Atmospheric Reads That Will Chill You To The Bone
By Brandon Baker
There have been unseasonably hot temperatures and extreme drought where I live, making this feel like the longest summer I've ever experienced. Riverbeds are dried up, leaves look more charred than the typical fall-ish mosaic of colors, my fall garden is mostly a fail—it's been rough. Thankfully, the weather's finally starting to turn, so what better way to cool off than with some moody, atmospheric, bone-chilling reads! These recommendations all feel like the cold weather is a main character and will make you scared and uneasy in equal measure.
Near The Bone by Christina Henry
A woman named Mattie lives a very unconventional way of life with her husband William. They live in a secluded mountaintop cabin, and Mattie can’t seem to remember a time before the cabin, almost as if she has always been there. She only ever has contact with her husband, who is a very volatile man with an extreme temper. Every day is basically the same, until one day Mattie stumbles upon the severely mutilated body of a fox. Shortly after, while her husband is away, Mattie is surprised when three strangers arrive saying they’re monster hunters looking for a creature, and they think they are on its trail. So now, not only does Mattie have to grapple with the fact that there might be something out in the wilderness that could harm them, but she has to deal with these three strangers close to her home and must convince them to leave before her husband returns.
Near The Bone is equal parts tense domestic thriller and brutal creature-feature with an atmospheric, snowy mountaintop setting, and plenty of twists and turns along the way. With a breakneck pace and an unforgettable conclusion, this should be at the top of your fall/winter TBR!
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Taking place in a not-so-distant future where global warming and human negligence has endangered—or caused extinction to—most of Earth’s plant and animal life, the story follows Franny Stone, a researcher with a very dark past, and a singular purpose: to track the last known flock of Arctic Terns on their final migration to Antarctica. Franny arrives in Greenland and talks her way onto a fishing vessel, and off she goes with a ragtag crew, plenty of devastating secrets, and a determination that absolutely nothing will get in her way.
Migrations is a heart-wrenching story that reads like a literary thriller. As the story progresses and we learn more about Franny’s secrets and motivations, the book is gut punch after gut punch and the stakes just get higher. The Antarctic-bound setting makes for one of the coldest books I’ve ever read, to the point that I’m actually getting goosebumps just thinking about certain scenes.
The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens
Detective Max Rupert remains haunted by the death of his wife, who died in a tragic hit and run four years prior. He hasn’t been able to move on, and when he starts to dig into her cause of death, he finds that there was not an accident by the hands of a reckless driver, but that she was murdered to keep her from uncovering a web of dark secrets. Max’s grief suddenly turns to rage, and he begins to track down the person responsible for his wife’s murder. Once found, Max finds himself frozen in the middle of the wilderness with a moral dilemma: does he take eye for an eye, or walk away?
The Deep Dark Descending is the fourth book in a series of interconnected thrillers featuring recurring characters but telling more or less stand-alone stories. I highly recommend reading all of the books in order to experience all the context and character development established in the previous books, but it’s not necessary to follow and appreciate the story. This book is thrilling and devastating in equal measure, with an extremely empathetic main character that is easy to root for.
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver
Taking place in the 1930s, a young man named Jack is desperate to find his purpose in life and jumps at the opportunity to join an Arctic expedition to an abandoned mining camp known as Gruhuken. After a long journey through the barren wastes, they finally arrive in the middle of Arctic Summer, where they’re expected to stay an entire year to study weather patterns. The season changes and the nights grow shorter, and eventually, the sun will disappear altogether and the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. One by one the other expedition members leave, until Jack is all alone… or is he? Because this entire time Jack has had these uneasy feelings that there’s something else out there in the wasteland.
Dark Matter is an incredibly atmospheric, bone-chilling read. The descriptions of the freezing wilderness, the fleeting daylight, and the impending isolation of our main character make for a truly bleak reading experience. This one is great if you’re in the mood for a creepy slow burn with a tragic revelation.
The Drift by C.J. Tudor
Set in an apocalyptic world in which a highly infectious pandemic turns people into mindless zombies referred to as Whistlers, we follow three different POVs during a massive snowstorm. One follows a medical student who’s trapped with her fellow classmates (one of which has been murdered) after their railway car was sabotaged and ran off the tracks. In another, we read from an ex-police officer, who attempted suicide many times while grieving the death of her daughter, volunteered for a human experimentation trial for a potential vaccine, and is now suspended from a cable car that is hanging by a thread. And the third, a man living a bizarre way of life at a secluded ski resort known as The Retreat, where those that reside there are working to find a cure, as he deals with an impending power outage and the threat of someone lurking in the shadows.
The Drift is one wild ride with a lot going on. It’s basically three different locked-room mysteries, one big overarching mystery as to what connects the three different perspectives, and on top of that, the constant threat of the Whistlers and the ever-increasing odds of infection. The book’s wholly unique and action-packed, and even though there’s a lot going on, the story is somehow extremely easy to follow along.
Dead Of Winter by Darcy Coates
Our main character Christa has had a rough go the past few years, but her new boyfriend comes up with just the thing to cheer her up and get her back out there: a snowy Rocky Mountain excursion into the wilderness with a tour group full of strangers. Unfortunately, their tour bus gets stuck behind a fallen tree, a vicious snow storm rolls in, and they’re forced to flee the bus and take refuge in a small cabin off the beaten path. Isolated from the world and forced to endure the storm, the group of strangers are in a pretty awful situation that’s made even worse when someone starts brutally killing people one by one. As more bodies start to pile on, Christa has to figure out who the killer is before it’s too late.
Dead Of Winter was ridiculous, violent, icy fun! This is the perfect locked-room mystery for this time of year—the kills are plentiful and creative, the mystery intriguing and compelling (even if it can be a bit predictable at times), and the stakes high enough to keep you reading until the bloody end.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Four friends are hunted by a vengeful entity that they wronged in a horrific accident from their past. We follow multiple POVs as each friend meets their fates, and we learn more about what happened that tragic day, and what will happen as a result. This is a story about outrunning fate, revenge, and Native American identity.
The Only Good Indians is unique, creepy, and so brutally violent at times that it made me cringe. Stephen Graham Jones is a modern master of horror and is continually writing some of the wildest stories I’ve ever read. If I remember correctly, the entire story doesn’t take place in winter (I wanna say 50% of the POVs do), but it’s such a phenomenal read that I just had to feature it.
If you decide to pick any of these up, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! If you love to read books that align with the current season, these should keep you chilled throughout the colder weather. I can’t wait to snuggle up with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of hot tea, and a bowl of popcorn and read away these long winter nights. Happy reading!