A Blizzard that Turns a Town from Cozy to Horror

In the small New England town of Coventry, the residents are hunkered down for a blizzard. Being New Englanders, blizzards are a fact of life. Some of the characters feel cozy sitting by a fire, sipping wine, watching a movie with their family. Other characters are out in the blizzard and like Officer Keenan they experience the growing horror of the storm first hand. When the storm is over, eighteen people are dead, but no one is quite sure why they died. Twelve years later another storm is approaching and apprehension increases. The things that were in the first blizzard are back and so are the dead.

The horror in this book is a building sense of fear of what is out there in the storm. It's not gory horror, but it can make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, particularly if you're alone during a power failure or snowstorm.

I enjoyed the book, but found some problems with the presentation. There were a great many characters. The author tries to give the feeling of a small town caught in a terrifying situation. It works well in the opening chapters, but bogs down in the middle when the second storm is approaching, and the author tries to bring the us up to date on the characters lives during the past twelve years. The ending, however, is eerie and frightening.

If you enjoy horror stories you'll like this one. But if you really want to feel the full impact, I suggest reading it at night during a snow storm.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.