Monday, May 22, 2023

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates


 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.



Christa is expecting a getaway with her boyfriend in a secluded mountain lodge. What she gets is a vacation from hell, stranded with strangers in bitter cold howling winds after their bus gets stuck. The snow is drifting ever higher, there's very little food, no cell phone service, and a psycho killer is on the loose. 
Taking refuge in a small hunting cabin, these strangers must band together if they hope to outlast the storm and the killer.

Dead of Winter is a survival horror that overlaps with the slasher genre. Personalities clash in the claustrophobic little cabin. As the tourists get picked off one by one tempers flare and trust flies out the window when they suspect the killer must be one of their little group. I had my own suspicions before the halfway mark that turned out to be correct. Towards the halfway point, I began to wish they would just get on with it when it began to feel too long and drawn out to get to the reveal. So while I loved the premise and the set up I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was a crisp and clean 300 pages instead of dragged out to 384.

3 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press




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