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ziemia_do_nany's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
It was an amazing read! And I say it as a person who generally hates crime books!
~ I won it in Storygraph giveaway
~ I won it in Storygraph giveaway
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Addiction, Self harm, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Cancer
Minor: Sexual content
lavenderbtcpodcast's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic relationship
sophee_568's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Disclaimer: I won this book in a giveaway on The Storygraph. The author sent me the book, but all opinions are my own. This review is for readers only.
The Fear of Winter is a multiple-POV crime thriller/mystery set in Fraser, Colorado. On a cold December night in 1996, Megan Floyd went missing without a trace. A year later, Tom Floyd, her father, hires a private investigator, Marshall York, to uncover what happened to Megan. Both Marshall and Tom are ex-policemen with sad backstories. Marshall works with a 24-year-old assistant - Hannah Jacobs. They are Tom's last hope of learning what happened to his daughter. Will the two private investigators be able to solve the mystery of Megan's disappearance?
The Fear of Winter is a classic thriller mystery with no plot twists, no red herrings, a surprising lack of suspense, and a dark atmosphere. It offers nothing new or original to the genre. The characters are painfully one-dimensional, and their personalities are formulaic. As a character steps on the scene, you know to what archetype they belong: alcoholic ex-cop turned PI, a drug addict young woman forced into prostitution with a heart of gold...
The plot is interesting enough to keep you mildly entertained and turning the pages, but you have to suspend your disbelief.
The Fear of Winter is a plot-oriented novel, but when the plot hangs on by a thread, you do not feel satisfaction when you reach the end. One of the plot inconsistencies is the lack of follow-up after Tom's car accident. The book starts with Tom hitting a deer on the highway. He might have a concussion, his car is damaged, and he killed a deer. Nowhere in the book is the incident mentioned or alluded to. Did he see a doctor? Did he fix his car? Why did he not tell his wife he was in an accident? He immediately forgets about it when he arrives home.
While reading, I could not help but notice the infamous 'men writing women' phenomenon. Hannah is described as a 'petite female' because she is 5'5" and weighs under 100 pounds (165cm and 45kg). She survives by eating cereal. She constantly gets hit on by men wherever she goes, which could be a small-town thing. All of that shows how this author does not know how to write a proper woman without turning her into an object of desire.
Another problem I had with Hannah's character is her alleged OCD. The author aimed to paint her as obsessive by having her constantly avoid cracks in the pavement, checking if she locked her door once, and claiming she becomes obsessive about other people's issues if she pays attention to what they are saying. That is only an appalling but horrid OCD representation.
Tom's wife, Lisa, is grief-stricken to the point of becoming an alcoholic and mixing alcohol with Xanax. Her and Tom's inability to cope with Megan's disappearance wrecks their marriage. Lisa admits she hates Tom. Although their struggle is realistic, both characters remain bland and invoke no sympathy.
Katie is Megan's friend and a drug addict. Katie's character is a plot device that compensates for the lack of communication between Marshall and Tom. Tom and Marshall share two conversations throughout the novel. The first conversation is their first meeting, which is crucial to the plot, but the second one has little relevance. It is a poor attempt at them bonding over their similar histories.
Furthermore, Marshall and Hannah are disorganized in how they run this investigation. They share maybe 3 or 4 conversations in total. Their communication is sparse and short. Hannah attempts to call Marshall twice, and both times goes to voicemail. How do they even cooperate during this investigation if they do not have proper communication? Also, they never remember to share any findings with Tom. Instead of teaming up with them, Tom is on his own. Not to mention that Marshall's lack of reliance on other people puts him in danger.
This book lacked emotion. I did not care about any of the characters. I had no idea who they were or what they looked like. Megan is the only character with an actual, albeit vague, description, even if it's on a missing persons poster.
The writing style is detailed and creates a strong sense of place. The author lives in Colorado, and he perfectly transferred that experience to his story and characters. I could easily imagine every scene. A good sense of place and orientation is important to me.
