This was the first Darcy Coates book that I've read. It will definitely not be my last, that's for sure. I loved this horror book and will definitely be buying a copy. I received an e- arc from netgalley and sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review.

A solid suspense thriller about a group of strangers trapped by a blizzard in a cabin in the middle of nowhere who start getting murdered one by one. Exactly everything you think it’s going to be, no more, no less, so if this is a story you want to read - read this story!

I love a suspense thriller but I tend to be disappointed because I have high expectations. Maybe that’s unfair - not every book can reinvent the genre, can say something profound about the human experience, can change how its readers think about something. This book definitely does none of those things. However, it is plotted and paced impeccably, and I was in the exact right mood for it. I spent last winter living not too far from where this book was set (just drive north for a couple days, nbd!) and I have been missing the 20 below temperature and the multiple feet of snow. 💙🤍💙🤍 This book was exactly what I needed, especially because I could read it from the warmth of my cozy apartment haha.

This was chilling from the first page and had me on the edge of my seat. The writing created this stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere with the weather being so well described I could almost feel it. I could also feel thr rising suspense and panic as the story went on it was just so creatively written. I loved all the twists and turns and could truly not guess who the killer was and was truly shocked on the end.

If you like suspenseful mysteries that keep you on the edge of your seat, guessing which characters are actually trustworhthy till the very end. This book is for you.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this early. What can I say, I am a sucker for Darcy Coates and this one definitely did not disappoint. I have already preordered a copy for my book shelf immediately after finishing this book.

I personally like to go into mysteries, thrillers, or horrors as blindly as possible so I am not going to talk about the story itself.

What I will say instead is Darcy Coates has a way of making books super atmospheric and conveying characters emotions so well. From the very beginning, I felt so invested in Christa's story and I could FEEL the weather, the desperation, and the anxiety and I LOVED it. I finished this book in a single sitting because I just couldn't put it down! There is a decently large cast of characters in this sort of locked room whodunit type story, but each of them were described well enough, and given enough of a back story and personality that I had no trouble keeping them separate in my head the entire time.

I have already recommended this book to my mom as well, and I can't wait to hear what she thinks. Absolutely loved this one!

Thriller!!

Christa and her boyfriend are planing a winter trip to a lodge in the Rockies. On the way there they get stopped and get lost in the woods during a sudden snowstorm. She falls and they get separated. she makes it to a cabin where the rest of the group are sheltering. The group is being murdered one by one and we don’t know who it is or who is next.

It was so good! I made the mistake of starting this book right before bed. I stayed up really late reading, and couldn’t get back to it until after work so it was on my mind the whole time. Which unfortunately, gave me time to predict the villain. I was thinking “wouldn’t it be crazy if it was ____, and the reason they did it was because _____. ” and I was right. I was excited to be right about it.

I loved that I was constantly guessing who it was, and the book misdirected several times. I knew the twist was going to be out there so I predicted something I thought would be a crazy prediction and with every misdirection I was thinking maybe my crazy prediction was too crazy!

Despite the fact I predicted it I enjoyed every second of this book.

I'm always gonna wanna read a Darcy Coates novel. I definitely love some more than others, but Coates has been very consistent in creating thrillers/horrors that I absolutely love everytime. This is no exception. I was grateful to receive an ARC through netgalley and this was one of those books that I couldn't put down, even when the sun started coming up and I realized I hadn't slept.

Christa is a really dynamic character and I loved being in her brain, following her through the mystery of everything, and genuinely having no idea who was behind the gruesome killings. I kept guessing and coming up wrong (but I love that). I thought the ending made sense and was artfully crafted, keeping the tension going through the very last word. The only thing I would've liked more is if it was mentioned what happened to (redacted characters) after everything because I was worried about them 😅

But honestly, this is one of the best Darcy Coates I've read in a while. From Below will always be my fav but this was a very close second, and I loved every minute of it.

Dead of Winter Review!!

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!! Dead of Winter comes out 11 July 2023!

