I wanted to like "Cold Snap," but I found it more confusing than satisfying. Referencing Stephen King's "Cujo" was a clever way to say "Yes, I understand there's a similarity between King's novel and my own story of a mother-son duo being attacked by a large animal." The thing is, I never doubted King's rabid St. Bernard was actually real.

And that's my big problem with "Cold Snap." I was invested in the story of Christine and her son Billy working through their grief at losing a husband and father. The stilted conversations and Christine's constant PTSD flashbacks to the moment of her husband's death felt appropriate and natural.

Where the story lost me is when Christine starts seeing what I call Metaphor Moose™ because I never knew if it was real or a demon or just a PTSD-induced hallucination. It checked me out of the story and frustrated me to no end.

I'm giving it three stars, but only because 2.5 isn't an option. It was a promising start but ultimately failed to stick the landing.

It's time to dive into my thoughts on Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan. I received this book as an e-arc thanks to NetGalley.
The book follows Christine as she tries to work through the death of her husband. He tragically fell to his death while hanging up Christmas lights on the roof. He had originally booked them a snowy Christmas in the mountains of Pennsylvania, so Christine decides to take her son to the cabin. She needs to get out of the house.

When they get to the cabin, they're warned of the moose in the area. And Christine sees one. Or at least she thinks it's a moose. That is until it starts calling her name with her husband's voice...

This book is a super quick read, sitting at just a little over 100 pages. It's got a great isolated atmosphere. This one was compared to The Shining and The Babadook and I think that's a great comparison. It has the psychological and isolated feel of The Shining mixed with the emotional grief of The Babadook.

I think this book portrayed a great example of grief and ptsd. Christine is still processing her husband's death. She blames herself for not being able to save him. Throughout the book she has constant flashbacks of the incident.
My biggest complaint with this one was the ending. I left with more questions than answers. I wanted to know more. To me it felt like the book ended mid chapter.
Also be warned that there is a gruesome animal death in this one. So if you're sensitive to that you may avoid this one!

⭐️⭐️
Unfortunately, Cold Snap was a big miss for me. It had such potential, and it started off so strong! But there were too many flashbacks—often the same one repeated—which felt excessive for such a short story. They happened so frequently that it became hard to distinguish between the flashbacks and reality. I did enjoy the horror-meets-Christmas concept, but that’s about it. Christine consistently made the worst decisions, and her son seriously needs a lesson in empathy. I think both the story and the author have potential, but they’re not there yet. Still, I’m very grateful to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC of Cold Snap—it just wasn’t for me. Maybe it was the Christmas aspect too. I love Christmas but I have yet to enjoy a single Christmas book. I was hoping horror Christmas change things for me, but I guess I’m only meant to enjoy the holiday and not read about it.

Cold Snap was like reading a story while having a fever, it was a little surreal.
The story had some similarities with Cujo, and the book is referenced in the story.
Although the book is well written, I had difficulties getting invested in the characters story and I was glad it was not a full length book.

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.

Big cover love for this one! Clearly a great book to read during these upcoming colder months. It’s just a short read that takes place on a snowy mountain during Christmas but with the added bonus of a scary monster so if you’re looking for a more isolated horror that you could probably read in one sitting, and really want to get into the holiday spirits, check out Cold Snap. Sure I had some minor problems but I enjoyed my time with the story overall.

This was an interesting one for sure. I adored Lindy Ryan’s writing style, she absolutely has a talent for selecting word choice that builds atmosphere, very show-not-tell and I liked it a lot.

The horror was alright, I didn’t find the creature particularly terrifying. As most other reviews have mentioned, there is an animal death, but personally I didn’t find it unreadable. Definitely uncomfortable though - and you SHOULD feel uncomfortable.

I just wish this story had been a tad longer. I feel like it rushed to a close just as things were starting to get interesting. I wanted to know more!

Still, I really did enjoy this one, and I love bite-sized horror. I would recommend this one as a quick spooky winter read.