In conclusion, if you want to read The Fear of Winter, suspend your disbelief to the maximum. That's why I think it's a perfect airport/flight read. Content warning for heavy alcohol use, graphic depictions of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, domestic violence, mentions of drug abuse.
The Fear of Winter is a multiple-POV crime thriller/mystery set in Fraser, Colorado. On a cold December night in 1996, Megan Floyd went missing without a trace. A year later, Tom Floyd, her father, hires a private investigator, Marshall York, to uncover what happened to Megan. Both Marshall and Tom are ex-policemen with sad backstories. Marshall works with a 24-year-old assistant - Hannah Jacobs. They are Tom's last hope of learning what happened to his daughter. Will the two private investigators be able to solve the mystery of Megan's disappearance?
The Fear of Winter is a classic thriller mystery with no plot twists, no red herrings, a surprising lack of suspense, and a dark atmosphere. It offers nothing new or original to the genre. The characters are painfully one-dimensional, and their personalities are formulaic. As a character steps on the scene, you know to what archetype they belong: alcoholic ex-cop turned PI, a drug addict young woman forced into prostitution with a heart of gold...
The plot is interesting enough to keep you mildly entertained and turning the pages, but you have to suspend your disbelief.
The Fear of Winter is a plot-oriented novel, but when the plot hangs on by a thread, you do not feel satisfaction when you reach the end. One of the plot inconsistencies is the lack of follow-up after Tom's car accident. The book starts with Tom hitting a deer on the highway. He might have a concussion, his car is damaged, and he killed a deer. Nowhere in the book is the incident mentioned or alluded to. Did he see a doctor? Did he fix his car? Why did he not tell his wife he was in an accident? He immediately forgets about it when he arrives home.
While reading, I could not help but notice the infamous 'men writing women' phenomenon. Hannah is described as a 'petite female' because she is 5'5" and weighs under 100 pounds (165cm and 45kg). She survives by eating cereal. She constantly gets hit on by men wherever she goes, which could be a small-town thing. All of that shows how this author does not know how to write a proper woman without turning her into an object of desire.
Another problem I had with Hannah's character is her alleged OCD. The author aimed to paint her as obsessive by having her constantly avoid cracks in the pavement, checking if she locked her door once, and claiming she becomes obsessive about other people's issues if she pays attention to what they are saying. That is only an appalling but horrid OCD representation.
Tom's wife, Lisa, is grief-stricken to the point of becoming an alcoholic and mixing alcohol with Xanax. Her and Tom's inability to cope with Megan's disappearance wrecks their marriage. Lisa admits she hates Tom. Although their struggle is realistic, both characters remain bland and invoke no sympathy.
Katie is Megan's friend and a drug addict. Katie's character is a plot device that compensates for the lack of communication between Marshall and Tom. Tom and Marshall share two conversations throughout the novel. The first conversation is their first meeting, which is crucial to the plot, but the second one has little relevance. It is a poor attempt at them bonding over their similar histories.
Furthermore, Marshall and Hannah are disorganized in how they run this investigation. They share maybe 3 or 4 conversations in total. Their communication is sparse and short. Hannah attempts to call Marshall twice, and both times goes to voicemail. How do they even cooperate during this investigation if they do not have proper communication? Also, they never remember to share any findings with Tom. Instead of teaming up with them, Tom is on his own. Not to mention that Marshall's lack of reliance on other people puts him in danger.
This book lacked emotion. I did not care about any of the characters. I had no idea who they were or what they looked like. Megan is the only character with an actual, albeit vague, description, even if it's on a missing persons poster.
The writing style is detailed and creates a strong sense of place. The author lives in Colorado, and he perfectly transferred that experience to his story and characters. I could easily imagine every scene. A good sense of place and orientation is important to me.