Not going to lie, I didn’t even read the synopsis for this one. I adore every single thing that Coates writes and it was set in the winter, so I immediately requested it. Dead of Winter was a 5/5 ⭐️ for me! Talk about a whodunnit!! This was absolutely amazing and the mystery was kept until the very end!! I found myself saying I KNEW IT like 5 times. I, in fact, did not “knew it” whatsoever 😂. I feel like there are so many authors that are considered “the Agatha Christie of our time”, but dang, Coates may be one of them when it comes to her murder mysteries. I can almost 100% guarantee that you will not figure out the murderer until the end. If you do, wow, you are smart! This one was GORY and extremely graphic. The murderer has a thing for beheading their victims. 🙃 Read it!

This is my first Darcy Coates book and it did not disappoint. What pulled me first and foremost was the cold and unsettling winter isolation vibes of the title and the book cover itself. Initially, I thought this was of the supernatural genre but boy, was I wrong! It had me hooked from first page up to the big revelation. Coates was very clever in misguiding all my hunches, I had to jump from one culprit to another thinking he/she could be it but ended up being wrong.

Overall, a very good mystery/thriller to keep those neurons and detective skills on power mode.

3.5 stars

Dead of Night by Darcy Coates caught my eye as I felt in the mood for something of the horror genre, and this sounded like it would be a fantastic fit. I will say it definitely hit a lot of the areas I was really looking for in this vein and I quite enjoyed certain aspects of it. I would highly recommend this book for someone looking for some good horror movie, blood and fire type vibes as it was definitely an A+ in terms of that.

Where this book worked well, is in the sheer terror and tension it elicited in the reader all throughout. I honestly feel like I spent a vast majority of this book clenching my teeth because I was so affected by everything the characters were going through. There were so many moments that had me so tense. I also found their sense of paranoia creeping in to me, I was back and forth guessing who might be the culprit murdering people and felt like small things would set me off on one character or another until I felt just like Christie, whose POV this book is in, unable to trust anyone. Which emphasizes the fact that the author did a very good job of keeping the reader guessing all throughout. I was admittedly very surprised when an early theory of mine ended up being true, despite constantly jumping around being suspicious of everyone.

Where it lacked a bit more for me was probably in the characters. I found it very hard to connect with any of them or truly feel sorry for them. Admittedly this may very well be intentional both to generate suspicion, and to lead up to the climax, but regardless it took me out of it a bit. Beyond that, the start was a bit slow for me as it took a bit before I really got into the story (though I flew through the end which is where I felt this book truly shone.

Altogether it was a nice, quick read with a strong air of horror and I did enjoy it in the end. I definitely do recommend it for lovers of horror because it was fantastic in this aspect, and it is a tense, murder filled read with the main character trying to figure out who the killer is. All in all, this was enjoyable and a quick read.

I enjoyed this book. It felt like a more gruesome and gory "retelling" of Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Not a straight retelling by any means, but it definitely pays homage to that story. This is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It was propulsive and surprising and worth reading for sure.

I have just finished reading Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates.

I must say that I did enjoy this book. I do not usually gravitate towards books about characters lost in the snow, and cold as a whole. But am glad that I read this one.

The main character Christa is with a tour group that is heading into the snowy Rocky Mountains.

The story is a thriller, filled with suspense, who did it, and lots of intrigue to keep a reader going.


Thank You to NetGalley, The Author and Poisoned Pen Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

#netgalley #poisonedpenpress #darcybooks

My first Darcy Coates novel and it was decent if unspectacular.

A familiar format here. A group of strangers are drawn together and start to die one by one. One of them being the murderer.

Here it’s set in the snowy Rockies where our group think they are on their way to holiday in a chalet. When their bus is forced off the road they find shelter from the snow and storms in a shed where they proceed to lose their lives one by one.

