Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Now that the weather is turning, there's nothing better than an appropriately atmospheric book. Lindy Ryan's Cold Snap immediately sunk me ankle-deep in snow and ice and held me tight till it hurt to breathe. Following the loss of her husband two weeks previous, Christine bundles her teenage son, Billy, and their cat into the car to spend the holidays at a remote cabin as originally planned. The only thing colder than the weather is the new frost between mother and son as they contend with their loss. The relationship between Christine and Billy, what brings them together and pulls them apart, is one of the stronger elements of the novella. The flashbacks Christine has to her husband's death are also really great as they literally interrupt the current scene in a jarring but effective way. The moose, whether metaphorical or real, was a terrifying aspect and had a great presence. The setting is rich with potential and was described well.

However, too many aspects of the novella felt ambiguous or unclear and I ended it not really knowing how I felt. The last third is a confusing mix of things that may or may not be happening and it was hard to keep track of past and present. Other reviewers have noted the extreme animal violence, which didn't prevent me from reading further, but also didn't feel fully earned. The hints of domestic violence were never clear enough to reveal much. Whether this is an intentional reflection of how trauma and grief often unfocus our memories or accidental, I can't be sure.

Overall, a quick and entertaining read. I'd recommend it for readers yearning for frosty mountains, families contending with a powerful loss, and anyone who hates the thought of being stalked by a moose.

Cold snap is a psychological horror combining a good old creature feature with our deepest, darkest emotions of fear and loss. I found that Lindy has a great writing style that builds intense dread through the eyes of a women who lost her husband to a tragic accident. The flashbacks, the imagined ( or real ? ) sense of being hunted in an isolated forest just kept me reading, page turning until the very end. Cold snap is one of them books which it will sit within your psyche.

Thank you Netgalley and Titan Books books for this eArc

4 stars

Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan is a haunting and atmospheric novella that delves deep into themes of loss, guilt, and grief. Set against the backdrop of a remote mountain cabin during Christmas, the story follows a grieving mother and son as they confront not only their inner demons but also the literal ones lurking in the frozen woods.

Ryan masterfully creates a sense of dread and isolation, making the reader feel the chilling cold and the oppressive weight of sorrow. The novella’s strength lies in its ability to blur the lines between reality and the supernatural, leaving readers questioning what is real and what is imagined.

The narrative is both horrific and heartbreaking, drawing comparisons to works like The Shining and The Babadook. The emotional depth and psychological horror make it a compelling read that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

If you’re a fan of horror that explores the human psyche and the impact of grief, Cold Snap is a must-read. It’s a story that will consume you, much like the relentless winter storm that traps its characters.

A family minus the father, head to a cabin in the mountains. Mom is hoping to fulfill her husband’s wish of Christmas in the snow. Once mom and son arrive strange things begin to happen. The son is already suffering due to his father’s death. Mom thought the trip would help the two to grieve. What happens become a story of survival and what the mind can configure to deal with the unknown. This book was equal parts scary and equal parts a fever dream. While the descriptions of being stalked by a ‘creature’ (the reader never quite gets the feel for a horror of substance) the feeling of something being wrong is real. This is not a typical horror story, it is something else altogether.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC.

Honestly, the mundane conversations between Christine and Billy were better written than the horror parts. It showed the tension within a family after the death of one of their own. There was a lot of potential for whatever that was haunting Christine, and it kinda got too muddled from the cabin onwards. I felt like I was lacking a lot of context for the monster, beyond it being a manifestation of her grief and guilt. It felt too short to really build on what it had going.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6972409496

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/72a79c23-cd00-4f5b-9f8d-98c4b5972897

Check out this review of Cold Snap on Fable. https://fable.co/review/a4148bd5-bd9d-41d4-b2fc-77df320b385a/share

I fear this one went right over my head. I have literally no idea what happened at the end. It felt like a fever dream. I really liked the setting and the beginning of the book but by the end I was completely lost.
2/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an arc copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was fantastic! Fast-paced, wintry, muzzled with grief, and some really creepy isolated nature horror that I really enjoyed! It all happens so quickly that you should get lost, but no, Ryan manages to keep everything locked together neat and tight and wonderfully gripping!

I would have preferred a warning about animal violence. It's gross, and it's one thing I don't read. I feel like it's a cheap writing tactic as well.

It's a very nice short story by one of my favorite horror authors out there. The book is neurotic, fast paced and wild but still keeps everything together so chaos is avoided. I received a free eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.

Grief horror is a fave so I was excited for this one. It’s a quick, frigid, fever dream of a novella, and full of heartbreak, sorrow, and a woman that seems to be on the edge of completely losing her sanity. The ending had me confused but I think that may have been the point?

If you like grief horror, this one is perfect for a cold winter night to read in one sitting. Thanks to Titan Books for my eARC. Cold Snap is available now.

