About the book…
A grieving mother and son hope to survive Christmas in a remote mountain cabin, in this chilling novella of dread, isolation and demons lurking in the frozen woods. Perfect for fans of ‘The Only Good Indians’, ‘The Shining’ and The Babadook.
Two weeks ago, Christine Sinclaire’s husband slipped off the roof while hanging Christmas lights and fell to his death on the front lawn. Desperate to escape her guilt and her grief, Christine packs up her fifteen-year-old son and the family cat and flees to the cabin they’d reserved deep in the remote Pennsylvania Wilds to wait out the holidays.
It isn’t long before Christine begins to hear strange noises coming from the forest. When she spots a horned figure watching from between frozen branches, Christine assumes it’s just a forest animal—a moose, maybe, since the property manager warned her about them, said they’d stomp a body so deep into the snow nobody’d find it ’til spring. But moose don’t walk upright like the shadowy figure does. They don’t call Christine’s name with her dead husband’s voice.
A haunting examination of the horrors of grief and the hunger of guilt, perfect for readers of Stephen King, Christina Henry, and Chuck Wendig.
My thanks to the wonderful publicity team at Titan Books for my gifted review copy of ‘Cold Snap’ which is published in October 2024, wherever good books are sold.
From the very title, you get this impression of the environment you are about to enter-it’s a very hard set of syllables in two one syllable words which echo, and replay over and over as you read this book.
It’s a disconnection-wife, to widow, child to fatherless child, safe to insecure-related to an attempt to reconnect a trio of people when only two sides of that triangle are still in this plane of existence.
In the attempt to create a Christmas-y atmosphere, lights were being hung around the outside of Christine and Derek’s house, a pure accident leads to Derek’s untimely demise, and from then, mired in anger , grief and despair, Christine takes their son, Billy , and their cat, Haiku, to the cabin in the woods which Derek had booked for them.
Each acts in their own, wounded way about a situation that no one could have done anything about, which is what makes this death so painful. It was a normal thing to be doing, for a family which loved the holiday season, and each Christmas coming afterwards will be forever connected with Derek’s demise.
The foreshadowing of potential disaster is set up when they book in to the cabin, with Armentia, the owner. As the laws are laid down, the friction and uneasiness between Billy and Christine is evident, with mum desperately pretending that if she puts in the work, they can enjoy a sort of Christmas as a farewell event, whilst Billy is under no illusion his dad is gone and will not return.
The cabin is remote, disconnected and soon to be cut off by snow, and the looming sense of unease grows by the page as shadows move,voices are heard and things are glimpsed which could not be there.
Is it the imaginings of a bereaved mind that conjures the voice of the dead, or is it wish fulfilment taken to its ultimate fruition?
There are so many elements in this beautifully constructed novella, that when you turn the final page AND realise it is the final page, you feel the ground has been pulled from under you. And yet, it was there the entire time. You , well I, felt it was so alarming yet satisfying, creepy, grotesque and yet entirely understandable. She does so much in such a short space of pages yet creates this vivid and striking environment and atmosphere that you cannot help but admire even as you emotionally recoil from what Christine and Billy are going through.
Lindy Ryan is so very good at what she does, it put me in mind of ‘The Only Good Indians’ by Stephen Graham Jones, one of my all time favourite novels, for the effect it has on your emotions. It lingers as a story so much, I could not stop thinking about the almost mythological construct of the creature which is both here, and not.
It is perfect to read over the days which are getting shorter, colder and approach Halloween, then winter proper. It is a gem of a book , one which I believe you will want to press onto those who have not read Lindy’s work before, as an introductory piece.
About the author…
Lindy Miller Ryan is an award-winning author/editor, short film director, and professor at Rutgers University. Prior to her career in academia, Ryan was the co-founder of Radiant Advisors, where she led the company’s research and data enablement practice for clients that included 21st Century Fox Films, Warner Bros., and Disney.
She is the founder of Black Spot Books, a small press with a mission to amplify voices of women-in-horror, serves on the Board of Directors for IBPA, and is co-chair of the Horror Writers Association Publishers Council. Ryan was named one of Publishers Weekly’s Star Watch Honorees 2020. She has published numerous academic texts as well as writes clean romance novels under the name Lindy Miller, which are being adapted for screen
Linkshttps://www.lindymillerryan.com/
Twitter @lindyryanwrite @TitanBooks
Author
bridgeman.lenny@gmail.com