This book was repetitive and obvious. There were hundreds of pages of set-up, with almost no payoff at all. It was slow and I lost all sympathy for the main character very early on. ( )

Where I got the book: a random acquisition.

So I was at a bit of a loose end for something light to read, and picked up this one because it was there. And ended up devouring it in two days—it’s definitely the sort of book that’ll do well for a beach read or long journey. Perhaps not on a winter night with the wind howling outside—or perhaps EXACTLY for that winter night.

The plot is standard outsider-comes-to-weird-little-village-big-mistake—Cass arrives in the tiny Yorkshire village of Darnshaw hoping to make a new life for herself and son Ben after her husband’s disappearance in Afghanistan. She’s been lucky enough to score a new apartment in a converted mill, but weirdly the other apartments appear empty. The village seems moderately friendly, and Ben’s teacher is a hunk—although WHY you would even be noticing while you’re still grieving beats me, Cass. But then it starts to snow and the village is cut off from everything—food supplies are scarce, Cass can’t get her car out onto the street and her mobile and internet links are down. And Ben is behaving bizarrely. So are some of the other kids and adults, so you can probably expect Britt Ekland to start dancing around naked any moment now.*

Yes, we’re in the land of pagan throwbacks, naturally all centered around the village church. You know, for a small island we Brits have a heck of a lot of weird, remote places with strange customs. The tension builds nicely, aided by Littlewood’s excellent writing, and we head toward an ending—

Which not all reviewers found believable but me, I liked it. Not, I hasten to add, in the strictly moral sense. But there was a certain artistic elegance and, dare I say it, logic in the progression of this tale. I cannot say more without giving away what you will guess by about page 150.

Not the most original of tales—it reminded me strongly of early Susan Hill and any number of 60s/70s horror movies. But a truly nice little creepy for a dark night, especially if you happen to be staying in one of those remote, silent locations, as I am at the time of writing. I think I’ll just go double-check the door locks.

*The Wicker Man. Don’t watch the remake, it’s terrible. ( )

This book starts off well, Cass and her son move to Saddleworth moor for a fresh start. Then after about 100 pages the book just gets silly.
I think this aimed at fans of the supernatural but even then there is alot of unanswered questions. So glad to finish this book. ( )

A COLD SEASON is a spooky tale set in the remote English village of Darnshaw. After losing her husband in Afghanistan, Cass and her young son Ben relocate to Darnshaw in hopes of starting a new life. Once they get to town, it's clear there's something amiss. It begins to snow, and it continues to snow until Darnshaw is cut off from the rest of the world. No one can go in or out. No phones or internet. And then Ben falls in with a creepy group of boys, and he begins to change.

I loved the frigid atmosphere, the heavy sense of foreboding, and the undercurrent of malevolence woven throughout the story. The author wrote in a way that made innocuous things and occurrences spine-chilling. While the build up was engrossing, I was a bit disappointed in the rushed ending. I was hoping for a big surprise twist, but it played out as expected. I also would have liked the villain's back story and relationship to Cass and her family to have been fleshed out more.

Overall, A COLD SEASON was a pretty good Gothic suspense with plenty of creeptastic moments. I liked the snow - probably my favorite character.

Source: Review copy through the Amazon Vine Program. ( )

I was very disappointed in this book. One of the reviews on my copy likens it to "Heart Shaped Box" by Joe Hill - and it is nothing like that. "Box" was so genuinely spooky in places that I needed to set it down at times. There is an image from that book that I still can't get out of my mind.

"Cold Season", however, starts as a story that appears to be about a strange town - a place that is not quite right....and then quickly devolves into a confusing, not spooky, not particularly interesting tale of a cult/Satan-ish group of people who try to possess Cass and her young son.

The last few chapters especially are a bit of a mess. Cass has a switchback trail of thoughts that make very little sense, are hard to follow (even while keeping the horrific circumstances in mind) and are not very interesting. She comes off as just a completely clueless character, but by the time she figures out what is going on, I'd lost all interest in her and her son's well-being.

I was in the mood for something creepy, something that gripped me and made me wonder what I might encounter on the next page - this was not it. ( )