The brand new and most chilling book yet

This Christmas, the hunters become the hunted…

Book blurb

When four trail hunters go missing in the fells of Cumbria on Christmas Eve, the race is on to find them before nightfall – when the temperature plummets.

After hours of searching, the first body is found… Not frozen in the snow, but brutally murdered and bearing a warning: the real hunt has begun.

As a snowstorm descends, three lives hang in the balance. But can the killer be caught before the trail goes cold?

My thoughts

These stories are not cosy but nor are they unnecessarily graphic with regards to the crimes committed. This story is set over Christmas so we get all the weather that might be associated with winter and the perils that come with it. Set in the Lake District there is a good sense of place within the story especially good when you are familiar with the area.

The story has a sense of urgency, wonderful characters including James and his long suffering wife who is incredibly understanding of James being stuck at work on Christmas Eve and Day. Their story has been integral to the series and James is made an offer in this story which may uproot his family once again! We don’t find out how that is resolved but we do get a sense of conflict in James over the opportunity that is being made.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Alex Pine’s series has become a regular Christmas read and The Night Before Christmas is another terrific episode (number 4) in the DI James Walker series.

I highly recommend this series and look forward to December 2024 and book 5.

Book: Purchased | read December 2023

Information

Published: HarperCollins Publishers | 26 Oct 2024 |384 pages | ISBN:9780008621025

Buy: AmazonSmileUK (currently 99p) | Hive UK (eBook currently 99p) | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local bookshop | Your local library

Author: Alex Pine was born and raised on a council estate in South London and left school at sixteen. Before long, he embarked on a career in journalism, which took him all over the world – many of the stories he covered were crime-related. Among his favourite hobbies are hiking and water-based activities, so he and his family have spent lots of holidays in the Lake District. He now lives with his wife on a marina close to the New Forest on the South Coast – providing him with the best of both worlds! This is his fourth novel.

Alex Pine/James Raven website

Books