Just so you know I asked for this book because I absolutely loved the cover. No i am not shallow it just really caught my attention.
However the book itself kind of deflated me somewhat. I was disappointed.

I couldn't not finish it. Because I loved the cover and anyway if I'm gifted a book in my opinion you should read it. Yes, I struggled. Yes, I wanted to DNF. But, and it's a big but.. it's set 200 years into the future. Everything I dream about in a book. Oh and lets not forget the snow.

It had too many inconsistencies for my liking. I kept having to reread parts. This had high potential to be an awesome read but I just felt let down.

I will however keep my eye out for this author. Her writing style for me just needs perfecting. 2.5 stars

A solid and fascinating murder mystery, but the story focused too much on the complications in the private life of lieutenant Leah Samuels, which where also tangled up with the case. A straighter approach with less personal side shows might have worked better. Also, I liked the secondary characters, Cots and Peony, much better than Leah - I wished I hadn't had to share her feelings and thoughts that close up and that often. As it was, the murder case became background music to Leah's personal troubles, where I wished it would have been the main focus. My greatest criticism is that the sci-fi angle was hinted at but never exploited in a satisfying way. There are aliens living on Earth and space travel is possible: so what? Other than mentioning that, the author never really makes use of it. Earth has become a freezing and uncomfortable snowball with snow storms raging almost all year round, but all we get from that is the repeated process of our characters having to bundle up in thick layers of clothing: so what? The story wouldn't have missed anything if aliens and snowstorms would have been left out of the equation. Only at the end the author hints at the possibility of the team moving to a different planet: now that might have potential.

However, the book was entertaining enough to keep me reading and I'm willing to take a second chance with the sequel.

"What the phuc happened here?"

Geez, I can't believe I finished this book. Is there a Rotten Tomatoes award for books rather than movies?

Okay, think of the countless innovations that have happened in the last 100, or even 50 years. This book supposedly is set in the year 2235 and there's hardly anything showing that it didn't happen recently. There is almost zero world building in the story. New America is in the middle of an ice age so there's page after page of weather reports. And there's one mention of flying cars in the whole book and even then transportation is not consistent.

The dialogue is stilted. A few of the characters are aliens but there's barely any detail on that.

Oh, and if you decide to read the book because the main character is a married lesbian, I'll bet you'll be disappointed there - no romance and a chaste relationship.

This is supposedly a police procedural but the plot is disjointed and not consistent.

Can you tell - I don't recommend this book - to anyone.

I received this book from Boldstroke Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

This book was a good mystery for me but the twist I liked was it was set in the future and the aliens. Things have changed quite a bit but this book was a page turner for me. I would be excited to read another book from this author. *This book was given to me for free at my request from Netgalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

Just okay. Not too taxing a mystery. Good for occupying your brain with a story that is pretry predictable. Interesting that the female protagonist is a lesbian.

A mystery/thriller set in a future age which too closely resembles the present (with the exception of odd sayings that are supposed to provide necessary context but do not) and a plot that drags in a setting that is too harsh for any likely human activity to be sustained. I was hoping for more from this tale and was left wanting.

Where to start???? This story read like a high school students first attempt at writing a novel in their literary class. The murders were not much of a mystery. I am assuming the splattered body parts was thrown in to give the story some pizzazz. (Pangs of "Fargo") The solving of the crime drags on and on and not very suspenseful. My main question throughout the book was why create this story in the year 2235. They still used keyboards, still warmed up their cars , still had offshore accounts? There were very few references to the future other than other planets and using terms such as "son of a drularian she-dog" REALLY?. And then there was the weather....ah yes the weather. How were they walking around in 50 below zero weather. And if it snowed as much as it was described in the book, they wouldn't be able to open the door to the apartment. I think the author has some writing talent but not a lot of futuristic imagination and should stick to stories set in the 21st century.

This is not the first book I’ve read by this author and it won’t be my last. Bigelow sets this story in the future, 2235 to be exact, when you would think some things would have changed but human nature hasn’t. Leah Samuels first case in 2235 begins in a blizzard and even though finding any clues to what happened next to impossible they still believe at least 20 people had their lives taken. Why and how is now Leah’s job. Meanwhile on the home front Leah’s wife is leading a life that she knows nothing about. All in all a very good read. Looking forward to Bigelow’s next book.

This is a crime novel set in the future and the premise intrigued me - I like the Eve Dallas series. But although this had a good core and a decent plot, there were some inconsistencies and some areas of the narrative that didn't make sense. Disappointing that these weren't picked up. The lead character Leah is well described and her motivation seems sound but her relationship with her wife felt wrong somehow. That could be deliberate because of the alien/human thing or hiding their marriage from colleagues but I questioned why they were together at all...

The plot is good and I wanted to know what was going on and the conclusion answered my questions but the overall feel was disappointment that the book wasn't better, given the possibilities. I will read more by this author and hope she develops with support from Bold Stroke Books as there is definite promise here.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Killer Winter by Kay Bigelow is a crime thriller set in a dystopian future where winter is never ending and alien races live among humans. Detective Leah Samuels is trying to solve the murder of a prominent religious figure.

