This book had everything I like: isolated location, winter storm, group of people, and mystery. But sadly I wasn’t satisfied with tis book.

The first 50% were dragging and I found myself bored from repetitiveness: people go outside and the group finds them dead later. Also, I was able to guess the twist. The only thing that kept me going is the short chapters…

But you should give this book a try. I see a lot of people who love this book. It was unfortunately not for me.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a locked room mystery. There are tons of this genre on the market - some really work out and some fall flat. This is one of the former and not the latter. There was enough misdirection to make me continually keep on my toes and change my thoughts. The writing was good and the action was fast paced which made for a quick read.

Thank you so much to the publisher for this ARC!

I love Darcy Coates’s horror, so I was very excited to read her foray into the thriller genre. Some of her spookier books definitely straddle the line between horror and thriller so I figured I was in for a fun, light, guessing-game kind of ride, as the plot summary of “Dead of Winter” paid homage to locked room murder mysteries and such classics as “And Then There Was None”.

Unfortunately, there was no guessing game here. The guilty party is extremely telegraphed from the very beginning. I’m awful at guessing the killer in these books - dreadful! I never get it right! - but as I progressed here, the answer seemed so obvious that I was certain it had to be a red herring. Nope. I was correct.

Outside of the obvious issue with predictability, we never really got to know the characters very well to care about them. Partly that was due to the number of them - even with an active and vicious killer among them, there were too many - and part of it was due to a shy, standoffish heroine. Either way, the emotional beats did not land. I never felt much fear or worry when someone went missing because I had to circle back and remind myself who was who.

A rare miss for me. I still love Coates, but this one wasn’t it for me.

Generally likable but highly predictable tale from Coates about a group of snow lodge visitors whose bus gets waylaid on the trip, forcing them to seek shelter in a nearby cabin. They begin to get picked off one by one as storms rage and have to fight to survive until help can arrive. The biggest problem is that both the killer's identity and motive are easily figured out very early on in the novel. Was pretty obvious to me. The story moves along nicely and it's gripping at times, with plenty of killings and suspicion to go around, but it was hard to generate any real suspense once I knew where it was going. I liked it for the most part, but the ending felt pretty flat and anti-climactic. 2.5 stars bumped to 3 for the overall quality of writing and bleak setting but just can't go any higher over the predictable ending. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was OK. I found myself compelled to keep reading, but honestly by the end I was over it. I feel like if you followed the clue at the beginning you can guess the ending. There are a few twists that will shock you, but overall I got bored towards the end. Darcy’s overall writing style is interesting and easy to read.

This book was FANTASTIC! It was such a page turner and I loved all the twists and turns. I was so excited by the ending twist. I loved Christa’s character and the way this story touched on how people react when cornered and trapped. I am huge Darcy Coates fan and this book just reinforced that! Highly recommend this to any thriller lovers!

Although this is not my usual genre I was intrigued by the description of this book. And it did not disappoint. The writing was vivid but did drag a bit in places. The book kept me guessing throughout and I thought the ending was well planned and may catch many readers by surprise. The gore factor was high to me but I do recommend this book for those who enjoy horror thrillers. I appreciate the ARC from the author, publisher, and NetGalley and thank them - all comments are my own.

Darcy Coates is one of my favorite authors and her books are an “auto buy” for me. I have read quite a few others and Dead of Winter did not go where I expected it to.

Most of the books I’ve read by Darcy Coates are haunted house related. All of them involve ghosts in some aspect though.

Dead of Winter had everything I look for in a book. Suspense, mystery, twists, the fun stuff. For a horror book, it wasn’t too terribly gory. Having only read haunting books by Coates, I was blindsided by what I was reading. I loved every second of it though!

Darcy Coates still remains at the top of my Favorite Author list! I’m so glad I got the chance to read and review this book early! I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

Thank you poisenedpenpress and Netgalley for allowing me access to my first ever Darcy Coates book.

This book is atmospheric, and absolutely chilling. I didn’t know I had a fear of being abandoned in a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere completely isolated from any civilization. Darcy Coates does a phenomenal job keeping you guessing and keeping you literally gasping. She leads you to believe whodunit, and I was given whiplash numerous times. I thought I had it all figured out but each time I was wrong.
I never wanted to put this book down. I love short chapters and it kept me fully engaged the whole time.
This is the perfect slasher.

I loves this. This was such a gripping/suspenseful read with so many twists. It might be my favorite Darcy Coates book to date.
Christa and her boyfriend, Kieran, are on their way to a lodge for a winter getaway with a group of strangers. On the way to the lodge their bus gets stuck unable to go any further due to a tree fallen in the snow. Christa and Kieran decide to take a walk in the woods when they get separated from the group, then each other. Christa wakes up in a cabin with one of the other passengers stitching up her hand, but Kieran is still missing. Christa insists they continue to look for him even during the dangerous storm, but they are still unable to fund him. When they wake up the next morning they find their tour guide dead. This is when they realize a killer is among them, but who?

