Don't Travel in a Blizzard - Snowball Review

TITLE: Snowball
AUTHOR: Gregory Bastianelli
PUBLISHER: Flame Tree Press
PUBLISHING DATE: January 16, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays. 

MY THOUGHTS:  I honestly am batting 1000 with some of my holiday reads this December and I must say Snowball knocked it out of the park!  The book opens with a snowplow driver on a desolate highway on Christmas Eve in the middle of a blizzard lamenting the fact that he should have retired BEFORE the holidays.  Suddenly he is stuck in the middle of storm and his accident leads others to pile up behind him. The only problem is no one can find the driver, only his snowplow and a seat covered with blood.

Over the next few chapters, Bastianelli introduces the reader to other other people crazy enough to be traveling in the middle of a blizzard on Christmas Eve and their reasoning for making such a questionable decision.  You have a young couple in love, an elderly couple in an RV whom I never trusted for a minute because I've read Doctor Sleep, a single business man, a husband and wife duo, a trucker, a mother and her two young children and college friends.  One by one they each encounter their own perils as they try to determine what is going on and find their way home.  Without giving away anything more, I'll just add that if you love horror, snowy settings, and action then immediately add this book to your TBR.

While I didn't love all of the characters in Bastianelli's novel, I was interested in all of them which is rare when I don't feel a connection.  I was seriously curious about what was going on and couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see what happened next.  Also I won't lie - from the beginning I wanted some of these people to die.  And not only do we have the blizzard itself, the individuals also have to deal with snowmen with teeth, scary Christmas legends, a man with a ice hooks and a few other surprises.  As Snowball plays out, the reader starts making sense of what is happening and it's one twisted ride!

This is a perfect read for someone want to jazz up their winter months with blood, horror and an action-packed thrill ride.  I really have no complaints about the book whatsoever except for the stupid lovebirds which are so in love it is clouding their common sense.  There is no insta-love and the romance is extremely minimal so if those things bug you, pick up this book anyway because they won't are barely present.  I loved Snowball and Bastianelli is an author to watch!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 5 PAWS