Likeable characters, creepy winterland where something is very wrong and a buuunch of action scenes. Malfi had no problem creating gory scenes one after the other in this scifi-action-horror book. Not ominously scary really but once the reader comes to care for the characters, the constant trouble they face hits. Malfi seems to like to blend the supernatural with very humane characters, who just seem to want to get on with their life without these horrendous encounters. That humanity in the scenes (both those filled with action as well as the calmer yet emotional ones) make his writing most believable. In this book I especially enjoyed the flashback-stories of some of the chosen the characters because of how effectively it builds the world around them. I also enjoyed how the story doesn’t start amidst mayhem, but lets our characters stumble into it only to later fill in the gabs.