It’s an old trope given a new lick of paint, an Agatha Christie homage no doubt. The format itself didn’t quite work for me as it’s told from our main protagonists point of view for the whole story. She is a somewhat uninteresting and slightly annoying character so spending the whole book with her wasnt fun.

The first half of the book really drags and becomes repetitive. They go outside. One gets killed, they retreat back to the shed. They do it again. The same thing happens. Rinse and repeat.

In the second half the pace picks up and becomes a lot more readable and indeed exciting as the back story is finally fleshed out.

It’s a decent if utterly forgettable read. I wanted to like it more than I did. Weak characters, repetitive and a format that didn’t quite work for me being the weak points here. The second half makes up for it somewhat as it finally resolves the story.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

What an amazing ride! Incredibly suspenseful, this book does not have a single dull moment. Not a slow burn at all! Every page is filled with action from start to finish at breakneck pace. The writing is easy to get into and the plot is solid. Plenty of clues left by the author so the twist is predictable but this does NOT AT ALL affect the quality of the story or enjoyment of the book. It's fun to see how the story pans out even after/if you've guessed the ending. I can totally see this being made into a movie! If you love locked room mysteries this book IS FOR YOU. I read it in two days and could not put it down!! Thanks, netgalley, for this ARC!

Phew! I couldn't put this down! I love books like this with heaps of mystery, back-story, direction and misdirection. I was kept guessing and then changing my mind about who was responsible for the targeted and gory events in this book. Loved every second.

I've seen people refer to Darcy's books as "cozy horror." This book is NOT cozy. I read an interview where Darcy basically said she intentionally writes more positive books, & I have to wonder what drove her to write this. I'm not complaining. I was not surprised by who the killer was at all, but I still enjoyed it. I do think it ended too abruptly for my tastes. I've read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, & some other one-by-one books. This story was good enough that it didn't feel like a copy

First off, I’d like to thank Poisoned Press and Darcy Coates for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was so excited to receive this one, as thrillers are my favorite and I’ve heard great things about Darcy’s previous work. The setting is so atmospheric and vividly described which really sets the stage and the shorts chapters made this easy to binge fairly quick. One of my favorite movies is Identity and this gave me a lot of identity vibes which our course I loved. And I must say I really enjoyed this one. The beginning was a bit slow to get into but it picked right up and I was so invested at the end, staying up late until I passed out to try and finish. This one is one I can’t wait to recommend and would rate 4.5 stars ONLY because the ending left me wanted a couple more details. While this is my first Darcy Coates book, it will certainly not be my last! I can’t wait to get my hand on some of her previous work now.

This was a fantastic read! I personally am not a winter person and this whole scene of being stranded in a blizzard is just so unsettling for me. I loved the whole locked room mystery aspect of this as well.

A huge thank you to the publisher, Darcy Coates, and NetGalley for this ARC!

The last book I read by Darcy was not for me, so I was hesitant to give this one a try. I was in the mood for a snowy thriller and this does not disappoint!

I loved the short chapters, I loved how this story flowed, I loved the blizzard setting! This was an absolute perfect read for winter!

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book needs to come with a warning - Please ensure you are tucked up under a cosy blanket with a hot chocolate (and preferably a sleeping pet near by). Told from a first person perspective, you will feel the cold and the fear through every page. Absolutely brilliant read!

I was so excited to get this book because it checks all my “favorite type of thriller” boxes:

✅Snowy atmosphere
✅Locked room mystery
✅Akin to 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦

Unfortunately that’s where the love affair ends. While I still was flipping pages fast to see what was going on, I ended up being right from the start…bummer. It also was quite repetitive and you are going to need to suspend quite a bit of disbelief to get through this one. There were SO many things that didn’t add up or simply made so little sense I was left muttering to myself in annoyance. I’m not going to go into details because I don’t want to spoil too much but suffice it to say that if there’s a killer knocking us off one by one and I find a big ass ax, I’m not leaving it behind because it’s too “big”. That thing is coming with me and I’m going to be bench pressing it while waiting for it to be my turn.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this one early.