In conclusion, if you want to read The Fear of Winter, suspend your disbelief to the maximum. That's why I think it's a perfect airport/flight read. Content warning for heavy alcohol use, graphic depictions of self-harm, suicidal thoughts, suicide, domestic violence, mentions of drug abuse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Self harm, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Misogyny
skillyillian's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
For starters, I won a digital copy of this book from a storygraph giveaway. It's not my usual genre, but I do like true crime, so I figured I'd give it a shot. The first thing I want to say is, holy shit, trigger warnings. Check the trigger warnings. Sexual assault and abuse, self harm, domestic violence, suicide, drug addiction, it's checking all the boxes. I didn't realize this would include graphic, detailed descriptions of someone self-harming, otherwise I probably wouldn't have read this. I skimmed those parts but it was very detailed. The same with someone committing suicide, and someone else contemplates it multiple times, considering multiple ways to do it.
The plot isn't bad, the writing is fine, but some stuff was oddly specific while other things were extremely vague. Every time music was playing, it was listed by specific songs, albums, and artists. Which is fine, other than it being the same 5-10 artists no matter who was playing music or where. But there were almost no actual character descriptions? Like we know Tom has a beard, but not his hair color? The best description we got of the murder victim was when her mother saw a missing persons poster at a liquor store, and it just said "hair: brown" etc and that was it. We know almost nothing about what these people look like.
It became clear pretty early on where the story was going and what had happened to Megan, but I don't think the author was going for some big, surprise plot twist anyway.
One thing I found odd was the way the POVs switched. Another reviewer said it would've been easier to divide the POVs into their own chapters, and I agree. Having eight long chapters feels unnecessary when you're switching characters every few pages. Another thing I found odd was that it was almost impossible at times to tell how much time had passed, or what day it was. For example:
Katie gets captured by Nathan and we find out she's been there for days, but when we go back to someone else's pov, it doesn't seem like days have passed, like it goes back and forth, instead of one clear timeline everyone follows.
Early on, Tom thinks Kevin Strand killed Megan, and after we hear about Kevin, it cuts to a summary of Kevin's career as a serial killer? And says something like "he would be executed x amount of time later" but why tell us Kevin's future? It would make more sense to let the reader wonder if it was Kevin, without us knowing what happens to him until later. Even then, I don't think Kevin's fate is relevant. We learn later when Tom interviews him that he's on death row and set to die, so why specify earlier? I feel like that could've been cut. But anyway, after that, we go back to another pov, and then back to Kevin, but it's Kevin's past, where he was burning a purse. Like, I guess, but?? Why in the past? And why not clarify that was in the past? We just had to use context clues to realize it was before Kevin was caught.
Anyway, overall this is fine? Not my favorite, the story didn't feel like it flowed super well. Minor details were very specific while important things were left too vague. Some things could've been taken out but they didn't necessarily ruin the story? But yeah, not my favorite.
The plot isn't bad, the writing is fine, but some stuff was oddly specific while other things were extremely vague. Every time music was playing, it was listed by specific songs, albums, and artists. Which is fine, other than it being the same 5-10 artists no matter who was playing music or where. But there were almost no actual character descriptions? Like we know Tom has a beard, but not his hair color? The best description we got of the murder victim was when her mother saw a missing persons poster at a liquor store, and it just said "hair: brown" etc and that was it. We know almost nothing about what these people look like.
It became clear pretty early on where the story was going and what had happened to Megan, but I don't think the author was going for some big, surprise plot twist anyway.