While I really liked the fact that this was a crime/science fiction novel, it felt like the genres were at odds. The crime case never really felt like it was being worked. The bulk of the novel was spent with Leah holed up in secured apartment with her new recruit, alien confident, and cheating wife. I missed the procedural footwork that most crime novels provide. The science fiction aspects were interesting. There is a nod to global as the cause of the current ice age. There were some great gadgets, aliens, flying cars and references to other planets, but nothing tremendously original.

This is not a romance. In fact, central to the plot is the fact that Leah’s wife; Quinn has been cheating on her for two years with the local mob boss. For me, this was more distressing than the actual murder case.

Perhaps readers who are more well versed in these genres will get more from this book than I did.

I received an ARC of this book from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in return for an honest and fair review.

I was excited to read this on a lot of levels. But I have to admit to being disappointed. This isn't listed as part of a series, but really should have been the third or 4th in a series. There is a lot of background we don't get for the futuristic world and relationships that are in place. The writing has promise, and Ill give the author a try in the future, but this book was a little rough.

This is a Crime & Mystery / Speculative Fiction book.

I liked the main characters, I liked the premise of the book, I liked that it was set in winter – a very cold winter, I didn’t mind the fact that it was set in the future with various alien races and I really liked the book cover.

It’s an enjoyable read, mostly. Sadly there are annoying inconsistencies. Things that could, in my opinion, have easily been omitted, corrected or explained. In the main, to be fair, I was able to put aside most of them and they did not stop me from finishing the book. The plot of Leah trying to solve the murder of 20+ people is pretty good and a terrific idea which could have been even better.

Whilst this is not a romance novel part of the thread involves Leah and her wife, Quinn – a female alien, their relationship is perhaps an odd coupling as Quinn seems to ‘sail close to the wind’ regarding the criminal world and is involved with some shady characters, not least her Ex., and she causes Leah problems both with the investigation and on a personal level. However, it is because of Quinn that Leah is able to carry on the investigation when it would seem impossible to continue.

The ending of the book appears to allow for a sequel/series. If that happens, and I think there’s plenty to build on here, then please remember ‘the devils in the detail’. Despite needing some polish I enjoyed the book and hope that, should you decide to give it a go, you do to.

With thanks to Bold Strokes via NetGalley for this eARC in return for an honest opinion.

The premise of the book sounds very promising: A crime set in a future with nearly perpetual winter and aliens living among us on earth. I really looked forward to reading that one.
Unfortunately the author neither delivers on a solid crime novel nor on the futuristic aspects. The protagonist is supposedly a good detective, but she doesn't do any real detective work and waits passively for the puzzle pieces to fall into their place, professionally as well in her personal life. The futuristic setting and the plot is full of inconsistencies that made my head spin and should have been caught during editing.

#KillerWinter #NetGalley

This book looked very good and the cover pulled me in. Too bad the storyline didn't pull me in. I really hate to give a bad review, I could not get into the story. This is just my opinion, others may enjoy the story. The characters were likeable, there were just too many little inconsistencies.

I really wanted to like this since it is set in the future, but no such luck. I can't even get through it. There is nothing to keep my interest. Characters are flat. Plot is meh. I don't even care who did it enough to skip to the end of the book.

This story looked really good at first but took a turn for the worst really quickly... The main characters were likable but all the little things that were inconsistent like the flying car/ different street levels, the story was set like 200 years in the future but it felt like it was only like 20-40 years away... the main things were still the same, there were also questions asked by characters that were answered differently in different chapters... well after a while it just got really annoying...

I so wanted to like this book, it sounded fab, and started out well, I liked the main character and some of the other main characters too, and I loved the idea of a future world as described in the book.However it was hard to ignore the discrepancies such as the flying car which sounded absolutely terrifying being somewhat grounded by struggling through the snow on the ground why didn't they just take to the sky again? Also the fact that it was so cold and snowing and all the characters wrapped up in about 20 layers every time they went out was mad i would have thought that in the future in such conditions they could have invented some more practical attire to keep them warm.I would describe this as low tech but i don't mind that at all some times very high tech Sci Fi books are too much, so I'm fine with low tech.The story started out in a promising way but lost itself some where and became a big chunk of the book with nothing much happening, and I am afraid I switched off then and started to lose interest, shame because if it had been shorter and punchier it could have been great.I would give it only 3 stars but really feel it had the potential to be much better.

2.5 Stars. A futuristic murder case, yes please! I was really excited about this premise; unfortunately this was pretty rough in places. I didn’t hate it, I never wanted to DNF, but there were too many problems to just ignore.

This book takes place more than 200 years in the future. Lieutenant Leah Samuels is a married lesbian living on an Earth very different than ours. The weather has gotten worse and worse, leaving a snowy cold winter that lasts most of the year. When she is called out to a murder field covered in the ground-up remains of multiple victims, it is up to Leah to solve a case that is almost unsolvable.

