| Title | : | Snowblind |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1250015316 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781250015310 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 309 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2014 |
The small New England town of Coventry had weathered a thousand blizzards...but never one like this. Icy figures danced in the wind and gazed through children's windows with soul-chilling eyes. People wandered into the whiteout and were never seen again. Families were torn apart, and the town would never be the same.
Now, as a new storm approaches twelve years later, the folks of Coventry are haunted by the memories of that dreadful blizzard and those who were lost in the snow. Photographer Jake Schapiro mourns his little brother, Isaac, even as-tonight-another little boy is missing. Mechanic and part-time thief Doug Manning's life has been forever scarred by the mysterious death of his wife, Cherie, and now he’s starting over with another woman and more ambitious crimes. Police detective Joe Keenan has never been the same since that night, when he failed to save the life of a young boy . . . and the boy’s father vanished in the storm only feet away. And all the way on the other side of the country, Miri Ristani receives a phone call . . . from a man who died twelve years ago.
As old ghosts trickle back, this new storm will prove to be even more terrifying than the last.
Snowblind Reviews
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To me there is nothing quite like reading a book about characters braving the icy cold- while I am snuggled all safe and sound indoors- with the wind howling and the snow swirling about outside my window. So when the storm hit, and I was stuck inside for the weekend- diving into SNOWBLIND by Christopher Golden was a no-brainer.
Coventry has had their share of nasty weather...but there was something different about the blizzard that hit the small New England town that year. Strange occurrences, unexplained deaths- families left devastated.
Twelve years later the residents of Coventry have never fully recovered- feelings of guilt and loss still weigh heavily on the ones left behind. When the weather forecast calls for another super-storm- people become nervous and edgy, and when the snow starts falling- it becomes apparent that something evil came along with it....again.
When I first rated SNOWBLIND I gave it 3-stars. I wasn't a fan of the way the ending was wrapped up- but after sitting with it for a couple of days, I decided that despite its flaws this was a 4-star read for me. It really is a standout CHILLING supernatural thriller. -
Although the premise sounded fascinating, this book did not live up to its promise. It was classified as a horror story, but it had too dull a middle to make a great impact on the readers.
One of the biggest issues this book has is that t has too many characters. The author was trying to create a kind of small town feeling by introducing us to many people who lived through the blizzards in a particular town. This tactic works very well if you know how to go about executing it. Someone like Stephen King is a master at this. The problem in this novel is that none of the characters are developed enough to have personalities all their own, so they start to bleed into one another. As I read, I found myself wondering who a particular name referred to, which should not happen. The characters need to have unique voices that are not mistaken for other people.
The pace was also a problem. It started out well, with a nice balance of background information and action, but that started to unravel as we moved into the “twelve years later” section. The author had to pump us full of back-stories, showing us what each of the characters had been up to in that time. It slowed the action down too much to stay interesting. The book picked up again close to the end, but it wasn’t enough to make it the interesting read I thought it would be. -
Yes, I read this during the heat of summer. If I’d read this during our horrendous and never-ending winter I most likely would’ve moved to one of those sunshiny states. This book gets points for its descriptions of an icy cold hell but, most to my dismay because I was truly looking forward to it, it never moved above a 3 star read for me. I’ll try to tell you why.
As you can guess from the title, a blizzard strikes. But this is no run of the mill blizzard. This blizzard brings with it “things” that destroy families for years to come.
Now this is where my problems begin and end. The setup was pretty great, I was getting into the story and enjoying getting to know the many characters who were introduced and poof!, just like that, the story flash forwards twelve years and I have to play to catch up to remember who lost who, who was involved with who, who was a bit of a dick. And many of them have moved on, as you will, and have hooked up with others. You get the drift. It was bothersome for someone who has such a piss-poor memory but wait because it gets worse. The people who went missing or died begin to inhabit the bodies of living people and then my confusion is upped to a whole new level. Oh my poor tired brain.
It may be my fault for listening to this as an audiobook. I don’t know. People seem to love this book but for me I felt like I was playing a frustrating game of “Who was that again?” throughout most of the novel and I lost interest in the story and the characters as a result.
In the end, it reminded me most of a middle of the road Dean Koontz novel. -
I'm not exactly sure how to rate Snowblind.
