Poisoned Pen Press Dead of Winter

Another tense and chilling read from the amazing Darcy coates. Trapped in the Rocky mountains, with a small wooden cabin as your only shelter from the ravages of winter. A trip away goes terribly wrong. Surrounded by strangers as the body count rises, the paranoia settles in. This is a great suspenseful bloody read and perfect for long wintery evenings by the fire.

Dead of Winter was an unputdownable, one-sitting read for me. Darcy Coates wastes absolutely no time-she drops you straight into the story and never lets up. The pacing is tight, the atmosphere is relentlessly cold and claustrophobic, and the sense of unease builds with every chapter. I loved how focused this book was. No filler, no unnecessary backstory-just survival, dread, and mounting tension. The isolation and paranoia were incredibly effective, and while it's not overly gory, there were moments that genuinely made my stomach turn in the best (worst?) way. Best of all, Coates knew exactly when to end the story. The conclusion felt sharp and intentional, not dragged out or overexplained, which made the whole experience even stronger. A fast, unsettling winter survival horror that delivers exactly what it promises. One of my favorite Darcy Coates reads so far.

Dead of Winter is a tense, atmospheric thriller that traps you in a snowbound nightmare alongside a group of strangers—and a killer. Darcy Coates masterfully builds claustrophobic suspense, with twists that keep you guessing until the end. A gripping winter read!

Another thriller I picked out as being suitable for the winter season, set as it is in the snowy Rocky Mountains where a group of travellers become stranded on their way to a luxury lodge for an icy vacation. This group of strangers need to work together to survive in the wilderness until rescue comes, but they soon find that one amongst them is determined that not all of them will last that long. This was the first book I have read by Darcy Coates and I had not realised in advance that it is possibly more of a horror story than a thriller, given the level of graphic violence contained in the book. This wasn’t particularly a problem for me as I enjoy a good horror but people who are more squeamish might want to be wary. If you can’t stomach the odd beheading, you won’t want to venture beyond the first chapter. For those who are not put off, this book will grip you and drag you through the carnage to find out why this group of people unknown to one another in advance are being targeting g and who is doing it. There are a number of red herrings to throw you off course and, whilst I did guess who was doing it and why before the author revealed it, this did not stop me being hooked until the very last page of the book and feeling every moment of tension. It feels wrong to say you ‘enjoyed’ a book this horrifying but I was certainly entertained and will be reading more by this author when I fancy another foray into this genre and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys this type of book. It also worked well as an audiobook as it is fast-paced and absorbing and the narrator is excellent.

alles gut.