One of the biggest issues in this book was inconsistencies and details. If you are going to write a book 200 years in the future, that has aliens and the technology to travel between worlds, you have to remember to update the every day to day stuff too. I really think Bigelow should have just put this 40 years or so ahead. Than only having a little new tech and everything else the same would have made sense.

There was a few times that the inconsistencies were really noticed. In the beginning of the book Leah makes it out that she either has a flying car, or all the roads have multiple levels going up in the air and that level 3 is for police. I could not tell if the car was flying or if she was just on a normal road that is elevated 60 feet. Either way she really meant, this is never mentioned for the rest of the book and they just drive on the ground. With all the talk about the snow covering the roads and not being able to drive makes no sense if it is a flying car. It is just confusing and I hope she considers taking this out before this book is officially released. There were other inconsistencies like Leah asking a character how long that character had been sleeping with someone. The character says for the last two years. Two chapters later, the same question is asked and the character says she has not seen the person for the last three years. It’s a little hard to be sleeping with someone for the last two years if you have not seen them in the past three. Again, I hope these kinds of issues can be caught before this book is really released.

The other main issue is the mystery did not really unfold well. There was not much real detective work and the character would just know things out of the blue. A good mystery you want to follow along as the characters uncover clues that lead to suspects, not just be told, oh it’s him or her. I really wish someone like a Cari Hunter or a J.M. Redmann would take Bigelow under their wing and show her how to describe those little clues and mystery details. The actual premise Bigelow came up with is cool, and the way the book ends it could become a series. I just think she needs a little more help and guidance to turn this around.

I do want to mention for romance fans, this is not a romance. The main Leah is already married, and I’m not impressed with the coupling. It did not make sense for a partner of a detective, but I’ll leave it at that.

This story had the chance to be really cool and different. I applaud Bigelow for writing a futuristic book, but details, details. I have a lot of respect for anyone that writes a book, but I really hope Bigelow will work on her craft before she just pumps out another story. I’m getting tired of giving her such low ratings.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I chose to read this book because I really liked the cover. It reminded me of the wood-chipper scene in the movie Fargo. The blurb sounded interesting too. A sci-fi/futuristic murder mystery set in icy, snowy conditions with lesbians and aliens 200 years from now. Sounds like a good mix, right? There were definitely parts with merit and some interesting concepts but on the whole I struggled to enjoy it when my reading was consistently jarred with inconsistencies.

In this future, climate change has caused Winter to be a nine month long season with temperatures around minus 25 and lower with the constant threat of storms. Humans have emigrated to other planets, aliens have immigrated to Earth and xenophobia is still rife. Lieutenant Leah Samuels is called to crime scene in a park where she is faced with the gruesome sight of what looks like numerous bodies pulped and sprayed across the snow.

Later she and rookie cop Peony Fong (from the planet Zing) return to the precinct with Leah driving. An impression is given that vehicles lanes are stacked vertically and that they are flying “sixty feet off the ground” (you’d think America would have taken to the metric system in 200 years), however, for the rest of the book they seem to be firmly on the ground. There is a scene when they travel up a one-way and the oncoming vehicle refuses to move so they push it out of the way into a snow bank. Why didn’t they just fly over it?

I couldn’t work out if this future was hi-tech or low-tech. If there is interplanetary travel the technology must be fairly advanced but when they go out into the snow they’re bundled up with ordinary jackets, coats, hoodies and scarves. No nanotechnology spidey suit that shrinks or expands to fit complete with environment control? There is very little description of any new technology of the future besides the murder board which seems like a smartboard. Same old coffee machine, note pad and pen? People still have paper photographs in frames and warrants are hand-delivered on paper.

Leah rushes off to set up a secret task force to deal with the park murders because of some sense of paranoia but there is no indication of why she would be paranoid. A bishop seems to be one of the murder victims but there is nothing said about him that would require a need for treading lightly. In fact, he was respected and liked and if anything, the whole police force should have been on the case. Nobody says anything or does anything to Leah to cause her to want to work away from the police station yet off she goes with two fellow officers to a secure location provided for her by her secret, billionaire, alien wife.

I felt like I was on the periphery for most of the novel and I have no clear idea of what any of the characters looked like, not even the aliens. It was almost like it was assumed the reader would know what the world looked, what the people looked like and what type of person they were. In the beginning there was a nice interaction between Leah and Weston (bad cop) but it was short-lived and one of the few instances of clarity.

I think parts of the murder mystery could have been good if I didn’t have all these extraneous questions tapping at my brain. Some of them are still there lurking. Who opens the door barefoot and in a t-shirt when the temperature is minus 35 with a fast approaching blizzard and argues with the people standing outside? Would surveillance tapes still be called tapes? Why is fuck spelled phuc sometimes and fuck at other times? And who or what is Drude?