If you’re familiar with the horror genre, you likely know of Darcy Coates. She’s a rather prolific author within the genre, and hails from down under. I own a number of her books, thanks to sales, but I’ve only managed to read two-and-a-half of them thus far. Well, counting her new one — Dead of Winter — the total is now three-and-a-half.
Dead of Winter centres upon a young woman named Christa, who’s travelled into the Rocky Mountains with her boyfriend, Kiernan. While she assumes the trip was scheduled to allow him to propose, she’s unsure and just goes along with it naturally. They’re not alone, though, because this is a tour bus type of trip, where a number of people go to the same destination at the same time. Their goal also happens to be a pretty big mountain lodge, where they’ll spend two weeks relaxing amidst cold temperatures that allow for some wintry activities.
Things don’t go as planned, though.
For starters, the bus becomes blocked by a felled tree that is laying across the only road. While the tour guide sets out to cut it up and move it out of the way, with some help, Christa and her boyfriend decide to go for a walk to find a nearby peak. They end up getting lost, however, and Christa falls from a rather high ledge, losing Kiernan in what has quickly become a blinding blizzard. She’s lucky to stumble upon a cabin after walking for hours, but there’s no sign of Kiernan. The others happen to be there, though, having found safety to ride out the storm.
Then people start to die. One by one, people disappear, and their heads are found stuck on tree branches. Given the location and how far away they are from society, it must be one of the members of the shelter seeking group, but who? That’s the question that permeates throughout this book.
As people keep disappearing just to be found dead, with their heads cut off, Christa does her best to figure out who is responsible. It’s more difficult for her, though, because she’s suffering from severe frostbite on one hand, but she manages to go on with some difficulty.
This is another good book by Darcy Coates, which I’m glad I read. The writing is solid, the story is interesting throughout and, despite being a familiar narrative about people lost in the middle of nowhere being picked off, she manages to do good with it. That said, it’s not the most original book and it drags a bit.
If you’re looking for a good winter’s read, Dead of Winter is definitely worth checking out. It’s not Coates’ best, but it’s a good one nonetheless.
Please note: I originally received an early review copy from NetGalley, but ended up reading a finished retail copy thanks to the library.
This review is based on a copy of the book we were provided with.