Book Review: Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

Whew, I don’t even know where to start with this book. I’ve had to sit with this book for a while before I could actually condense my thoughts into a format that makes sense. This book was truly a wild roller coaster of a thriller. 

As a thriller I can honestly say that I loved the complexity of the story and the way the tension built up. The story started strong and was quick to deliver action and add in details that left me in a constant state of stress. The author truly had a way with words that made the story come to life. With such a strong start, I really expected the action to continue, but the middle of the story lagged.  Nonetheless, while the action lagged, the tension didn’t lag for a second. It was an interesting juxtaposition to feel both bored and tense at the same time.

The tension in the middle stemmed from the horror elements that were threaded throughout the plot. While I absolutely loved the thriller part of the story, I had a very hard time separating the gruesome details from the parts that I enjoyed. When I started the book, I did not realize that it was also labeled as horror. If I had known, honestly, I never would have picked it up. Separating the thriller from the horror was part of the problem I had with deciding how I felt about the book as a whole. 

After the high high of the beginning and the lows of the middle, the ending was everything I’ve ever hoped for in a thriller. It was both expected and yet still twisty, and most importantly, it was mind blowing-ly suspenseful. 

I didn’t touch on the characters because honestly, they are a cast that is to be expected in a “middle of nowhere” thriller. The characters themselves really fit many of the tropes one may expect, but they each share their story in just the most fascinating of ways.  It’s not the cast that makes this book, it’s the writing and the mastery of storytelling that really makes this a fantastic, albeit gory, novel. 

⅘ stars- taking one away for the graphic gore.

Please make sure to check trigger warnings on this one! 

Thank you to Netgalley and Poison Pen Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review