The story was unique and interesting but not gripping. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. So I'll settle on 3 stars. Perhaps I'll change it to 4 after I think on it for a couple of days. -
When the weather outside is frightful, reading snowy horror is so delightful! :D
I do love to read chill-worthy horror in the winter, when it's gray and cold and going out into the world is an ordeal of layers and winter boots and heavy coats with zippers and buttons and velcro (oh my!), and shit-I-forgot-to-tuck-in-the-scarf! unbutton, unzip, scarf, rezip, rebutton, then hat, then gloves, then gloves back off to lock the door, then back on because it's freaking cooooold! Then sweep off the sidewalk to get to the driveway so you can shovel it in order to clean off your car before you can even start it up. So much easier to just stay inside and read about reasons why you shouldn't go through all that mess.
Enter Snowblind, which features snow wraiths that ride the blizzard wind and drag people to their icy deaths. Hell yeah!
Only, ehh. I think the idea behind this one is better than the actual execution of it. I liked it, it was good, but not great. I never really connected with any of the characters and I felt that there was just too much non-horror filler for my tastes. I get that Golden was trying to show us Small Town America, and get us to be horrified at the prospect of these nice (and some not so nice) people being murdered by swirling snow creatures, but the build up was so long that rather than creating a sense of "Oh no! I really hope nothing happens to this character!" I experienced more of an "Is nothing happening at all?" feeling for most of the middle of the book. The action bookends this dull middle section that gives a lot of character details, but still doesn't really work to make me care all that much about them.
When you add in that there were some editing and detail issues - typos and weird sentence structures and even a case of one character forgetting which city she lives in (Seattle to Portland?) - it drops down a bit more from good to just OK.
I wanted to like this one a whole lot, and considering that Golden is an award-winning writer, I really expected a bit more than I got here. Still, it wasn't bad, and I do think that it's better than much of the garbage out there in the world, but I'm getting picky in my old age, and this one just needed another run through the polisher to smooth out all the wrinkly bits. -
I'm tempted to say Snowblind is a traditional ghost story but it isn't really. The ghosts are fairly traditional but the situation and the event that creates them is a little different. It's different enough to put some real life in these ghosts (pun is definitely intentional) and epic enough for Christopher Golden to flesh out its cast of pretty much everyone in the small town of Coventry. It is a quieter type of supernatural horror novel with an emphasis on the psychological rather than blood and gore. Yet it has more than its share of action and surprises.
The novel is centered around the events surrounding two blizzards in a small New England town. These two blizzard are 12 years apart but the first one leaves the population dreading a recurrence of the abnormally cold and vicious ice storm. The author starts the tale with a bang as the first blizzard causes the disappearances or death of many of the town residents. There are also reports of "Ice Men" in the storm. At the end of the novel, we find the answers in the second storm but ut it is the middle part of this story that puts the emphasis on literary in the term, "Literary horror". Golden places a lot of characters in the novel, perhaps too many, but each of them bring different problems, different regrets, and different desires to the story. It is in some ways a small Petri dish of human behavior. I especially like the town sheriff who is still feeding his failures from the first storm and the two brothers of which one survives and one dies ...and returns. Despite the huge cast of characters, I didn't have all that much trouble following them precisely because Golden made them all so interesting. Overall an excellent intelligent horror novel with a creative plot and a nice little twist at the end. I recommended it to anyone who enjoys supernatural thrillers and horror tales. -
There was just something so surreal,, reading this book by my front window, listening to the wind gusts and watching the snow fall and swirl around. Not blizzard conditions but close enough to make the timeliness of this read apropos.
A terrible blizzard impacted Coventry and many people disappeared or were taken. Jake saw his brother taken by an icy hand reaching through their opened window. Years later another storm is forecast for Conventry and those that lived through the last one are edgy and afraid of what this one will bring.
There are things in the storm that cannot be contained. Are they real, or exactly what are they? You see, things in the cold seek warmth and one never knows where they will appear next.
A good modern day ghost story. The middle of the book was not as good as the beginning and the end. There was suspense, and some good chills, a fascistic looking cover and it maybe just enough to make one look over their shoulder in a snow storm.
ARC from NetGalley. -
I had a terrible time convincing myself to stay with this novel. The beginning and end were pretty interesting, but for the most part, it was just too long and drawn out for my taste.
The premise of the story was pretty cool though.....the spooky ice men, the eerie atmosphere of a ferocious snowstorm, and the bizzare appearance of ghosts from the past but whew!.....even at a short 300 pages, I just wanted it to move along already.
Difficult to rate this one, but I guess 2.5 Stars would do it for me.
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3.5*****
This town has a snow storm different from all others they have had before. It isn’t just the unusually sharp, biting winds that seem to have fingers, or the blinding torrents of snow that seem to go on dancing and seem to carry eerie whispers...
The storm eats and takes. It takes a lot from this little town. And it comes back, but it’s not the only thing that comes back.
