Trapped in the Snow: Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates | Horror Book Review

Read time: 3 minutes

❄️ Genre: Horror, Thriller
📱📖 Read on Kobo Libra
📃 561 pages
⏱ Read time: 7 hours
🏷️ Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
📚 Read as part of the Goodreads Spine Tinglers Challenge – Ten Years of Horror Hits to Read This October

Book Blurb:

When Christa and her companions find themselves stranded in the frozen wilderness after a bus crash, their relief quickly turns to horror. Cut off from civilization and hunted by a killer among them, each must face their darkest fears to survive.

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates blends the claustrophobic tension of a locked-room mystery with relentless psychological terror. Think And Then There Were None meets The Thing—only colder, meaner, and more unpredictable.

Let’s talk about the book:

Darcy Coates throws readers straight into chaos: no buildup, no cozy introduction. One page in, and you’re already shivering in the snow. The pacing is relentless, the tension unbroken, and the fear almost tangible.

This isn’t your typical blood-soaked slasher. Despite its brutal moments (yes, there are beheadings), Dead of Winter is surprisingly restrained. The true horror lies in what you don’t see: the crunch of footsteps outside, the shadows shifting just beyond the firelight.

The book channels strong Agatha Christie energy with a wintry, isolated twist. Coates masterfully uses atmosphere to create dread instead of relying on gore. For someone who isn’t a horror regular (this was part of my Goodreads Spine Tinglers Challenge, after all), I found it the perfect balance of eerie and engaging.

By the end, I was tense, cold, and listening for phantom snow crunches outside my window, proof of a horror-thriller done right.

Would I Recommend It?

Absolutely.
If you love Fast-paced survival thrillers, Locked-room mysteries, and Psychological suspense with a chilling setting… then this book is your next winter obsession. Even readers who don’t usually venture into horror will appreciate the atmosphere and sharp writing.

If You Liked Dead of Winter, Try These:

• Wake Up and Open Your Eyes – Clay McLeod Chapman
• The Year of the Witching – Alexis Henderson
• The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
• When the Wolf Comes Home – Nat Cassidy
• The Whisper Man – Alex North

Would You Survive the Storm?

Have you ever read a book so atmospheric you could feel the cold seep into your bones? Tell me, would you survive being trapped in a snowstorm with a killer lurking nearby?

Book Links:

Amazon CA
Goodreads
Follow Darcy Coates on her author page
Check out more books from Poisoned Pens Publishing