Poor kitty. If you can't handle animal death couple with spousal death then definitely read up on the triggers for this. The MC suffers from PTSD and frequent flashbacks after the sudden death of her husband and the author captured the feelings of immense grief, guilt, and worry about being a single parent very well. This book was dark and creepy and I liked the atmosphere of a remote vacation cabin in the woods at Christmas time. I think this one is eerie and a good strange and scary quick read.

Whew I was not prepared for this book. If you're drawn to stories where grief manifests as monsters, then this novella is an absolute must-read. Grief horror is a genre that delves deep into the human psyche, exploring the many ways loss can twist reality, and this story hits that mark with chilling precision.

The plot centers on a woman reeling from the sudden loss of her husband in a tragic accident. To salvage her relationship with her fifteen-year-old son, she takes him on a Christmas trip to a remote cabin her husband had already booked. The son is withdrawn and resentful, and the mother, desperate to reconnect, hopes this secluded getaway will help them heal.

But the isolation of the cabin isn't the escape she hoped for. When she begins to see and hear something monstrous lurking in the woods, the story spirals into a nightmarish descent from grief into pure terror. What makes this novella so powerful is how it captures the suffocating weight of guilt and sorrow. The mother is consumed by the belief that her husband's death was somehow her fault, a conviction that only deepens as she senses her son's silent blame. This emotional burden is more than just psychological—it becomes something terrifyingly real, a force that threatens to tear them apart, both emotionally and physically.

The Lindy masterfully intertwines the emotional devastation of grief with the visceral horror of survival against an unimaginable threat. The tension builds relentlessly, making you feel every heartbeat of fear and every pang of sorrow. This isn't just a story about surviving a monstrous presence—it's about the monstrous ways grief can consume us, turning love and loss into something far more terrifying than we could ever imagine. If you crave stories that blend raw emotion with intense horror, this novella delivers in every way. It's heartbreaking, terrifying, and impossible to put down.

I adore the cover of this book and think it encompasses the story well.
I enjoyed this story but I do wish it was a bit longer. I enjoyed the ending a lot but wish more happened in the first half. I did like the themes explored such as loss
And the horror aspect. This was a quick and easy read and perfect for a train ride.

I loved the cover of this book,

This was a short a brutal look at grief and all the horror that encompasses it.

Christine and her teen son Billy are celebrating Christmas in a remote cabin in the woods.,Spotty WiFi and just each other and their cat Haiku. Christine’s husband suffered a tragic fall hanging Christmas lights. The entire holiday is shrouded in anger and grief.

The story is a little disjointed, but I feel that was the atmosphere of the grief and isolation. Christine begins hearing her husband’s voice and sees a strange ethereal moose. Is it a moose? Monster?

Trigger warning for animal hurt.

This one wasn’t for me. Honestly, I felt confused the entire time and it was so repetetive. This story didn’t really give me anything unfortunately.

Reminded me a LOT of the babadook if it was written by Stephen Graham Jones. Really harrowing, really compelling, compulsively readable.

This was absolutely a chilling novella about grief and loss. A mother takes her son to a remote cabin in the Pennsylvania woods after her husband dies. Soon she discovers there is a figure in the woods. This book was atmospheric and haunting. My only wish was that I could read it in the middle of winter, but I absolutely loved this novella and recommend it to anyone who needs a spooky book in their life!

I'm not sure I can articulate what I've just read, but then I'm not sure Ryan can either.
I've read and enjoyed many fever dream style stories but Cold Snap felt more like the author had written all the plot scenes and made no attempt to glue them together. Whilst the overall disjointed effect certainly upped the tense pacing, leaving the reader no time to digest what on earth is going on, it felt confused rather than purposeful.

The continuous interjection of Christine's final moment with her husband realistically portrayed the trauma of his death but quickly became annoying, it appeared to be used as an interlude that destroyed any natural flow of the storyline.

