It was a good story; I had the killer pegged pretty early on though but she does try to throw in some twists to throw you off the trail. For me this was a little slow, but once it got good it was really good. I would recommend. ( )

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. ( )