The Biting Cold

Winner of the 2023 U.P. Notable Book Award

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.

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 aabundantly satisfying conclusion." -Craig A. Brockman Author- Dead of November: A Novel of Lake Superior.