Dead of Winter by Brian Moreland

A predator stalks the frozen woods.

At a fort deep in the Ontario wilderness in 1878, a ghastly predator is attacking colonists and spreading a gruesome plague—his victims turn into ravenous cannibals with an unending hunger for human flesh. Inspector Tom Hatcher has faced a madman before, when he tracked down Montreal’s infamous Cannery Cannibal. But can even he stop the slaughter this time?

In Montreal exorcist Father Xavier visits an asylum where the Cannery Cannibal is imprisoned. But the killer who murdered thirteen women is more than just a madman who craves human meat. He is possessed by a shape-shifting demon. Inspector Hatcher and Father Xavier must unravel a mystery that has spanned centuries and confront a predator that has turned the frozen woods into a killing ground where evil has come to feed.@goodreads

MY REVIEW:

4 STARS 

If your looking for a good, gruesome book to read for Halloween, this one will fit the bill!

There is something out there in the snow, it's creeping, it's changing, what is it?



I'm not telling you what it is, it's many . . .

December 15, 1870
Manitou, Outpost
Ontario, Canada

It was the endless snowstorms that ushered in their doom. Each day and night the white tempests whirled around the fort, harrowing the log houses with winter lashings. At the center of the compound, the three-story lodge house creaked and moaned. Father Jacques Baptiste chanted in Latin and threw holy water on the barricaded front door. Above the threshold, a crucifix hung upside down. No matter how much the Jesuit priest prayed, the Devil would not release its grip on this godforsaken fort.



Inspector Tom Hatcher has been brought in from Montreal to Fort Pendleton to try to help out with disappearances of some of the people. He was notorious for bringing down the Cannery Cannibal and he was looking for a place for him and his son, Chris to get away for a bit. Well . . . he picked the wrong damn place to land that is for sure!

Tom spends time going out looking for clues with some of the soldiers and one of the Ojibwa trackers named Anika. I really liked her character. I don't like things that were done to her but she's a good solid character. They go out on horses or in sleds. Anika has her own sled team that she loves but they have several sled teams as they are needed in the winters.



On their first day out they find the torn apart body of one of the wives. And they find a little girl on horseback, she's sick and doesn't look good. And it only gets worse from there.

They try to get some help from the Ojibwa Village but they will only tell them about legend. BUT <-- legends should not be ruled out.

There are some things in the book I didn't like but that's my own thing, but other than that the book is pretty freaking awesome.

Father Xavier who is an exorcist lives in Montreal and he tries to exorcise the Cannery Cannibal. He thinks he did, but you know. . . that never happens like you want it to.

Father Xavier at one point does end up at the Fort, it seems a lot of people tend to come and go from the fort.

If your looking for a book full of legends, awesome background images (not the gruesome ones), demons, butchering, guts, possessions, fort life, Native Americans, creepiness to the nth, then this book is for you. I thought it was bloody brilliant <--- pun intended :-D

My mom is going to be reading this next because she likes that gruesome scary stuff too!

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1773267510

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Winter-Brian-Moreland/dp/1609286634/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475358233&sr=1-1&keywords=dead+of+winter+by+brian+moreland