4 Stars for bestselling author Darcy Coates and Dead of Winter. Christa and her partner/friend hope on a bus with strangers for a winter getaway, this trip was not what they had in mind. Never get off the bus! No matter what. Christa made it to the safety of emergency shelter, with many strangers, but her friend did not. Was this by accident or purpose? Find out by reading this fabulous Clue-style novel with ample finger-pointing and edge-tipping pages. Thank you to Darcy Coates, NetGalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for this excellent ARC.

When I first discovered Darcy Coates, I was hooked on her spooky haunted house books. They were addicting. Then, her books changed from cozy feeling spookfests to epic stories of people in larger settings in grave danger. I was freaked out by Gallow's Hill and the subterranean scenes. From Below, set in a haunted sunken ship, made me have to pause and remind myself that I was on land and completely safe from drowing or pressure turning me into mush. I loved it. Dead of Winter finds several people on a trip to an expensive resort in the middle of the snowy Rocky Mountains. When a blizzard hits while they are enroute by bus, chaos descends as all the passengers end up in a tiny cabin not far from the bus. Then the murders start and it's tension filled fun as the survivors try to figure out who is the culprit and how to get back to civilization. I was delighted
that the author finally describes the characters' looks as I previously spent four books of her Black Winter series wondering what the main character looked like. I want to avoid spoilers, so I will say that this book was a treat with the winter setting playing an important role in the outcome. My only complaint was that the ending was a bit abrupt, Iwanted more.

This book is super fast paced and enjoyable, and when the summary says GRIPPING, it means it! This is one of those books you stay up until 4am to finish.

This was my first read by Darcy Coates and I AM FLOORED!! 👀 This book is top tier. Period.

She does an incredible job at making you paranoid and suspicious of every person and moment. Every character has the means and opportunity, and there are so many twists and turns that you better take your Dramamine beforehand to avoid motion sickness lol. I am so in shock finishing this book, and the ending was insane.

Congratulations, Darcy, I will now go buy all your books 😂 #TeamCoates

Thank you NetGalley and Darcy Coates for the ARC!

I think I would have enjoyed this more as a movie. As a book, it was so predictable that I totally lost interest. The first two chapters were really good and edge-of-the seat though.

3 stars from me.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press, Netgalley and Darcy Coates for the egalley of this book.
About the book:
When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn't be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.

Once I started this book I could not stop reading it Lots of unexpected happenings. It had me guessing, that's for sure! If you like scary trapped winter reads, this one is for you!

I don’t know what I was expecting with this novel but it wasn’t that! I was so surprised but in a good way! This was so good and so entertaining. I found myself really wanting to know what happened so much so that I couldn’t put it down! I stayed up way too late both nights reading this.

I loved the creepy secluded setting of the woods and the cabin. I loved the snow storm aspect as well.

I loved Christa and I loved her will to survive. I was so hoping that we would get a Christa and Alexis reunion scene at the end but that’s okay. The plot twists at the end made up for it! My jaw was on the floor! Soo twisty and good.

While I enjoyed almost every aspect of this book, it was a bit graphic for me at parts. I think I was expecting more of a thriller and this seemed to be more of a horror novel and some people will really love that but it was a bit much for me at some parts.

Overall though, this was a fantastic and fast paced read. It was entertaining the whole way through and has me definitely intrigued in trying more books from this author.

Disclaimer: I'm a big bIG BIG fan of Darcy Coates. So it'll be no surprise that I loved this book.

Christa starts off the trip believing that it's going to lead her into a new phase of life, and for the most part, she's not wrong. Unfortunately, rather than getting engaged, she ends up in the remote wilderness, fighting for her life against mother nature and an unknown murderous psychopath. But it's probably someone in her group...

This book was twisty and tense and heart wrenching at every turn. Darcy Coates does an amazing job of convincing you someone is safe, only to betray your trust two pages later. As always, her FMC is strong and smart and reliable, but also super relatable. Only drawback is that my yearning for secluded mountain retreats may be spoiled for awhile yet.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publishers to read and review. All of my statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

I'm a big fan of Darcy Coates! I especially her ghost horror books. This was the first murder mystery of hers I've read. It jumped straight into the story especially fast and the pacing jumped around. There were several characters and possible suspects. I guessed correctly but it took awhile to figure out why, without giving away plot. I enjoyed the main character Chrissy. She was likable and very determined. I think if there were a few more explanations and the pacing was a little more cohesive I would have enjoyed the book a little more but overall it was a fast and exciting read! Very brutal and creepy for sure! Being stuck in the middle of nowhere with strangers is awful enough but add the freezing weather and a killer and you have a terrifying nightmare for sure! Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this fun book!

There’s nothing more intense than a locked room thriller. And Darcy Coates delivered that vibe perfectly! The whole book had an eerie feeling that kept me on the edge of my seat.

This is my second book by Darcy Coates and there are so many twist and turns in this book, I loved it! I will say that I figured out who the killer was halfway into the book, but I wasnt 100% sure about it. The clues are all there though. Even knowing that I was really engrossed in the story. I do wish that the ending revealed everyones fate, but I guess thats something we’ll have to wonder about.

Dead of Winter is a fantastically thrilling addition to the locked room genre. I did figure out the killer pretty early on, but it’s a testament to Coates that the story didn’t lose any steam after that. I’d recommend to anyone looking for a fast paced, scary, and entertaining read.
The story does get pretty graphic and brutal at times so that should be mentioned.

