The Biting Cold

by Matthew Hellman

Winner of the 2023 U.P. Notable Book Award

A level of plausibility is hard to find in today's horror fiction, and Hellman has the credentials to weave an immensely intriguing plot that delivers an abundantly satisfying conclusion."

-Craig A. Brockman Author- Dead of November: A Novel of Lake Superior.

In 1842, every resident of Copper Harbor, MI disappeared without a trace. In 2019, Bill Hitze and his son Brandon make a gruesome discovery while fishing on Lake Superior that starts to shed light on the old mystery. According to Professor Stephanie Crowe, an Ojibwa legend predicts that the town's residents will be lost again. Together, Bill and Stephanie strive to discover the truth about what happened so they can protect the small tourist town. But time runs out when brutal winter weather hits Copper Harbor and awakens the ancient horror. The legend claims the evil is indestructible. The warrior Vikings who'd set foot upon these lands hundreds of years ago scrawled their advice on a stone marker: flee. With escape cut off, the residents must hide or fight. And there is nowhere to hide.

310 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Sue Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Great plot with plausible parameters--difficult to find in the horror genre. Loved the characters and really cared what happened to them. Too often in horror fiction the characters are simply the backup chorus for the plot. In this novel, the people are real, relatable--like people you might meet every day. They have realistic social problems and are from a wide strata of ages and abilities. The setting is Michigan's Upper Peninsula, still a true wilderness area in many places, which is the perfect backdrop for the horror the characters must face. Hellman does a great job of portraying the difficulties of wilderness survival and how easy it is to get yourself into a life-threatening situation. Those "normal" survival situations (sudden lake storm, whiteouts in snowstorms, being lost in a dense woods--been there done that more than once, don't want to do any of them again) highlight and intensify an imaginative and lore-driven horror plotline. Put it all together and you have a winner. This book was also chosen as a U.P. of Michigan Notable Book of 2023. Congrats, Matt. Well deserved. Thanks for a great read.

[Jennifer Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this one a couple of days ago, and was pleasantly surprised. I love a stranded in winter wonderland hell story, while it wasn't quite the folklore I was looking for by about the halfway point, it was fun! There was a lot of real emotion involved, and once the action got going, it basically kept going. A small town learns that history repeats itself, and they may not all live to tell the tale.

[Lauren Entringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book this summer at one of my top five favorite books stores, Grandpa’s Barn, in Copper Harbor! I was pleasantly surprised and had no idea what direction this book would go when I bought it. I would recommend to everyone but especially if you have visited Copper Harbor!

[Mike Bloom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining read. The characters, though relatable, don't have a lot of depth and the narrative is neither psychological nor mystical. It's more like a straight-to-video horror film that you always pass over in the budget DVD bin at WalMart. I did, however, find it entertaining.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned and felt the winter in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Some horror, some fantasy, and some love story.

[Jessica Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prologue had me hooked! And the rest of the story was entertaining too.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

It keeps you guessing as to what is actually plaguing the town. Very suspenseful, the last few chapters kept me up late.