One thing I found odd was the way the POVs switched. Another reviewer said it would've been easier to divide the POVs into their own chapters, and I agree. Having eight long chapters feels unnecessary when you're switching characters every few pages. Another thing I found odd was that it was almost impossible at times to tell how much time had passed, or what day it was. For example:
Early on, Tom thinks Kevin Strand killed Megan, and after we hear about Kevin, it cuts to a summary of Kevin's career as a serial killer? And says something like "he would be executed x amount of time later" but why tell us Kevin's future? It would make more sense to let the reader wonder if it was Kevin, without us knowing what happens to him until later. Even then, I don't think Kevin's fate is relevant. We learn later when Tom interviews him that he's on death row and set to die, so why specify earlier? I feel like that could've been cut. But anyway, after that, we go back to another pov, and then back to Kevin, but it's Kevin's past, where he was burning a purse. Like, I guess, but?? Why in the past? And why not clarify that was in the past? We just had to use context clues to realize it was before Kevin was caught.
Anyway, overall this is fine? Not my favorite, the story didn't feel like it flowed super well. Minor details were very specific while important things were left too vague. Some things could've been taken out but they didn't necessarily ruin the story? But yeah, not my favorite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Violence, Self harm, Blood, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Animal death
abbigirl97's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
It just feels sloppy and unfinished. The characters don't feel like real people, there are certain details given that don't add anything to the story. It jumps around pov's quite frequently and with no rhyme or reason. It felt very much like a first draft. And there's really no mystery. It's very obvious from the start what happened to Megan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcoholism
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Finished reading: January 29th 2023
"Marshall believed lying was a skill, like playing the guitar - the more you did it, the better you became."
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by BookSirens and No Bueno Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
There was something about The Fear Of Winter that spoke to me immediately. I do love a good thriller with a cold case angle, and I was intrigued by the disappearance and the promise of secrets and a hidden second life. The Colorado winter setting was a bonus, and I fully expected to have a great time with this first book of a new series. Sadly, it turns out that it simply wasn't ment to be. Don't get me wrong, I still love the premise of The Fear Of Winter, but there were certain elements about the execution I simply couldn't get past.
Like I said before, I still think that The Fear Of Winter has a strong premise, and the cold case itself is fascinating. Megan's disappearance hardly left behind any clues, and you wonder how the truth will ever be unraveled... And this is where private detective Marshall and his assistant Hannah come in. Unorthodox methods indeed! I could really appreciate the investigation part of the plot, with the characters not being afraid to face danger and turn to less legal methods to discover the truth. There is also plenty of action especially in the second half of the story, helping speed up the pace which was surprisingly slow in the beginning.
BUT. And here comes were it went wrong for me... One of the main issues I have with The Fear Of Winter has to do with the writing style itself. The story uses a multiple POV structure, which I usually don't mind, but in this case there were just too many different POVs to juggle. On top of this, the switches happened too often within the same chapter (some POVs are hardly a page long before abruptly switching to the next POV), and this both slowed down the pace considerably and made it very hard to create a proper connection to the characters. It took me a long time to keep them all apart, and even after I did the short POVs and constant switches kept bothering me considerably. It just felt like I never got to spend proper quality time with any of them, which is a shame because some of the characters had potential.
As a direct consequence of the plot structure, I felt that I never got to know any of the characters in play well, and their development was mostly riddled with cliches and the most dramatic problematic private life and past possible. Every single one of the main characters had serious issues, which were constantly displayed in a graphic and over the top way... It just didn't feel credible and even bordering the tasteless line at times. I'm not sure how some of them are even functional or capable of investigating something with the state they are in... Trigger warnings are in place for topics including addiction, drugs, alcoholism, self harm, suicide, mental illness and abuse.
I did like how The Fear Of Winter tried to show how everbody grieves in a different way, and how losing someone close to you can affect you. I can imagine the 'not knowing' being even worse, and it eating at you while you desperately try to get answers... I could have done without the cheating angle though, and the consequent emotions displayed didn't feel natural at all either. At least the final part had a lot of action to spice things up a little, but as a whole it wasn't enough to redeem the story for me. I'm sad to say that I didn't enjoy The Fear Of Winter as much as I thought I would... Which is a shame, because the premise did have a lot of potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Drug use, Kidnapping, Self harm, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Drug abuse
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