The Killer in the Snow: The new and most chilling British detective crime fiction book you’ll read this year (DI James Walker series, Book 2)

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I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys tense and twisty police procedurals. There are some really creepy ideas and situations in the book so it probably isn’t for the faint of heart. However, there’s lots to enjoy and it would make a lively festive read…if Christmas bloodbaths are your thing. audiobook #christmasfiction #contemporaryfiction #crime #domesticdrama #detectivefiction #murdermystery #policeprocedural James has moved to the country with his wife to escape a Mob killer who he "put away" some years previously. It is Christmas time and James and his wife who are now expecting their first baby have had a couple of days off until the dreaded phone call. Three bodies have been discovered in a farm house and DI Walker is in charge. There is very little evidence and it first appears as a murder/suicide. However James is a bit skeptical and investigates further. Suspense and thriller readers, do not miss this perfectly dark (yet not a Horror) story. To me it is the perfect balance of past and present happenings, psychological mind plays and importance of unshakeable relationships.

The pace is fast in this twist filled read. There's also plenty of suspects to choose from. This is quite a good series so far. The books can be read as a standalone. The plot felt fast and edgy, plus, the investigation had many leads to it, including a few red herrings. Given that I read a lot of thrillers I tend to have a good idea early on what has happened and by 38% of the way through the book I made my prediction which turned out to be near as damn right. This, however, didn’t take away my enjoyment of the book as I then needed to see if I was right or what I had missed. Pine doesn’t beat around the bush with the reveals or twists, he delivers it without ceremony – what you see is what you get, and it feels like a hammer blow. Two days after Christmas DI James Walker is called out to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Kirkby Abbey a village near Cumbria. Things aren’t clear cut, and he still has the threat of Sullivan still on the horizon, he needs to protect himself and his wife but that’s a side plot with serious implications. He has several suspects in custody for the triple murder but not enough evidence to charge any of them. Is it the boyfriend of the murdered daughter who was cheating on her and has previous for small-time crimes? Or could it be the ex-employee who was fired for stealing from the family? Time is running out and still, the team can’t find that one bit of vital evidence that will nail them bang to rights. There was also evidence in the story that was never mentioned, like did the shotgun shells come from that particular gun? Why weren't the footprints measured for stride to determine how tall the suspect could be? The main character also referred to himself and his fellow officers as "coppers" and I have never heard a law enforcement officer call themselves such.Perfect for fans of smash-hit TV series Whitehouse Farm, Simon McCleave's The Snowdonia Killings and Catherine Cooper's The Chalet. DI Walker is still his likeable self and even his wife Annie, who annoyed me a little in the first novel, has grown on me a little more during the novel.

Instinct told him that whatever was going on in the house had to be more important than what might be happening in the cellar, so he turned sharply on his heels and rushed towards the front door. If you’ve been a follower of my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I don’t hand out 5 stars willy nilly – The Killer in the Snow deserves all the stars. I read it in about 6 hours, I found myself transfixed to the spot. The case kept throwing up curveballs and it took everything for me to dodge them. The prologue left me feeling like a moth to the flame…I knew it could kill me to go too close, but the magnetic pull was too strong to ignore. The writing style is was got me the most, it's very detached. There was a constant use of names, for example he always referred to his wife by her name instead of saying "my wife". It was in the main character, James, point of view yet it always stated his name instead of referring to him as "he/him/his". The way the characters spoke to one another was almost robotic. It was written more like a newspaper article than a book. Which makes sense considering the author was a journalist. I prefer to emerse myself in the book, become a part of the story, not feel as though I'm looking at it through a snowglobe.Oaktree Farm is remote, run down, and for sale, but it isn’t empty. Death has called over the festive season and it isn't its first visit. When he finds out the farm's terrible history James can't understand why anyone would still want to live there. As his case gathers pace, and various suspects come to light, discoveries are made which begin to link the present crime to one which happened over two decades earlier.