This book takes snow storms, where we usually huddle up with tea, cocoa or something warm inside and exposes it as something from which you are never safe. It takes you a little out of your comfort zone. It’s a horror story, but it is also about, love, family, redemption, and the power of the human spirit. -
I was highly anticipating reading Snowblind this year. I've been a fan of Christopher Golden for a long time, and it has been a while since he's released a new horror book. When I heard Snowblind was going to be released, I immediately placed it on my must read list.
I absolutely loved the ominous build up in the beginning of Snowblind. A blizzard is blowing in to a small town in New England, and something is waiting out in the snow. It reminded me of Stephen King's The Mist. You know some bad shit is happening, but you don't know exactly what is out there.
Once all of the foreboding came to a head and we started seeing the horrors of the blizzard, the timeline jumped ahead 12 years. The real story of Snowblind lies in what happened 12 years after the original events, but the jump in time forced the middle to lag for me. I spent most of Snowblind longing for the awesome that got left behind.
Even though the end of Snowblind didn't live up to the promise of the beginning, it was still a good snow thriller. If you are looking for a book to give you the snow creeps, Snowblind will definitely fit that bill. I'm glad I read it on one of the only almost snowy days we had here this winter. If I ever find myself out in real snow, this book is certain to be on my mind. -
This story starts off during a blizzard in Coventry, New England. The author sets the story up very well. You feel that cold bite of the wind and snow pounding against your skin. I live in the south and for us an inch of snow is run to the store and get all the milk and bread you can, we did however experience a blizzard years ago and I remember that feeling of helplessness. There are several main characters in this book and I honestly liked most of them. The story paces itself very well. Several characters do end up not so well off from this monster storm, and people are haunted by what they suffered from it. 12 years later another monster storm is coming to the same small town. You know this sucker isn't going to be a sweet little storm but of course I had to know what was going to happen.
Mr. Golden does a good job of not letting the story stall but I did have to suspend belief at several points in the book. It's scary but then there is that but.
I do know that if it snows here this year I will probably stay in bed and cover my head with the covers. (you know that keeps the boogers from getting you)
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It's been years since I've read a horror book. Snowblind by Christopher Golden was available one night when I needed a new ebook to read on my Kindle. Based in a small New England town called Coventry, a major snow storm hit the town 12 years ago and caused many unexplained deaths. 12 years later another blizzard has been forcast and puts everyone in a frenzy with good reason. The ice people riding the storm visit the town again and with them are ghosts from the past.
Snowblind is entertaining and a fast read. Some repetition in parts that could have been left out. Overall, a nice storyline that's enjoyable.
3.5 out of 5 stars. -
This is a nice creepy winter tale. I really enjoyed the setting and the idea behind all this. It's not scare-the-hell-out-of-me horror, but the idea is pretty creepy. It's also really sad in places. Very much enjoyed listening to it! :)
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I don’t know whether it was precognitive genius or some odd, karmic luck that Christopher Golden’s Snowblind is being released during a winter of epic snowfall and frostbite-inducing temperatures. Maybe his monsters are the only logical explanation. In a tale he sets up quickly then unwinds slowly, Golden captures the creepiness of blizzards and snow dumps, the way it isolates, yet can bring people together in unexpected ways. The references to King make sense, but the horror here is more on the spooky than gore side, with nice expositions of characters and a deep sense of place.
And then there’s the snow. I can’t think of another novel where snow, in all of its various manifestations, has ever been described so accurately or completely. A New England expat, I was looking. As the natural is blended with the unnatural, it makes for an interesting, creeping tension that builds to a CGI-worthy ending and, I hope, leaves the door open for a sequel.
A great read, unless you’re stuck in the house with no electricity and a two-story snowdrift. Then you might want to check your batteries before digging in. -
A decent horror read for winter months that has an almost two-for-one spooky story inside. It reminds me a little of 90's style Dean Koontz stories but could have picked up the pace in the middle. Started off great, ended strong so it's a better than average read if you're a fan of getting lost in an immersive, eerie backdrop and hangout with personable, folksy characters while bad things hunt them.
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🎃
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Twelve years ago a blizzard hit the small New England town of Coventry. A blizzard that brought far more danger than normal. The storm was alive with something dangerous and evil and anyone who dared walk into it never survived. Twelve years later there are people that still remain in Coventry that were affected by that storm and now a new storm is coming with the same dangers.
