A Great Old fashioned Crime Novel.
Lots of great characters both amid the Police investigating the Crimes , the Villages who are at possible Risk, along with all the side plots to try keep you from guessing who the Christmas Killer is !
It was made extra interesting because the area where the Book was set is not that far from where I live so I had a wonderful picture of the Village Kirkby Abbey & it's surroundings in my head as I read the story, plus the local dialect of the Villagers& then the London accent of DI James Walker. All in all a very enjoyable Crime read not too much Violence!
I hope this does well once it it published ,& at such time I will then with permission post my review on GoodReads,,Amazon & with several Book Groups via FB that I belong too plus any friends I believe would enjoy reading it.

I received my ecopy of The Christmas Killer via Netgalley.

This is a good village based whodunnit which will keep you guessing. Although there is a serial killer on the loose it is not a heavy, gruesomely detailed scenario. It drew me in from the outset and I liked the main characters. The plot gives nothing away until you realise that the book is running short of pages, at which point it's obvious where the main clue lies which leads to the obvious answer of who the killer is. I felt this final point was really rather rushed.

My only peeve is that James called his wife 'hon' nearly every time he spoke to her and that whilst leading the police team in a race against time and the elements, he assured his wife Annie that he would always have time to chat to her during the working day!

An interesting, police drama in a village setting that ticked all the boxes.

ho-ho-horrifying!

A classic whodunnit with holiday themed twists and turns, this book sucks you right in from the start and keeps your eyes glued to the pages until its conclusion.

I have read many thrillers this year, and I must say that this was one I definitely enjoyed, and admittedly even more so because its a Christmas thriller. There’s just something about holiday stories, whether it be a cozy romance or a suspenseful thriller, that makes it that much more fun and enjoyable to read.

I read the preview of this book before being given access to the full e-galley, and I was immediately gripped and wanting to read more. But because I was so eager to devour the entire story, I was a bit apprehensive that I would end up feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. But as soon as I picked up where the preview had cut off, I was once again instantly immersed into the story and the holiday horrors it contained.

This book has such an intriguing storyline, as it features a serial killer stalking a small village, killing his victims in a “twelve days of Christmas” manner; he leaves messages on Christmas Cards, and then goes in for the kill.

This story is twisty and suspenseful, and there’s never a dull moment to be found. There are many suspects to be suspicious of, and I was constantly on the edge of my seat in anticipation, trying to figure out who the actual killer is. There are so many clues to be found throughout the story, but they are cleverly hidden by the author, like a craftily wrapped Christmas present, purposefully wrapped in a way that's meant to deceive.

Gripping and utterly entertaining, this is a mystery that is very well crafted, like an artfully decorated gingerbread house.

To anyone who is a fan of murder mysteries and holiday themed stories-pick this one up!

4/5 twinkling stars!

The Christmas Killer

The combination of my favorite holiday and favorite genre; I started reading “The Christmas Killer” by Alex Pine with extremely high expectations. Unfortunately, after only getting through the first few chapters, I was let down. I continued to push myself through the novel, thinking it would get better, but it never did. As the beginning of the novel started, you learn of an individual who had recently been released from prison after being “wrongfully a accused” of a crime. After reading the entire novel, I ask myself, why was that part even added? Was it added to fill up space in the novel? Was it going to divert my focus on who the suspect possibly was? For the most part, that character and entire portion of the novel could have been completely omitted.

Most of the books I read consist of female detectives, so it was nice to change it up a bit and have a male detective as the lead. While DI James Walker was dedicated to his job as a Senior Detective, I didn’t get the vibe I typically get when I read other crime novels containing female detectives. However, it could have been the fact that the story line did not keep my attention and most evenings, it put me to sleep more than anything. I will say I was completely caught off guard when the Christmas killed was identified. That individual not once crossed my mind as a suspect. However, after the suspect was identified, the book just ended, which was yet another disappointment.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read the ARC of The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine. I greatly appreciate it.

This, for me, was a 2* OK read.

It's such a good premise; a couple move from London to Cumbria, escaping the hustle and bustle of the Capital as well as a recently released gangland killer who blames the MET policeman husband for his incarceration. Things seem idyllic until a mystery package with a strange warning arrives and then a murder takes place... and more are due.

It's not a bad read, I just struggled to maintain interest as it has little depth and few interesting characters. Plus, the lead character's wife is extremely self obsessed and irritating - which didn't help.

Overall, an easy read that could have been much more.

This was a brilliant book I couldn't put it down . Defiantly recommend buying this book well worth it .

Not sure if this is a series but first I have read. Would be happy to read more featuring this guy. His wife seems to drink a lot though. Set in a pretty small village so hope they don’t kill off too many residents. Guessed murderer pretty early on but an easy read for a quiet few hours.

Thank you for the ARC of the Christmas killer. Strong start to book. Good development of characters. I enjoyed the plot and didn't actually see who the killer was until the very end, enough plausible characters to keep you guessing. Well worth a read and I will try the authors other books. I do not include spoilers or references to the book in my reviews

I did like this book but I felt like it could have been adapted more. It was very predictable and that isn’t something I like with regards to this genre. Just didn’t hit the spot for me

The Christmas Killer is book 1 in the DI James Walker series.

