This one was a struggle to get through.

Luckily, I was still able to keep up with the characters and storyline without having read book 1 in the series. This can serve as a standalone.

I appreciate when author’s write in a more “simple” way, meaning I can follow along easily without having to pause and look-up difficult or unfamiliar words. This book, however, felt so simple that it was almost unrefined in a way. I skimmed a lot of it because it didn’t keep my attention. I felt like a lot of the meat between the beginning and end of a chapter could be skipped and you didn’t miss out on much. it just didn’t keep moving the way I would have liked. This one was really just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read. 2.5 ⭐️ rounded to 3.

I loved this book and couldn't put it down. The storyline intertwined so well with the previous book and flowed well. Very refreshing that the main character isn't a hard drinking man with a broken marriage behind him living in a crappy flat. I did figure out who dunnit but not until well into the book and it didn't ruin it for me, I wanted to keep reading to see if I was right and how it had all come about. I really hope that there are many more books planned for this detective.

First of all, thank you to Avon Books UK for giving me an advanced reader's copy of this book. Here's my review:

This book is all you can ask for when looking for a good thriller. There were a lot of times I thought I really had it in the bag of whodunnit, but, man, was I always wrong after a new twist. And the twists were well-thought-out, too. Most books I've read in the past that had this many twists felt kind of forced, honestly speaking. Plus the ending totally caught me offguard. Brilliantly written! Now I have to read more of Alex Pine's work, and looking forward to it. 🧡

I requested and started this book not realizing that it was a sequel - I tried to read it in the hopes that you wouldn't need to know a whole bunch from the previous book to read this book. After 60 pages I had to put it down and stop reading it because I just didn't know what was going on. I saw another reviewer give this book a 2 star and so I'm kind of happy I didn't make it through this book. HOWEVER, that was not my review of this book and I stopped reading because I felt like I wasn't following the book.

I'm only rating it 3 stars because I didn't get to finish it and I didn't know what I was reading (my own fault).

I greatly appreciate the publishers sending me this book in exchange for my honest review. The Killer in the snow it the follow up to the DI James Walker series. I enjoyed the plot as I found it rather easy to follow and that it flows nicely. This book can be read as a stand alone but does reference previous events from the book before. Walker is a great character and one that I find refreshing. I love police procedural book but often times the detective is saddled with mounds of their own issues making them unreliable trying to solve the case. I enjoyed the straight laced mindset of Walker!

This is the second book in this series and though I have read both it is important to know you don't need to read the first to understand and enjoy this book.

DI Walker is back with another murder to solve at Christmas. This time it's a triple murder to investigate of a husband, wife and grown daughter. The farm where the murder occurs is the same place of a double murder/suicide which happened with the previous owners. Are the two incidents related?

I really enjoy this series of books and hope there are more to come as I will enjoy knowing more about Walker and his wife Annie. No, this book isn't a hard hitting gruesome crime thriller, so if that's what you are wanting then this isn't for you. This however is an easy mystery read with a wonderful scenery and enjoyable characters which takes you away from our every day mundane lives.

A year has passed since DI James Walker cracked his biggest case yet, and he’s hoping for peace and quiet this festive season.

But across the fells, a local farmer returns home on Christmas Eve to find footsteps in the fresh snow that lead down to his unused basement – and no footsteps leading away. Days later, his body is found, alongside those of his wife and daughter.

Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little evidence. And the crime scene has strange echoes of another terrible murder committed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier…

I enjoyed this book, having read The Christmas Killer I was familiar with the characters and am growing to like them, the book I feel was better than the first and gripped you from the first pages, I liked the way in concentrated on the actual murder and not so much on DCI Walkers Home life, I am looking forward to more in this series of books as I already enjoy JP Carter's (Alex Pine) writing style, would recommend reading this

This is the second book of the DI James Walker series, although this is the first time I am reading the series.

In a farm, a father, mother and a daughter were found dead inside the barn. It happened to look like a suicide--daughter was stabbed, the mother was shot and the father shot himself. But when the detectives finds that the father, Robert Bateman is in huge debts and the Bateman seemed to be having enemies, they soon ruled this case as a murder.

The story started out a bit slow but soon towards the middle, it got a bit more interesting as the secrets started revealing about the family and that there was another murder that happened on the very same farm almost twenty four years ago with a baby missing. Soon, this begins a cat and mouse chase game and then there were some twists and turns that it got fast paced until the end.

Overall this thriller is a slow burn book--it wasn't bad but it was good too that will keep you engrossed in the book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon publishers for the ARC. The review is based on my opinion only.