Blizzards. Ghosts. Supernatural Thriller. An amazing blurb from Stephen King. All reasons I was highly anticipating Snowblind. Unfortunately, this ended up being only passably mediocre but possessed some high points worth mentioning. The most skillful aspect of this novel was the chilling introduction that had me anticipating a sleepless night with the lights left on. Unfortunately, following the frightening intro came a long and drawn out and relatively dull middle. The story was chock-full of characters and each and every one of their back stories. I enjoyed reading about their connection to the storm from twelve years prior, but it was done in excess and with too many characters. They all sort of bled together after a point and it was hard to differentiate between all of them.
The crescendo was not steady and by the time the climax rolled around the thrilling angles didn’t produce the same effect as the introduction had. I also attribute that to the fact that the revelation of what the evils in the storm were wasn't as eerie as I had expected.
Snowblind perfectly captured the suffocating feel of a blizzard and was quite eerie at times. While it was an enjoyable and haunting tale, a surplus of characters detracted from the creepiness and the horror aspects just weren’t consistent enough to keep me fully spellbound. -
Fantastic thriller/horror. Read like a movie. Exactly what I would expect from a great Christopher Golden book.
I love snow, especially blizzards and this is what drew me to this story. I got my fill of snowflakes and freezing cold in this superb book.
Golden does an expert job at creating the scenes, the descriptions the characters so perfectly. You simply can NOT put this one down. I wish for a book 2, and with an ending like that.... perhaps..... -
Hmmm.....How do I rate this book?
What I liked:
The book is well written. Christopher Golden has a way with words and I know that I'll be reading more books by this author in the future. I liked the focus on the characters of the book. In many ways, this book reminded me of the early Stephen King books, however more attention was needed on the Big Bad.
What I disliked:
It takes a long time to find out what is really out there. I wish that there was more development on Big Bad; they weren't that scary until nearly the end of the book.
In all, a good read.
SOS Bookshelf Bingo - Ghosts shelf. -
My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
OH.MY.GOD. This book! This is one of the rare combinations of subtlety (where they don't need blood and guts or mangled body parts to tell the story) and immediate action (seriously.. it picks up during the "first killer" blizzard and just goes on from there). This book would appeal to those readers that like both "thriller" and "horror" novels.
The characters are written in such a way that they are realistic and relate-able (even if you only get to know a few of them really well). You find yourself rooting for them, even while thinking they could very well be your neighbors. You worried with them, you cheered with them.. hell you even cried with them. This book had everything!
Overall, I found myself shivering at some parts, desperately hoping for no snow in others (although I live in New Jersey where snow is common), and fervently wishing there will be another novel after this one (oh.. that ending! It left me clicking my kindle and cursing.. in a good way... when I realized there was no more to this one).
This is one of those stories that has picked a perfect "Snow filled" release date of January 2014!
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of Snowblind in return for my honest review. This does not in any way reflect upon my review. All thoughts/opinions of this novel are 100% my own. -
A chillingly atmospheric, seasonal horror tale that defies expectations. Once, a blizzard descended upon the town of Coventry, a storm like no other, that left unexplained deaths and disappearances in it's wake, scarring the survivors. Twelve years later, a handful of those survivors receive cryptic warnings from those lost that fateful night. The storm, and what lurks within it, is coming back.
An incredible supernatural mystery; every time you think you know what's going on, it slips away from you, keeping you guessing, and at the edge of your seat, till the very end. Golden has one of the finest imaginations in the business, and this book, a long overdue return to the horror genre, is a prime example of a master at his best.
Highly recommended!
4.5 stars -
This was so awkwardly written with an abundance of terribly flat 2D characters, over description, pointless prose that went on for ages, and the plot only came together in like the last 20 pages. Do not recommend.
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Thank you to the author and publisher for copy via netgalley.
Coming January 2014 from St Martins Press
The small New England town of Coventry had weathered a thousand blizzards…but never one like this. Icy figures danced in the wind and gazed through children’s windows with soul-chilling eyes. People wandered into the whiteout and were never seen again. Families were torn apart, and the town would never be the same.
So, Mr Goldens first horror novel in more than a decade (why WHY when they are so good, I may have to have words) opens in a snow storm where wicked things are afoot and is immediately chilling in more ways than one. This storm hides a deadly secret and when it is done, many have lost loved ones and a town is in mourning…
Fast forward 12 years and another storm is approaching. People are understandably skittish (me too!) and as it turns out, with good reason…
I loved this one because it creeps up on you – then hooks you in fast. I read most of it huddled under my axe proof duvet and jumping at shadows – perfect Halloween week reading.
