As a charter bus rolls along mountain roads toward Blackstone Alpine Lodge, eight strangers and a tour guide are anticipating a week of relaxation, spectacular mountain views, and rugged outdoor sports. Unfortunately, when a tree blocks the road and the group’s plans get derailed, they soon find themselves in a deserted cabin fighting for their lives in DEAD OF WINTER.

While members of the group deal with the fallen tree, Christa and her boyfriend Kiernan decide to take a short walk to find the perfect mountain view. The walk turns into a fight against nature as they lose their way and are separated in the snowy, bitterly cold terrain. Suffering frostbite, Christa finally makes it to the small deserted cabin where the rest of the group huddles. Kiernan remains missing. As a raging blizzard pounds the snowy landscape, the group learns more about each other. There’s trucker Steve Peltz and his wife Miri, DJ Hutch Hang, former 911 dispatcher Blake Shorey, ex-military member Simone Wall, twenty-something Alexis Barras, mechanic Denny Olstead and his son Grayson, and tour guide Brian Hernandez. Christa has a bad premonition when she finds a smashed lantern outside their cabin, and things only go from bad to worse when their tour guide Brian goes missing. Later, his head is found impaled on a branch high in a pine tree. This group has more to fear than nature as suspicions rise and the body count continues. Will they destroy each other before the killer gets them first?

Darcy Coates delivers a spine-tingling edge-of-your-seat horror revenge thriller with DEAD OF WINTER.  The setup is perfect as strangers head into the wilderness and embark on a cat-and-mouse game of survival.  As suspicions rise, Christa tries to learn of a connection between the group members or the motivation behind the killings, but time is running out as the killer mercilessly stalks and butchers his victims. There is intense violence and gore, but it is well done and heightens the sense of impending doom. The story plays out like a movie and Coates does a great job of injecting fear into her victims’ actions. We feel Christa’s anxiety as she edges closer to a suspicious tarp, or when she eludes a killer through the Blackstone Alpine Lodge, leaving a bloody trail. Twists, turns, and surprising revelations will keep readers guessing to the end. Extremely atmospheric and full of spine-tingling action, DEAD OF WINTER is a high-octane high-stakes full-out race for survival from an axe-wielding maniac who is bent on revenge. If you like horror and thrillers, you will definitely enjoy DEAD OF WINTER.