Dead of Winter

I know that Darcy Coates is the queen of horror but she's working on becoming the queen of thrillers too.

Christa is still struggling with a tragedy. But her new boyfriend is helping her every day work towards finding peace and when he suggests they take a trip to a resort in the mountains she agrees. On a bus to the resort with 8 other strangers a severe snow storm hits the Rocky Mountains and they're forced to take shelter in a cabin. In an already uncomfortable situation cramped in a tiny cabin with strangers in an intense snow storm things soon turn into a nightmare. When the group wakes up from their first morning in the cabin they find their tour guides head has been cut off and put on display in a tree. With each day another member of the group is found decapitated and Christa finds herself not trusting anyone. Someone in this group is a brutal killer. Isolated in this remote cabin there's no where to go and everyone in the cabin is a suspect.

Darcy always does an amazing job at setting the scene and making an amazing (and stressful) atmosphere. Though it was 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) in my area I was reading with a warm cup of tea and a blanket because I was so engrossed in the weather conditions I was reading about. Not only was the terrain and weather scary but you throw a claustrophobic cabin with strangers in there and it's even more terrifying (as that sounds like a nightmare in itself to me). And then the cherry on top there's someone murdering people.

Darcy didn't let anything fall through the cracks. From the setting to the characters I could feel the tension and Christa was such a sympathetic and strong FMC. While I called who the killer was pretty early on that didn't stop me from second guessing myself with each page. There was just enough clues that when the killer was revealed I wasn't surprised but it definitely was not obvious. And the motives and behind the scenes are revealed as in any great thriller.

I both loved and hated the end. I won't elaborate on that to not spoil anything but IYKYK. I highly recommend this!