Snow

By: Ronald Malfi

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

They come in with the snow. They are the snow . . .

The blizzard begins pummeling the Midwest on Christmas Eve, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Todd Curry doesn't need another reason to disappoint his son, so he joins three other people in renting the last four-wheel drive available and they set out into the blinding snow.

Only two hours into the treacherous trip west, Todd swerves to avoid a man in the middle of the highway. The stranger claims his daughter is lost somewhere out in the snow. Though his odd demeanor and ripped clothes make Todd and his group uneasy, they agree to take the man to the nearest town—if the now-damaged car can make it.

What awaits them at the next exit, however, is nothing they could have imagined. Around an empty town square, fires burn, cars are abandoned, storefronts are smashed. And there is no one to be seen—for now . . .

But soon the shadows lurking on the edges of their vision will step into the light, and Todd and his fellow travelers will find themselves facing a sharp-scythed evil shaped from the snow, tearing its way into human form—and taking the neighborhood by storm.

©2010 Ronald Malfi (P)2023 Tantor

Just OK

The premise was cool, but predictable. It reminded me of Dream Catcher… just not as well-written or creepy.

Ronald Malfi has a pretty good reputation so maybe I just picked a dud. I’ll give his other books a go.

It's always O'Hare

This book covers so many things that make it a perfect horror book for me. Supernatural monsters, body snatching, body mutilation, and government conspiracy concerning human irradiation. That alone got my attention. However, the open setting of this book was O’Hare International Airport. When the start of this book began with cancelled flights at O’Hare, I knew this book had to be written for me. My hate of that airport cannot be measured. In fact, I have never gotten in or out of that airport without some sort of delay or cancelation. I was “triggered” just reading people were stuck in Chicago at O’Hare! From the cancelation of their flight, a group of unfortunate souls travel towards their destination in one of the worst snowstorms seen within the last few years (in the book). I was sucked in at this point.
Mr. Malfi does a fantastic job drawing in and leading the reader along in this supernatural terror tale. Many points of the story I found myself either on edge and jumpy or in complete shock at how quickly one can fall victim to the body snatching. It’s creepy and it lingers when you put the book down. Dread is the real main character of this book because it starts the moment all flights are cancelled and doesn’t end until you close the back cover or listen to the credits of the audiobook. Simply, “it follows.”
This book moves quickly, no hesitation and no lull. The pace of this book is steady until our main and secondary characters are assembled then the pace ramps up. It doesn’t become exhausting, but urgency is front and center. I have no complaints with the characters. I felt our main characters were fleshed out well and I was given just enough of the secondary characters as to move the story forward appropriately. There is some info dumping, but it’s written in well as it is a natural sharing of information from people stuck in a stressful situation and sharing becomes the grounding and bonding event. Something that I kept noticing was the conversation between characters. They weren’t curt or meaningless words to take up space, but utilized proper timing to move the plot along, give backstory, and give more depth in situations that arose. Basically, I didn’t feel the need to skip pages or minutes in Audible. I appreciated every moment of this book.
Overall, this is a great book for any thriller or supernatural horror fan. While there is lots of violence, it is not extreme. It is equivalent to a good Dean Koontz or Stephen King read but has less messy human drama…. (But not no. A good book always has some). The best part of this book besides starting at O’Hare is the author left room for a follow-up story. At the end, does it really end? You’ll have to read this to find out.

Decent book

I liked Bone White better in the sense of the story line. This book kinda was irritating with characters and their story line.

Good story

This book kept me entertained and was fast paced. The concept was unique and it would be great to have a sequel.

4½ STARS 👍🏼

VERY good story. Not quite what I expected but definitely not disappointed. Started off good and only got better and better. RM never seems to fail. I have liked all his books (7 so far) and plan to continue with many more.

Good but predictable

it was sort but i knew what was going to happen next... it was lime watching the smell movie twice. Or reading the smell book for the third time. entertaining , especially if your new to the genre but if you are horror genre addict you won't be surprised by much.

creative but irritating

This didn't seem very similar to Bone White, not really what I expected.
The monsters were creative, not anything that's been done a million times. But a lot of the characters were really annoying.
Would it be too much to ask that once in a while the annoying ones die and the smart ones live?

I only finished this book out of spite. and because im not a quitter.

Very different and action starts early

I wish I could have had more closure on some things but otherwise it’s an excellent read. Highly recommend. The performance was great.

Sorry, it’s terrible

I couldn’t finish it. Unbelievable dialogue, flat characters. I’ll never know how this book ends, and I’m fine with that.