2.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/10/22/review-cold-snap-by-lindy-ryan/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Not Sure About This One

Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed Bless Your Heart by this author I couldn’t resist requesting a copy of Cold Snap. Before I start on my thoughts this is a novella and I hadn’t realised that at the time, they rarely work for me as I prefer something I can really sink into. That being said I don’t think this particular story would necessarily benefit by being longer. It’s overwhelming bleak and there’s no let up from the despair so I think the shorter length and ability to complete in one sitting works in it’s favour.

The story starts with an introduction to Christine and her son Billy. Two weeks ago Christine’s husband Derek fell from a ladder, whilst stringing Christmas lights, dying instantly. As you may imagine the mood is terribly depressing and the holidays are fast approaching. Before he died, Derek booked a holiday cabin for the vacation and his wife has decided to still go on this winter break in keeping with her husband’s original intent.

Immediately the atmosphere is very moody. Billy barely speaks, Christine is riddled with guilt and constantly replays her husband’s fall in her head and the whole adventure seems ill set. Things steadily go from bad to worse. The cabin is freezing cold and a bit shabby. The two have no appetite to make things any better and Christine, as well as suffering from some sort of blackouts starts to see a huge beast at the edge of the woods.

Okay, to be honest, my headspace is definitely not right for this book. Having suffered loss myself last year I hadn’t realised just how dark and depressing this was going to be and it simply wasn’t for me. I’m more about upbeat, cosy and light at the moment. That being said, I still love a bit of horror and mystery but this one felt to raw. So bear that in mind.

This is well written without doubt and having read the author previously I think I was prepared for her particular blend of bloodiness. The atmosphere is tense. The two main characters are constantly on edge and the whole affair feels desperately cold. Ryan can certainly set a scene and create palpable tension.

The characters. Well, it’s difficult to like them but that’s understandable. They’re going through perhaps the most awful trauma they’ve ever experienced and instead of bringing them together it’s actually forcing them apart. Christine is suffering guilt, she thinks her son blames her and would prefer that it had been her who fell and witnessing her husband’s fall from a position of seeing everything and yet being unable to help has affected her mentally. She’s not coping well to be honest. Neither is Billy although, and in spite of his almost non verbal communication, he’s probably coping better than his mom.

So, I think the writing is great, the atmosphere and tension you could cut with a knife and the dynamic between the two is taught enough to snap at any moment. Then things go crazy.

My issues with this. As I mentioned above, I’m not in the right reading mood for such sadness. I want something that’s going to lift me and this isn’t that thing – I can see this might work for others – just not for me at this particular point. I didn’t feel the sort of love or affection from Christine towards Billy that I would expect – but – and this is a big BUT – I’ve never experienced what she has and clearly it’s affecting her in so many ways. She’s driven all the way up to a cabin in the woods without bringing any real supplies. She doesn’t stop on the way even to let her son eat, she hasn’t considered the fact that stores will close early or there’s a storm as well as a holiday approaching. But, yes, I get that she’s not functioning at the moment – but it just added another layer of sadness for me.

What is also missing from this for me is, apart from the sadness, there are no other emotions really evident. Christine actually witnesses something that, to me, should have hit her like a ton of bricks, but it didn’t.

Also, I’m just going to warn you that there is a pet involved in this story – and it doesn’t end well at all. I mean in fairness, there’s another death which is also a bit nasty.

Finally, I simply didn’t understand the ending. There I said it. I feel like a raging dunce but I hold my hands up – what was going on?? This is probably just me. Be warned.

I don’t really want to be overly negative and I certainly wouldn’t discourage others from picking up. It just didn’t work for me. I will certainly have no hesitation picking up anything by this author.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 2.5 of 5 stars rounded to 3

Mixed feelings on this one for sure. A fever dream of a short story that examines the muddled thoughts and the deteriorating sanity of a family in grief, this is a story that loses itself a bit in the confusion it creates. Ultimately I just found the story more difficult to follow than I would have liked. Ryan does a good job at punctuating the present timeline with jarring intrusive memories regarding the main death in the novel, You are never quite allowed to settle in your surroundings, but rather than unease I more felt feelings of bafflement and eventually disillusionment. It's possible that I just didn't quite understand what the story was going for, and for such a short story I don't regret reading it, but this one just wasn't for me.

I want to start with a Trigger warning for cat death/animal abuse and general gore. As we know I love horror but for some reason I draw the line at animal abuse for seemingly no reason. Unfortunately for me Ryan’s use of animal abuse seemed bordering on unnecessary, particularly given the ending of the novella. I almost did not finish this one due to it but with arcs or book tours I always try my hardest to finish the book and give an honest review.

