on that I did not see coming at all - trust me, there are a few twists in this book

I don’t want to go into spoilers, but the way these characters died was so gruesome and gory. I love a good isolated horror book and this one definitely delivered.

The tension kept growing throughout the book and it had me on the edge of my seat. I was flying through my e-ARC wanting to get to the end - it was so good. This is the kind of book I would love to see turn into a movie.

This book was great - slow at times - but great overall. The atmospheric vibes with the murderer on the loose will keep you shivering. I would highly recommend picking this one up.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the gifted e-ARC in exchange for my honest review, all thoughts are my own!

Dead of Winter is the ultimate winter vacation gone wrong. You'll feel as if you're standing on a mountain with snow swirling around you. It's perfect reading if you find yourself snowed in or in the middle of a heat wave in the dog days of summer and need to mentally cool off. As I read this thriller, I was constantly second-guessing myself, and there are so many red herrings that even though I sort of anticipated the outcome, I was still taken by surprise. When I got near the end, I made sure I didn't have anything else planned because I knew I wouldn't be able to put it down.

Eek!!!