Every move Christine makes is senseless- perhaps to be expected from a woman so deep in her grief but her son was worse. A stereotypical teenager obsessed with his phone yes but Ryan made him cruel rather than sad, silently watching his mother do everything wrong just to keep pointing it out and sighing.

I didn't like either character, I didn't like the writing style. The ending was thankfully abrupt and the meaning obvious if plenty bleak. I did enjoy the setting and the moose monster! The book is blessedly short so if you're looking for a little winter insanity then grab it, but set any expectations aside.

"A grieving mother and son hope to survive Christmas in a remote mountain cabin in Pennsylvania, in this chilling novella of dread, isolation and sinister spirits 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."

But why was her husband hanging Christmas lights if they weren't going to be there for Christmas?

2.5 stars!!!
Cold Snap By Lindy Ryan is a horror holiday novel? Who really knows. At first this book feels like it has all the elements for a good story but somehow falls short in its delivery. The story centers on a grieving mother and her son trying to keep the holiday spirit alive, despite her husbands recent accidental death. From the story you gather that her husband fell of the roof, and she didn't reach his hand in time, because of this she feels extreme guilt. She ends up staying at this cabin with her son and some weird events start to take place. Voices are heard, a killer Moose is on the loose, and their cat gets mutilated by said Moose.

While it was a story of grief and guilt, I thought the plot overall fell short. The author spends the first 50-60% of the book harping on these flashbacks the wife has and her conversations with her son, who just seems to grunt at everything. Besides the chase at the end and the scene with the cat, I kept waiting for actual horror elements. I was very confused at how abruptly the book ends, without any explanations.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this makes me shiver. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and it was quite uncomfortable.

The eerie atmosphere added to the unsettling feeling within me. And what happened to the cat—Haiku. OMG. I don’t even want to go there. That alone made me close the book and breathe for a while. It was suffocating.

If you’re not brave enough to read about animal mutilation, don’t even bother picking this up. I had to stop reading at that point. Nope! I can handle anything—the darkest, most disturbing thriller, the dirtiest, bloodiest Splatterpunk—but not this. No, sir.

To Titan Books & Netgalley: Thanks for the ARC. I tried to finish it, but I failed. Miserably.

thank you net galley for the arc copy. this is about christina who is dealing with the death of her husband. this story was good, just left me wondering if she was really losing ,or if these thing are really happing.

Christine and her son Billy are going up to an isolated cabin in the mountains that her husband booked before he died suddenly. Christine and Billy debate on canceling the cabin rental, but Christine needs time away from home, the place where her husband died, to clear her head. Throughout the story, she’s reliving the incident and everything serves as a reminder. She tries to be the parent her son needs, but she has survivor’s guilt and feels that it would’ve been better if she died in place of her husband. Christine, sees a creature in the woods that resembles a moose and then strange and terrible things start to happen around them. Christine and Billy are miles away from another human, snowed in with a vehicle that isn’t equipped for traveling in snow.

This story depicts a good picture of PTSD from a recent trauma. Some things seem repetitive at first, but then you realize it’s an example of how everything makes you think about the event that changed your life. The sayings Christine repeats in her head begin to take on deeper meanings throughout the book. While reading this it’s difficult to tell if it’s an unreliable narrator-type story or if the creature is real.

I enjoyed this book, I can see why some people might not like it. I’m not much of a horror reader, but I love weird books and this was quite creepy and weird. There is also some gore and other triggers to be aware of. As a mother and someone who lives in an area that gets great amounts of snow and has moose, I connected with the story. The ending was one that left you saying “What? Seriously, that’s how it ends!?” which you either love or hate. I personally, liked the ending. This would be a great story to have for a book club to have conversations about how everyone interpreted the ending.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the tropes. I think this book would be fun to discuss with others who’ve read it and can discuss the spoilers. I look forward to finding more works by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for allowing me to read this book early for an honest review.