Detective James Walker and his wife Annie are forced to move to a small Cumbrian village because of a threat to their life in London. But just when everything feels perfect and plans to enjoy Christmas with the family, DI James Walker is sent an early Christmas card telling him there will be 12 murders in 12 days!

I really liked this thriller. It had me suspecting almost everyone and I had my reasons why each person might have been the murderer (and in the end I was right!). Although I did find the second half of the book to be slower and sometimes just dragging. But overall, a great first in a series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with an advanced copy.

This was a very good book. I read it in one day. It had me on the edge of my seat and oh my! The twists and turns! A must read! I will definitely recommend this book!

This book was really good and gripping. It hard me hooked all the way though wondering who the killer was. The 12 days off Christmas with 12 murders. It was interesting trying to think who it could have been.

James and his wife Annie move from London to a small town, to escape a mob boss that James had a hand in putting behind bars. This sounded right up my alley, because I love reading murder mystery books from the detectives perspective. But I found it very hard to remember all the characters that were in this book. Maybe it was because there was too many of them or maybe it was because I didn’t care enough about them to remember them.
I also didn’t enjoy the reveal at the end, or who the killer was. It just fell flat for me. It being the priest and he was killing people because he thought they scorned god. The book kept mentioning the twelve days of Christmas but it never went anywhere with that. It was mentioned at the start when James and Annie got a dead partridge as a gift. I wanted so much more and I didn’t get that. But thanks to netgalley for letting me read an arc of this book.

After a promising and enjoyable start, unfortunately this became extremely repetitive and unexciting: we don’t need to witness a conversation, then have the detective reflect on it and then have him tell others about it; Annie was two-dimensional; sentence after sentence stated the obvious; and the killer was clear from the first time they appeared. This had promise but needs tightening up in the middle half.

I found this book an ok read but it didn't really stand out for me.

The plot had a lot of potential: detective in a small Cumbrian village receives a note warning of twelve deaths to come, along with a dead bird representing the partridge from the Twelve Days of Christmas. As the murders begin, the weather worsens, trapping everyone in the village with a killer.

However, I found the execution left something to be desired. The writing suffers from a problem I've seen in many other crime novels: it's very flat and seems to exist just to move the characters through the plot. Even though we are told the characters feel emotion, none of it resonates. At times it's almost like reading a summary of events rather than being immersed in the book.

That could all be forgiven if the plot were a really clever one, but the plot here is also quite flat. I guessed who the killer was very early on, and the fact that the police didn't even think of it made them seem pretty incompetent. The Twelve Days of Christmas also have nothing to do with the plot, which was a bit of a disappointment.

OK as a light holiday read, perhaps, but I wouldn't rush to recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the arc of The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine.

4 star read like wow just wow! i loved this book so much! This follows DI James Walker who is all ready for his christmas with his family until there is an early christmas present left on the door step in which he opens to find out it is a promise from somebody for the 12 days of christmas there will be 12 murders.... not too long after he read this the first body was found in the snow half of its body is frozen... it leaves residents of the village in fear as no one knows what 11 victims he kills next.... can he find it before its too late?

A great read to begin with. The start and middle were good and had me gripped in but 3/4 of the way in and i started to lose interest. There wasn't a big build up to who the killer was and once the ending came it just stopped adruptly with quite a flopped ending.

**This review will be posted on my book blog close to publication date**

A DI moves to a small village, hoping for a new, peaceful start but soon bodies start appearing, one for each of the 12 days for Christmas all while a raging snowstorm is impending. But the investigations are all going in a loop since everyone in the village has a nasty secret to hide, some secrets, very close to home.

This is a pretty good police procedural, gripping, straightforward, and quick with a satisfying yet kinda predictable end. It took its time to get started though, the first few chapters made me want to dnf it so hard, because really, ‘the whining wife of a good detective’ is so typical and old, also why is the character’s inability to conceive overshadows everything else that’s going on in the story! Like I said, typical and old. But thank heavens I carried on and it was such a good decision.

It takes off after the first few chapters, the pace remains good, and the short chapters helped keep the interest up. I really liked how the whole process of investigation was told, how one point of interrogation lead to another, and this was the best part of the story imo. This the perfect thriller for the jolly season, and quite enjoyable. Much recommended.

I was interested from page 1 of this book! I connected immediately to DI James Walker who has been transferred from the Met in London to the small village of Kirkby Abbey, Cumbria, after the release of gangster, Andrew Sullivan. After Sullivan's release, James and Annie were receiving threatening letters, suspected to be from Sullivan, hence their move to Cumbria. Sullivan has served 13 months in prison for the murder of Brendon Fox until his release after an unnamed man confessed to the murder. Sullivan has always denied murdering Fox.

James's wife Annie, grew up in Kirkby Abbey and has a secret of her own, unbeknown to her husband. There are twists and turns, murders, infidelity, revenge all the things you would expect from a murder mystery with Christmas thrown in!!

I enjoyed the style of Alex Pine's writing, which flowed nicely and kept you interested in finding the killer.

I would recommend this book and have given a 4 star rating

I WANT TO THANK NEWGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK

Despite being a Christmas themed book I really enjoyed reading this book in the middle of July! It was a tense and entrapping read that I managed to read in a couple of sittings.

I liked that the book came from the perspective of the victims. It felt a little different to normal murder type suspense novels.

A great read for people who like the whole whodunnit type books