A Darcy Coates book is always a good time and this one was a locked in mystery to be savoured. I really enjoyed the claustrophobic atmosphere and the fear of the characters. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold snowy evening... if you dare.

Holy creep-fest! This was so intense! It was sheer psychological tension with horror tossed in for good measure. So many secrets and lies. Such a gruesome game of who-done-it.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

As always Darcy came through. I have to have a physical copy to reread. It was that good.
This was an action packed, gory isolated winter thriller. I loved every minute. The very first scene is so claustrophobic, and terrifying. You will not be able to put this down. I am such a Darcy fan. I have loved everything I have read. This might be my new favorite. I loved the tension, and thrills.
We follow a group who is stranded in a horrible storm. They are getting picked off one by one. You have to pick this up asap.
This book is set to release in July 2023.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poison Pen for an eCopy of this amazing book

This is a perfect mash up of thriller and horror a thrillhor if you will. In true Coates fashion this is an absolutely unsettling read. Giving And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie with much more sinister circumstances, Dead of Winter is a super slow burn who done it, mystery massacre. However, if you have the patience for it (it pays off!) once the (snow)ball starts rolling, it's an avalanche of atrocities that will bury you alive. This is my second Darcy Coates novel and will not be my last.

Your classic who dunnit.

Christa goes on a winter cabin getaway with her boyfriend and a bus full of strangers. They encounter a snow storm and a tree blocking the road to the cabin. People start getting murdered, and they have no idea who is responsible.

The whole story is told from Christa’s POV, which I honestly preferred rather than needing to keep track of multiple POVs.

The middle DRAGGED on. I found it quite slow and overly descriptive where it wasn’t necessary.

The beginning and the end were decent.

While this novel had a decent amount of suspense, it didn’t keep me glued to my kindle. I would pick it up, read a couple of pages, and find myself scrolling my phone 2 minutes later.

Wasn’t my fav, but wasn’t bad!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Despite this being called Dead of Winter I’m reading in the beginning of spring. But it’s still pretty cold here in Ohio so I was able to imagine freezing snow!

Christa and Kiernan are stuck in a blizzard that very well may be the end of them. This is how Dead of Winter begins. We are immediately thrown out into the cold unsure of how these two characters have gotten here. I love when books start this way because it immediately grabs your attention and you are hooked. We don’t find out what happened before the snow until chapter three.

As a rule, I don’t usually read book descriptions. Especially if I love the author. All I knew going into this I learned from the cover. I’ll read anything Darcy Coates writes. I assumed at the beginning that ghosts would be involved somehow. Around 15% into the book things took a turn and I sensed no ghosts would be in this story.

Classic who done it but with even more gore. I love stories like this that have unique characters. Some you trust and love immediately while others you hate from the beginning with no idea why. You know there will be a twist and try to figure it out before it happens!

I managed to start and finish this in a matter of a few hours. I was intrigued and I had to know what would happen to Christa.

This is definitely a deviation from Coates’ normal books but I applaud her effort. If you enjoy thrillers and mysteries I highly recommend Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this. I have written this review voluntarily.

3.5 stars

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

This book starts out with Christa and Kiernan walking in the snow. Christa worries that they’re lost, but she follows behind Kiernan, trusting him. Then suddenly she slips down a crevice. It only goes downhill from there.

This is the perfect read for winter. This is only the second book I’ve read by Darcy Coates. I liked that the chapters weren’t long. The author uses the And Then There Were None trope, which is one I do enjoy. I did guess the who done it, but not the exact reason why. The ending is a bit ambiguous. There are eleven characters to keep track of, which made it a bit hard for me to remember who was who.

I dont know how to feel about this book. For 2/3rds of the book I was certain it was 5 stars but then things got so boring, the chase was so dragged and I just skimmed through pages to get to the end. The entire book was very descriptive but I didn't notice it until the last third when I was like ENOUGH TELL ME WHO DID IT??!!! Stop chasing (literal chase predator and prey chasing each other was drawn out several pages... chaps ...) and beating about the bush..
But I still enjoyed it I DID I DID ... MY eyes were glued to my screen and the short chapters definitely helped me. Why oh why did I start this at 3 am???!!

The characters were so well developed. Flawed and 3 dimensional. And the motive behind the massacre was very well plotted even if it wasn't very original, it was well thought out and made sense.

I knew and expected who the killer was but I still clapped when it was revealed because I was really hoping the author would take this direction, so my satisfaction with how things wrapped up was off the charts.

It's noteworthy that this is very gory so definitely not for everyone. Wasn't for me but yer girl didn't know how gory it was until she was so invested in the story she couldn't put it down. And I have to give it to the author this book was unputdownable from the very beginning. Incredibly fast paced.

Take Frozen's setting (not the animated movie but that movie about 3 friends stuck on a chairlift) take that setting, storms billowing lonely cabins strangers huddled in, no contact with the outside world and then mix in AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

I have read all of Darcy Coates Ghost books. I haven't read the Black Winter series yet so when I received this ARC I was excited to read something a little different from the haunting stories. I couldn't believe the gory details she told in this book. I had a few UGHH moments for sure. This was a great story about survival and figuring out who the bad person is. I did see the twist coming but I'm ok with that. I didn't see how it was gonna play out coming though. Such a great read but I expected nothing less because Darcy is an amazing writer!!
I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!


Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC early for my honest opinion.