{{Short description|2012 novel by Alison Littlewood}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Use British English|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox book | name = A Cold Season | title_orig = | translator = | image = Littlewood ColdSeason.webp | image_size = | caption = First edition cover | author = Alison Littlewood | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | subject = | genres = Fantasy, horror | publisher = Jo Fletcher Books | pub_date = January 2012 | media_type = Hardcover | pages = 384 | awards = | isbn = 978-1-78087-135-6 | followed_by = A Cold Silence }}
'''''A Cold Season''''' is a fantasy and horror novel by English writer Alison Littlewood. It is her debut novel and was first published in the United Kingdom in January 2012 by Jo Fletcher Books. It is about a young widow who takes her son to Darnshaw, the village of her birth after her husband went missing in action in Afghanistan; but the village has become sinister and foreboding, and snow storms prevent them from leaving.
''A Cold Season'' was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club in 2012.<ref name=Huddleston/> Littlewood wrote a sequel, ''A Cold Silence'', which was published in 2015.
==Plot summary== Cass is a young widow whose husband went missing in action in Afghanistan. She takes her son, Ben to Darnshaw, a village she grew up in. But Darnshaw is not as she remembers it, and Ben makes it clear he does not want to be there. Then Ben starts to make friends with some of the locals, and his behaviour changes, becoming more and more menacing and violent. Cass makes sinister discoveries about the village and its inhabitants, and wants to leave, but Ben refuses. She tries to leave on her own but cannot because the village has been cut off from the outside world by snow storms.
==Critical reception== Reviewing ''A Cold Season'' in ''Booklist'', Alison Downs described it as a "classic supernatural story with gothic undertones".<ref name=Downs/> She said that while the story "isn't perfect, and some themes are overdone", it "hits some very high and scary notes."<ref name=Downs/> A review in ''Publishers Weekly'' said ''A Cold Season'' is a "well-established trope in horror" and "is entirely familiar and predictable".<ref name=PubWeekly/> The reviewer felt that Littlewood has not done enough to make the story stand out and impress.<ref name=PubWeekly/>
In a review in ''Library Journal'', Peter Petruski called ''A Cold Season'' a "creepy, claustrophobic debut".<ref name=Petruski/> He said it brings to mind classic horror novels and films, but also tends to be "a tad predictable and formulaic".<ref name=Petruski/> He complained that the book's protagonist, Cass is "incredibly unlikable ... makes unrealistically poor decisions and takes a ridiculously long time to figure out what is going on."<ref name=Petruski/> Notwithstanding these criticisms, Petruski stated that "the novel builds a real sense of foreboding and dread, which creates a chilling reading experience for fans of demonic and religious horror."<ref name=Petruski/>
Ross Warren wrote in ''This Is Horror'' that ''A Cold Season'' is a "gripping and superbly paced book".<ref name=Warren/> He said Littlewood's prose lifts it above the well-worn tropes that often features in horror stories like this. The characters are "believable, flawed individuals", and the supernatural elements are "well handled".<ref name=Warren/> Warren was a little critical of the twist at the end, which he felt belonged to a "low budget, horror-movie-of-the-week", but still praised the work for being "a remarkable debut novel that deserves to stand amongst some of the other great debut horror novels of recent years".<ref name=Warren/>
==References== <references>
<ref name=PubWeekly>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62365-022-3 |title=A Cold Season |magazine=Publishers Weekly |issn=0000-0019 |date=1 July 2013 |access-date=5 May 2023}}</ref>
<ref name=Downs>{{cite magazine |last=Downs |first=Alison |title=A Cold Season |magazine=Booklist |location=Chicago |issn=0006-7385 |volume=110 |issue=1 |date=1 September 2013 |id={{ProQuest|1435422036}}}}</ref>
<ref name=Huddleston>{{cite news |last=Huddleston |first=Yvette |url=http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/yorkshire-living/arts/books/thriller-that-delves-into-the-dark-side-of-fairytales-1-5683145 |title=Thriller that delves into the dark side of fairytales |newspaper=The Yorkshire Post |location=Leeds, England |issn=0963-1496 |date=17 May 2013 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412005034/http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/books/thriller-that-delves-into-the-dark-side-of-fairytales-1-5683145 |archive-date=12 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name=Petruski>{{cite journal |last=Petruski |first=Peter |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=90098333&site=eds-live&scope=site |title=A Cold Season |journal=Library Journal |issn=0363-0277 |date=1 August 2013 |volume=138 |issue=13}} {{subscription required |via=[https://www.ebsco.com EBSCO]'s Academic Search Complete}}</ref>
<ref name=Warren>{{cite web |last=Warren |first=Ross |url=https://www.thisishorror.co.uk/read-horror/book-reviews/a-cold-season-by-alison-littlewood/ |title=A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood |website=This Is Horror |date=March 2012 |access-date=5 May 2023}}</ref>
</references>
==External links== *[https://www.jofletcherbooks.com/titles/alison-littlewood/a-cold-season/9781780871363/ ''A Cold Season''] at Jo Fletcher Books *{{ISFDB title|id=1365855|title=A Cold Season}} *[https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/alison-littlewood/cold-season.htm ''A Cold Season''] at FantasticFiction
{{Alison Littlewood}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cold Season, A}} Category:2012 British novels Category:2012 English-language novels Category:2012 debut novels Category:2012 fantasy novels Category:2010s horror novels Category:English fantasy novels Category:British horror novels Category:Jo Fletcher Books books Category:Novels by Alison Littlewood