As the temperature drops and winter settles in, I love to cozy up with a snowy suspense novel! Here are 5 must-read thrillers for this winter season.
The first recommended snowy suspense novel is one that I just finished last week from an author that is new to me (and that I've already started gobbling up her books!). Frieda McFadden's Do Not Disturb starts off right away with a murder.
Quinn did it - she killed her husband. Yes, it was self defense. But now she's scared and decides to flee the scene. Her road trip doesn't go as planned, though. A snowstorm is moving in, she runs into someone she knows from her past at a remote gas station, and then she's pulled over for a bad tail light. So much for laying low as she flees the scene!!!
She decides to wait out the storm in a off the beaten path hotel, later discovering so many oddities while there. Quinn wakes up snowed in and running out of options. With a dark history of the hotel, is she even safe to stay there?
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf is another must read winter thriller. Wylie is an author of true crime novels. She needs to wrap up her book so she goes to a secluded house thinking that she'll be able to write in peace. After being there for a while, a massive winter storm hits. With phone lines down and roads covered with snow, she finds herself in her a mystery of her own when she discovers a boy outside freezing in the snow.
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney is a New York Times Bestseller and this one is a favorite when it comes to snowy suspense novels. It did start off a bit slow, but picked up in the second half. I love that I was constantly guessing ... and often wrong. This was a Book Club book and I had to go back and reread it immediately after finishing it because there were so many "aha" moments and plot twists at the end!
Adam and Amelia Wright have been married for 10 years. He has an unusual condition where he has face blindness (can't even recognize his wife) and that puts him in some odd situations. On this 10th anniversary, the couple will be celebrating by taking a weekend trip to Scotland that they won in hopes of rekindling the spark in their marriage. Or at least that's what they tell each other!
An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena has cabin guests dropping one by one in this snowy suspense novel. Who wouldn't want to spend a nice weekend away in a secluded, intimate hotel in the Catskill Mountains deep in the woods?!?!? So peaceful and serene!
The weekend is off to a great start with introductions of the guests and some mingling. But then the weather changes, the power goes out, and by morning one of them is dead.
Shari Lapena tells the story from many characters perspective. I'm happy to say that she was able to surprise me with who was guilty!
This final book is on my TBR (to be read) list as it was just released in December 2022 and I plan to crack it open with the next storm: Hidden In Snow by Viveca Sten. A local teenage girl disappears from her small village in Sweden. Hannah is visiting the nearby ski resort and is drawn to the crime, joining in on the search. The only clue that they have is a scarf and time is running out as an approaching blizzard makes conditions even worse.
Conclusion: Snowy Suspense Novels
Setting the mood by reading books that occur during the same season often makes it even easier for the reader to put themselves right in the middle of the scene. So if your weather outside is frightful, light up that fireplace and settle in with a snowy suspense novel and watch as the stories unfold before your eyes. I hope you give these a try and enjoy them as much as I did :)
Additional Book Recommendations:
Into the Wilderness has several page turning books that take place in the great outdoors
Books Set on Islands provides great ideas for when you want to escape the winter or need the perfect beach read during your holiday vacation.
Holiday Books to Get You In the Festive Spirit make the winter months so much more enjoyable as they celebrate the season.
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