We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Review of the Black Owl Books Kindle eBook edition (July 11, 2023), released simultaneously with the Poisoned Pen Press paperback.

It’s a strange feeling to know you might be walking beside someone who’s taken a life. Technically, the statistics on that are ugly on a regular day: the average person is likely to cross paths with three to ten murderers in their lifetime, including not-insignificant odds of having one inside their broad social group.*

The first thing to say here is that due to a somewhat clumsy opening, I guessed the end twist to this book almost immediately. And I think anyone who has a reasonably thorough knowledge of the classic Agatha Christie books will do the same. Saying anything more would be a spoiler, if it isn't already.

Even with that foreknowledge Dead of Winter was still an entertaining read, especially for its depth of winter, isolated cabin in the mountains, strangers trapped together, mad killer on the loose scenarios. Lead character Christa is suffering from an unknown guilty trauma from the past when she goes on a winter lodge retreat with her fiancé. Nine other characters are with them on the excursion bus taking them to a private lodge in the Rocky Mountains. A winter storm causes a breakdown and before you know it, characters start to die. At first perhaps by accident, but then it becomes obvious that they are all being targeted.

This crosses over from mystery into horror due to the grotesque murder methods employed, so it is not a cozy in the Agatha Christie sense by any means. Many of the characters make completely reckless and unrealistic decisions along the way, those being necessary to move the plot along, so you do have to suspend belief quite a bit to enjoy the ride. With the American setting, I was surprised to discover that the author was Australian when I added the book to my year's summary statistics.

On the Berengaria Ease of Solving Scale® I would rate this as a 0 out of 10, i.e. "an immediate solve", as explained above. Probably those not familiar with classic Agatha Christie would find it to be on the high end of the scale though.

Footnote
* This seemed like such a bizarre statistic that I just had to google whether it had any basis in fact. While not exactly reliable, Buzzfeed does provide a mathematical calculation which suggests that even 16 murderers encountered in a lifetime might be possible.

Soundtrack
It has no tie-in to the plot, but I kept thinking of We Gotta Get Out of This Place (1965) by The Animals, while reading this book 😱🥶. ( )

What did I just read? In this gripping thriller, the characters are strangers stuck in an isolated cabin during an unforgiving winter storm. As the characters perished at a pace swifter than the Titanic’s descent, I felt the need to make a murder mystery map like the ones on television just to piece together the identity of the killer. I plan to check out other books by this author because the storyline took me on a ride of thrills and suspense like no other. ( )

Wow. Wow wow wow. Constantly had me guessing. Every chapter had me dying to read the next one. Never would have guessed the final twist. ( )

"Dead of Winter" was a gripping read from start to finish. The snowstorm that Christa and her companions found themselves trapped in, added to the atmospheric intensity as the wind howled and the temperature dropped. I enjoyed the secluded location, the claustrophobic feeling in the cabin and the growing paranoia between the characters as one by one, they are found murdered.

Although "Dead of Winter" was extremely gruesome and completely far-fetched, I was hooked by this engaging story from the first page. ( )

I have read and loved every single book that Darcey Coates has ever written. They fit my criteria like a well-worn glove...wonderfully spooky with a touch of the macabre and the chillingly, unexplained. Just perfect fodder for the 'ghost-story junkie". Here we have a mountain, a winter snowstorm, a bus taking travelers up the mountain to a winter getaway...sounds great UNTIL... that all goes horribly wrong. The small group is now stranded in the snow with a gruesome killer picking them off one by one. It was supposed to be a romantic getaway in the Rocky Mountains for Christa and her boyfriend, Kiernan...but when their private tour bus breaks down on the way to the Blackstone Alpine Lodge, Christa finds herself trapped in the woods and separated from Kiernan. Christa is rescued by other members of the group, who had been strangers to her until that day. She is determined to go back out into those very same woods she was previously lost in, to find Kiernan and bring him to safety. Bad decision, Christa. Which part of "lost" didn't you understand while you were in those same woods? The snowdrifts are high...and getting higher. A few members of the group want to support Christa’s "rescue mission" but know that it’s a fool’s errand. Brian, the tour guide, convinces Christa to leave a lantern as a beacon for Kiernan, and the group prepares to spend the night in a cabin that they’ve found unlocked and vacant, perhaps their last piece of good luck.... I thought "not in this lifetime, little fool". Christa has a premonition... “We’re all going to die here”!!! I thought "DO YOU THINK??? OH YES! When morning finally comes, this isn’t a feeling any longer.... it's a God's Own Truth, REALITY. Brian, their best. and as far as I could see, probably their only hope for rescue, is missing. The group goes searching for him, and they find him...well...part of him anyway...his head has been impaled on a tree, with a branch sticking out of his mouth. The groups worst fears have just been justified. The remaining members are rightfully terrified, and Christa is resigned, when whoever killed Brian starts targeting the other survivors in a graphically grim take on a locked-room mystery. Only Darcey Coates could come up with a story that keeps the reader turning pages this quickly while hiding under the blankets with the door locked and a flashlight. ( )