Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs
In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable.
My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It’s a hard job, and it doesn’t leave much room for side quests. Which is why when I needed to travel to Montana to help my brother, I intended to go by myself.
The Bite Breakdown:
Quick Verdict
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs is a winter-locked, pressure-cooker Mercyverse entry that traps Mercy, Adam, and a dangerously mixed group of supernatural players on sacred ground, then forces them to survive the politics and the magic long enough to save someone Mercy loves. It is for readers who like their urban fantasy with teeth, tension, and contained-location menace, not for anyone craving a breezy, monster-of-the-week romp.
At a Glance
- Genre: Urban Fantasy
- Subgenre: Mythological Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy
- Trope: Dangerous Fae Bargains
- Series: Mercedes Thompson series Book 14; Mercyverse Book 34
- POV: First Person
- Romance Focus: Low, established relationship
- Tone: Wintry, myth-driven, tense, high-consequence
The Premise (No Spoilers)
Mercy is still dealing with the aftereffects of the Soul Taker, including the unnerving reality that what it did to her is not simply gone because the artifact was destroyed. That lingering distortion adds an edge to everything she senses, and it makes her feel just a little less certain of her own footing in a world where certainty keeps you alive.
When Mercy and Adam head out into brutal winter conditions on a family-driven mission, the trip turns into something else entirely: a deliberate, supernatural snare. A malignant snowstorm and a sense of being herded, not stranded, shifts the story from road tension into locked-room survival, with the kind of mixed company that guarantees trouble.
The result is a tight, wintry container where Mercy has to read a room full of volatile beings, figure out who pulled the strings, and push through a threat that feels old, mythic, and personal. This is the Mercedes Thompson series book 14 and Mercyverse book 34.
What Worked
The setting is a gift: snowbound, isolated, and steeped in the uneasy feeling that the storm has intent. Once the book commits to the idea that this is not random bad weather but a controlled trap, the tension becomes constant background pressure, the kind that makes every conversation feel like a negotiation with teeth.
I also loved how the cast lineup intensifies the stakes instead of just adding cameos. This is one of those Mercy books where the “who is in the room” matters as much as the immediate danger, because every faction and every power set changes what Mercy can safely do. The story keeps rewarding Mercy’s specific strengths: her instincts, her stubborn compassion, and her ability to survive rooms she should not be able to survive.
What Didn’t Work (or Might Not)
If you prefer Mercy’s stories when they are primarily a clean investigative track through Tri-Cities with familiar support characters orbiting the case, the contained-location structure may feel restrictive. The book leans into atmosphere, social tension, and survival logistics, so the forward momentum sometimes comes from pressure and dread rather than rapid clue progression.
Also, the mythology-tinged elements and the deliberate “everyone is here for a reason” vibe can read as more conceptual than procedural at first. You have to enjoy the slow tightening of the net, trusting that the apparent chaos is purposeful, because the book wants you to sit in that uncertainty right alongside Mercy.
Romance and Relationship Dynamics
Mercy and Adam are solid here, and that steadiness becomes its own kind of comfort in a story that keeps removing safety nets. Their relationship reads like a practiced partnership: constant micro check-ins, quiet trust, and the sense that even when they disagree, they are still moving in the same direction. It is less about romance-as-plot and more about romance-as-foundation, the thing that lets Mercy take bigger risks without emotionally splintering.
- Violence and threat of harm
- Claustrophobic survival tension (snowbound isolation)
- Manipulation and coercion (being deliberately trapped)
- Lingering magical contamination and bodily autonomy discomfort (Soul Taker aftereffects)
Who Should Read This
Read this if you love Mercy Thompson at her most reactive and resourceful, forced to problem-solve in a hostile environment with limited options and too many unpredictable powers in one place. If winter settings, locked-room style supernatural tension, and mythic threats that feel bigger than the immediate scene are your catnip, this one delivers.
Skip it if you want a lighter, more open-structured entry with lots of familiar home-base scenes and a clear investigative “case file” rhythm from page one.
Final Verdict
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs earns its bite through containment: the storm tightens, the personalities clash, and Mercy has to navigate a situation that feels engineered to break people. I walked away satisfied by the tension and the atmosphere, and I liked how the story uses Mercy’s humanity as both a liability and a weapon.
Overall Rating: 4 Stars
It is a tense, wintry Mercyverse installment with strong atmosphere, high-stakes containment, and satisfying survival momentum.
Heroine Strength: 4 Crowns
Mercy stays stubbornly agent-driven under pressure, making hard calls and holding the room together without ever becoming the most powerful creature in it.
Spice Level: 1 Flame
Very low heat with an established-couple baseline, and any intimacy is easily skippable without losing the plot.
When Myth Steps Fully Onto the Page
In Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, the isolation is not an accident but the result of Mercy’s brother arriving on Adam and Mercy’s doorstep in a catatonic state. His fragmented communication points them toward a familiar fae contact from Uncle Mike’s bar, hoping that Ymir may have answers. That lead sends Mercy and Adam down a path that quickly strips away the assumption that they are dealing with fae politics at all. When they consult Ymir, the encounter goes badly and forces them out into a lethal winter storm in search of his brother, Hrímnir.
That journey brings them face to face with Elyna, a vampire previously introduced in the Shifting Shadows anthology, grounding the situation in Mercyverse continuity rather than more surprise reveals. As the pieces come together, Mercy realizes that Ymir and Hrímnir are not fae but Jötunn, part of the Jötnar tied directly to Ragnarök. What initially looks like a localized supernatural crisis expands into something mythic in scale, with stolen artifacts, ancient obligations, and a marriage that must be completed to prevent catastrophe.
The resolution hinges on balance rather than brute force. Mercy, Adam, and their allies work to recover the stolen artifact and ensure the marriage that will avert Ragnarök. Threaded through it all is Coyote’s quiet manipulation. He leverages the looming possibility of Ragnarök to heal Mercy from the lingering damage inflicted by the Soul Taker. It is subtle, dangerous, and very on brand for Coyote, leaving Mercy restored but deeply aware that even acts of healing in this world come at a cost.
Leave a Reply