Book Review: "Dead of Winter" by Darcy Coates

Dead of Winter starts off by pushing you to the edge of your seat and absolutely keeps you frozen there until the very last page. This novel is tense, claustrophobic, exhausting, chilling, and stressful. Darcy Coates does not waste a single word on the page writing such a descriptive novel truly capturing the biting cold and tense situations, vividly describing the environment, emotions, exhaustion and physical pain these characters are experiencing. By the end of the book the reader themselves will feel they have been on this exhaustive journey as well. The book follows a small tour group on their way to a resort in the Rocky Mountains, but they hit a roadblock in their trip when a snowstorm prevents them from continuing further causing the group to have to take shelter in a small cabin. Their tour guide goes missing overnight, to be discovered dead in the morning. Tensions run high as the bitter cold begins to take effect and a lack of food supply is of growing concern and the fear of which member of the group will be picked off next. Every time things seem to be settled Coates ends up tossing in more that just keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen next. This is an absolutely claustrophobic and anxiety inducing novel with everyone packed together in the confines of a cabin, with persistent inclement weather, venturing outside, brings vision down to almost nothing. You can feel the tension dripping from every page, truly not knowing who to trust and which direction you’ll be turned towards. A solid work of art, “Dead of Winter” truly is such a well written thriller that will keep you in a chokehold from page one until the very end. A “chilling” novel in every sense of the word!

An absolute, without a doubt, 5 star read!!

- F.A.

"Dead of Winter" has an expected publication date of July 11th, 2023 by Poisoned Pen Press