I loved Alex Pine's first book - The Christmas Killer, so I was excited to return to Cumbria for another snowy crime-fest. DI James Walker and his team have another mystery to solve, whilst battling harsh winter weather.
Shortly after Christmas a family are found dead in their remote farmhouse, one stabbed and two shot. Was this a family murder suicide, or is there something more for DI Walker to discover? The plot thickens when a previous incident from over 20 years ago is raised. At the same farmhouse a couple were found dead and their small baby missing.
Are the crimes linked? There are plenty of credible suspects and lots of twists and turns in the investigation. I wasn't quite as gripped as the first one in the series, but still an excellent read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for the ARC.

Uff this was a plodder. So slow, so boring, so dry. The weird writing style makes this strangely impersonal and dull. Who are these characters? Who cares. There was a small sliver of something interesting but is got bogged down in too much inconsequential detail. I do appreciate NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. I just wish both had been better.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4246598672?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Another good book by this author. I enjoyed the characters and the plot line was interesting. The only part I didn't like was right at the beginning giving the description of the main character and the back story. It's second in a series so there was no need for it I thought.
Was a great ending!

I expected a lot more from this book and was severely let down. I haven't read the first in the series and honestly don't plan on it. First off, the plot was predictable as there are several movies with the same, and I was able to figure out everything after getting about a third of the way through.

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.

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.

I was not a huge fan of this book at all and it took me a lot longer to read because of it. I most likely wouldn't recommend it to others.

I keep trying to love police procedurals and I keep not liking them. I did finish this book and will rate it based on the writing alone. The prose was wonderful. I can read Alex Pine all day long. Just not a fan of police side of things.

This story is gripping from the start. It gets into the mystery of the murder quite quickly. The story was easy to follow even though there was a lot happening, which was great. The story also keeps you guessing what actually happened until the ending. Overall it was a super enjoyable murder mystery book!

A entertaining, though rather grim, story. Quite predictable, really, as clues were dropped at various points in the novel. However, I suppose that is part of the satisfaction, working it out for oneself. The characters seemed a little bit wooden to me, although they were interesting, and gave the story its twists and turns. I would certainly read another book by this author. A good read for light entertainment.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped, which was a shame. Pine writes well, and while the plot jumped around a bit it was easy enough to follow however I wasn't keen on the third person diary like entries looking back into the past. There were plot twists, but nothing that really shocked me and I had anticipated what would come at the end. I wanted it to be a faster paced, and not so padded out with red herrings which I had guessed already - because it reads very similarly to Pine's previous installment The Christmas Killer. The background story surrounding DI James Walker seemed a bit unnecessary and I don't think it added much to the story overall - apart from the being the reason he lives in the village. A bit "Midsummer Murders" for me but would appeal to readers of The Thursday Murder Club etc maybe?

A man, his wife, and his daughter are murdered in an isolated farmhouse. The murders are similar to murders that occurred in the same farmhouse twenty years earlier. Too similar to ignore.

This is the second book in this series, and I didn't read the first one.

There are some twists, but an important plot thread seemed obvious from early on. I didn't find the main character Detective James Walker particularly appealing and the references to a couple of previous cases felt more digressive than important.

Alex Pine has written a series of books on true crime, but I believe this is only his second novel.

read in August

NetGalley/Avon

Mystery/Thriller. Oct. 28, 2021. Print length: 400 pages

Another winter mystery for DI James Walker. Does nothing ever happen in the summer‽ An easy read with enough story to last a well stoked fire. Buy it and save it for this Christmas. Thanks to Netgalley.

The Killer in the Snow is an unputdownable, suspenseful and riveting book, chock full of layered mysteries and tension. I did not realize it is part of a series. Though it stands beautifully on its own, it is so arresting that this series has been added to my list to immerse myself in. That cover, though!

DI James Walker and his wife are living in rural England. And they have a secret. But so do killers. When murder enters the scene, locals are sickened in many ways. Not only were there killings in the area twenty years prior but the similarities between them and the current case are uncanny and disturbing. Walker must contend with fear, mysterious shoe prints and a creepy house, not to mention his past.

I read this book in a small cabin in the woods in the dark of night, deliberately setting the scene for maximum enjoyment of this thriller. The introduction to DI Walker and his colleagues is helpful and I really like the plot building. So well done. Walker's relationship with his wife is refreshingly a loving and caring one.

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.

My sincere thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for introducing me to a new-to-me series and the privilege of reading this suspenseful book. Can't wait to read everything I can get my hands on by this author.

This is an excellent police procedural, set in the beautiful Lake District. It is the second in the series, but I haven’t read the first volume so can testify that it works equally well as a stand alone novel. Investigating 2 apparent murder/suicides, 24 years apart, at a remote farmhouse, with a violent criminal looking for revenge to add extra stress, DI James Walker certainly has his work cut out. Numerous suspects add variety to the tale. A thoroughly enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to next next in this series.