Alison Littlewood’s wonderfully wintry read A Cold Season is at the top of the Waterstones horror list!

Congratulations to Alison, it is truly a remarkable book.

For those of you yet to read it here’s a quick synopsis:

Cass is building a new life for herself and her son Ben after the death of her husband Pete, returning to the village where she lived as a child. But their new home is not what she expected: the other flats are all empty, there’s strange graffiti on the walls, and the villagers are a bit odd.

And when an unexpectedly heavy snowstorm maroons the village, things get even harder. Ben is changing, he’s surly and aggressive and Cass’s only confidant is the smooth, charming Theodore Remick, the stand-in headmaster.

Not everyone approves of Cass’s growing closeness to Mr Remick, and it soon becomes obvious he’s not all he appears to be either. Cass realises this is not the first time her family have been targeted by Theodore Remick. But this time, the stakes are immeasurably higher…