This is subtle..Christopher Golden proves here that the best creepy stories do not need out and out gore blood and guts, the best ones are the ones where its the atmosphere that gets you, and where the characters are realistic people that you can root for even as unrealistic things are happening to them. It did genuinely make me shiver now and then (creepy, misbehaving children will do that to me every time!) and it is an imaginative and disturbing tale.
I’d like more please. If you do happen to read this review Mr Golden, don’t leave it another decade – this reader suffers chronic impatience.
Happy Reading Folks! -
So the book starts out with an incident that happened 12 years ago in Coventry where quite a few people died. It occurred during a horrific snowstorm and the town never quite recovered. Now every time there is a blizzard in the air everyone becomes tense. When the story picks up 12 years later, the readers follows the lives of a few key characters. Once again a blizzard is one its way, but this time strange things begin happening. A young boy is almost killed in an accident and wakes up very differently from before, a couple's preteen daughter suddenly starts acting much older than she is - like 50 years older, and an ex-girlfriend shows up wanting to rekindle a romance yet acts more like the man's dead wife than a past flame.
I need to say that Golden does a wonderful job creating a unique character - the snowstorm itself. If you love thrillers and horror novels with winter settings, look no further. The chilling weather made the chilling atmosphere much scarier and more unsettling. I could almost hear the wind howling and the temperatures falling while curled up on my couch reading this. I devoured this book quite quickly and had to learn more about the entities hiding within the storm. I connected to many of the characters, even the thief, and rooted them on to safety. I also felt the loss of those that weren't so lucky.
I'm glad I finally picked up "Snowblind" and it was just the horror read I needed this month. It has gone to show me that I'm really glad I made the decision to pick up some older titles this year and maybe I can convince some of you to give this one a read too! -
Likeable tale from Golden about ice creatures emanating from severe blizzards and the effect they have on a small town's population, but it's rather disappointing in the execution. There's not much here despite the rave review from Stephen King. Pretty standard stuff with predictable results. The characters don't have much depth and story doesn't really go anywhere but it does keep moving along and provides a decent amount of action. Nice but I expected more. It explains the middling rating on GR.
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Well now I'm going to be terrified during the next snow storm. creepy and satisfying read!!!
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All ghosts are ghosts of loss. You might think that Christopher Golden's Snowblind is about restless ghosts and the skeery ice monsters that live in whiteout snowstorms, and it is, but it's also a meditation on loss and how love is what really survives after death. Golden asks, what if you had a second chance at that love? And answers, that would mean you also had a second chance at that crushing kind of loss because, sadly, nothing is forever. The monsters in this book are scary in themselves, but not as scary as what they represent: the re-opening of old wounds, the inability to let go of the past, and the terrifying nature of inevitability.
Don't get me wrong, Snowblind is exciting and scary and vicious in places. An excellent horror novel that earns the comparisons to early King. But at its core is a beating heart of tenderness and longing for lost love. Snowblind is wonderful. -
Stephen King said this book would bring a blizzard to my bones, & he was right! I loved this book. It had the perfect horror elements set in a wintery setting. It will forever make me look deeper into those snowy woods the next time I find myself anywhere surrounded by snow!
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I have definitely found a new favorite Author and series. In the vein of Agatha Christie, which this Author has translated 14 works into Icelandic for comes tales of mystery and murder set in the most unlikely of places, Siglufordur, an isolated fishing village on the Northern coast of Iceland.
At the age of 24, Ari Thor Arason finds himself recruited, as a young policeman into a town where his boss, the chief, (Tomas) tells him "nothing ever happens."
This turns out to be rather prophetic as during his first Winter, when he's feeling very hemmed in by the snow, lack of sunlight and missing his girlfriend in Reykjavik; there turns out to be one women found near death and placed in a coma, and another man who is a famous writer who resides in town, mysteriously dies.
Furthermore, confusing matters even more, Ari Thor meets another newcomer to the small village (Ugla), who he finds himself quite smitten with as he's ostracized even more by his girlfriend Kristin, (who happens to be living in his flat), in Reykjavik. As the time winds down to find out the truth, I definitely found myself ensnared in this classic whodunnit ! I immediately went on to the second book and will share my review shortly. -
"Alone on the street, she might have been the last woman on earth, the only human voice remaining but afraid to interrupt the quiet conversation between snow and sky."
Well it maybe early to call but this is definitely my favorite read of 2020 this far! Wow ... Christopher Golden really knows how to write a deeply moving and still super scary story. It's such a unique premise, and the characters pull you in and your heart breaks for their circumstances. Loved that there are so many characters, each with their own section within the chapters, made it such a hard book to put down.