I don’t think I ever want to go on a trip to a secluded cabin with strangers! Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates was great. You think it’s going in one direction and then BAM. Not what you were thinking! Definitely recommend this one!

This is the 3rd Darcy Coates ARC I’ve been able to read and once again, I’m impressed with how versatile this author is. I’ve read quite a few of her books and I can honestly say she just gets better with each one.

Dead of Winter is a harrowing tale of the desperate lengths people will go to in order to survive, and how easy it is to turn on one another.

There were a couple elements I found repetitive, such as the events of August 8th which the main character, Christa, refers to as such throughout the story and her feelings towards her boyfriend. Otherwise, I thought Darcy Coates told a twisted and consuming story. There is quite a bit of graphic gore throughout the novel so be aware this is not for the squeamish. If there’s one thing Coates excels at it’s making the reader’s skin crawl.

Atmospheric, edge of your seat, whodunit. The terror and despair were palpable. Had an idea from the onset who the killer might be but the story was still written well enough and came together at a good pace to keep me invested.

This will definitely be the top horror/thriller release of 2023. This book was impossible to put down and I finished it within the first evening of starting it. Every time you think you figured out who the murderer is, you realize you’re wrong. Generally, I have a high accuracy rate for figuring out twists by the end. However, this one left me questioning up until the last few pages. Fantastic book, eerie, lots of unexpected twists and a book I will continue thinking about over the next week. I really hope this novel becomes a movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Moni’s lil’ review:
Wow! Darcy Coates, ‘Dead of Winter’ is a bone chilling, tense ride into the unknown. The descriptive nature of this read had me bundled up, not able to put it down for fear of knowing what was next for the characters stranded at a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains.

A who done it thriller filled with mutilated bodies, a horrifically ornamented tree, and tension that can only be cut by ice. Darcy Coates is currently one of my favorite authors and this is now at the top of my list with an ending I won’t be able to forget. I give this a 5/5 ⭐️

** Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this fantastic book! **

I would like to thank Netgalley and the author for this advance copy of Dead of Winter. The moment I first picked this book up I knew it was for me and once I had picked it up I found it really hard to put it down. It was a fab read and once it got started it was like a rock falling down a hill the pace of the novel growing faster with each passing chapter. I felt I should have guessed the identity of the killer, but I didn’t and that is mostly down to the author keeping me guessing. If you like thrilling locked room mysteries and gore a plenty then this is the book for you and I urge you to get a copy when it comes out.

Arc Review: Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates 🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book really kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It is one of those books you just can’t put down. Darcy Coates has a way of making you feel like you are right there, feeling the same building dread as the main character. It was a super enjoyable but I will say the ending was a tad predictable. But it was good suspenseful read nonetheless.

Thank you @netgalley and @poisenedpenpress for a digital ARC in return for an honest review. 🖤

Pros:
Great chapter length -Usually no more than 10 pages per chapter.
Tense atmosphere- The mountains and storm was very well written
Character Development- Darcy did a great job of making me care about the main character.
Pacing- It has good pacing it did have a few slow parts but its hard not to have slower parts

Cons:
It had some grammatical errors
It did drag a little in the middle, but that was ok.
Honestly I didn't find many cons that weren't something that every book has struggles with.
I would rec this on my booktok as well as to friends. Having it come out in July is a great choice, I feel the most starved for cold weather in the summer.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Pub Date: July 11, 2023


Read this if you like:
-No Exit or And Then There Were None
-the isolated snowy cabin trope
-a faced paced suspenseful horror

There is nothing slow burn about this book. From the time you start, you are on terrifying journey of survival that doesn’t let up until the last page. I could not put this book down, it kept me guessing the whole time. Even when I thought I finally pieced the puzzle together, I was WAY off! My mind was all over the place trying to figure out what was going on and who the killer was. Is it more than one person? Is it an outsider? At one time or another, I thought every character could have been the killer. Does that mean I guessed it?

Another thing that I LOVED about this book was the horror aspect. Darcy is one of my favorite horror authors and she did not disappoint. I figured this would be more of a thrilling locked room mystery and while it was, she also laced in horror with perfection. She had me cringing with her visuals throughout the whole book. Gruesome in all the best ways.

The thought that had to go into the plot has my head spinning. The ending was the plot twist of all plot twists and left me CHILLED. This might be my new favorite from Darcy, definitely one to have on your radar!

A huge thank you to Netgalley, Poisoned Pen Press and of course, Darcy Coates, I can’t wait for this to come out so I can have a hardcopy on my shelf.

Frozen twists and turns galore, and an ending I absolutely did not expect. Devoured this whole treat in one sitting, wish i had saved it for longer!