As such I will say unfortunately this one was not for me. I will say I did enjoy the set up at the start and the writing. It did seem a bit awkward but I think that was a brilliant way to give insight the relationship between Christine and her son. I did get alarm bells when they were taking a cat to a cabin in the middle of the mountains but I digress.

The plot I think generally has a great premises but I feel like maybe it needed to be longer to fully explore it. The ending just seemed too quick and a little too open ended. I appreciate at the heart it’s exploring grief and coping with that but I felt that the ending just didn’t really tie up anything.

Despite the writing being interesting and the general plot having potential this one just wasn’t for me. Especially when you throw in such graphic descriptions of animal murder with no real explanation to why. I know this is annoyingly a bit of a trope in horror that I do have to deal with but at least not so viscerally.

As always thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for my copy. My review is always honest, truthful and freely given.

Trigger warning: animal death in a pretty gruesome way.

If that isn't enough to stop you from picking up this fever dream of a novella, maybe the fact that it isn't cohesive and ends in an odd way will. The idea was there and, at first, intriguing. Grief is powerful and I was interested to see where the author would go blending grief and horror. But the execution just fell flat for me.

Not only did the main character do things that made zero sense, the plot line was hard to follow. Was she hallucinating? Was it real? Was it a maybe moose, an actual moose, or something else?

Also, the cat's death was traumatizing if you hate animal abuse/death/torture. If I had known that would happen, I would not have picked this book up.

1.5 stars rounded up to 2 for goodreads.

This was a great horror novella that had me gripped from the very beginning and I couldn't put it down. Recommend if you're looking for a short wintery horror story.

Cold Snap is a horror novella following a mother and son who go away during Christmas to stay at a remote cabin in the woods. The father tragically died a few weeks prior, and the mother just wants to escape reality for a little while with her son. The story deals with loss and grief. I was hoping this would be more of a creature horror type of book, but the main focus is on the mother’s guilt and grief. There is a creature, but you don’t come across it until the end. The ending confused me and the story ended very abruptly. I really enjoyed Lindy Ryan’s previous book, but this one fell short for me.

CW: death of cat

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC of this book via NetGalley for review.

*2.5 stars

This novella was really hard to follow. I think the premise of a grieving family spending Christmas in a remote cabin and letting spooky stuff unfold was interesting, but the way this story was written had me rereading sentences, paragraphs, PAGES to see if I’d missed something. It felt choppy and disjointed, and I unfortunately wasn’t a fan…

Thanks to NetGalley & Titan Books for providing an eARC.

This is definitely a weird one. Following the sudden death of her husband, Christina and her 15yo head out on a preplanned vacation in a very remote part of the woods. Things very quickly go awry.

Ryan does a fantastic job at portraying grief and also an individual who is possibly disassociating with reality. Christina is stuck in a loop where she seems to constantly be reliving her husband’s death. She’s not the most likable protagonist. From the first page she makes questionable decisions and struggles with basic tasks. Billy, her son, is a standard sullen teenager but with the added weight of immense loss. He’s a sympathetic character but we don’t get as much of him as I’d have liked.

I really feel like this could have been an easy five star read had it been about a hundred pages longer. The ending was abrupt and I definitely didn’t fully understand it. There’s so many loose threads that Ryan could’ve resolved for a more dimensional book. I still absolutely could not put it down and loved the vibe of the book. The writing was fantastic and extremely evocative. While I wish this one had been longer and just a touch more direct, I would absolutely check out other work from Ryan in the future. This book is already seeing polarizing reviews and I understand that. But if creepy vibed books with unreliable narrators and ambiguous endings are your jam then give this one a try. It’s one you’ll be pondering later to figure out what you just read,

Please check tw if sensitive to certain content because there is a particularly rough scene in there.

While I think the story has potential, it's unfortunately a bit of a miss for me. It does a great job illustrating the grief and PTSD that comes with witnessing a loved one die. Some aspects of it were jarring and took me out of the story. I do appreciate what the author was trying to do.

I wanted to like "Cold Snap," but I found it more confusing than satisfying. Referencing Stephen King's "Cujo" was a clever way to say "Yes, I understand there's a similarity between King's novel and my own story of a mother-son duo being attacked by a large animal." The thing is, I never doubted King's rabid St. Bernard was actually real.

And that's my big problem with "Cold Snap." I was invested in the story of Christine and her son Billy working through their grief at losing a husband and father. The stilted conversations and Christine's constant PTSD flashbacks to the moment of her husband's death felt appropriate and natural.

Where the story lost me is when Christine starts seeing what I call Metaphor Moose™ because I never knew if it was real or a demon or just a PTSD-induced hallucination. It checked me out of the story and frustrated me to no end.

I'm giving it three stars, but only because 2.5 isn't an option. It was a promising start but ultimately failed to stick the landing.