Synopsis
A gruesome find. A missing colleague. A case that hits closer to home…
As winter settles over Yorkshire, DCI Emma Gardner is hoping that work will calm down for everyone. Distracted by the continued disappearance of DI Paul Riddick Emma can’t seem to get her head back in the game. But when a human skull is discovered in a local pub, Emma knows it’s time to get a grip.
With no one local reported missing, and with no body to be found, the team have their work cut and no obvious clues to follow. Who could the skull belong to and what message is the killer trying to leave them? And then the first body is found…
As Emma and the team try desperately to identify the body and the killer, secrets from the past begin to reveal themselves. A home for single mothers. Babies who tragically didn’t make it. A coverup at the highest level.
With the clock ticking, winter has one final cold reveal for Emma. Her old friend Riddick…
My Review
I am a huge fan of Wes’s work and have been for quite a while. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed reading each and every book that he has released to date. I must admit that I am particularly enjoying the ‘Yorkshire Murders’ series. When I heard that Wes was due to release the fifth in the series, I knew that I had to grab a copy and read it just as soon as I could. Well ladies and gents the wait is over because the fifth book is called ‘The Winter Killings’ and it was released on 18th June 2024. It’s another superb addition to a superb series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Winter Killings’ but more about that in a bit.
The fact that I saw Wes’s name on the cover of a book that I knew I hadn’t read yet was enough to grab my attention and draw me in. As soon as I started reading, well that was it for me. I knew that I wouldn’t be doing anything other than reading for the rest of the afternoon because I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to put the book down. My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story. The characters intrigued me and I had to keep reading to see how their part in the story was going to pan out. I also had to keep reading to see if the overall story was going to turn out in the way in which I thought it would. The more of the book that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I was so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and also of how quickly I was getting through the book. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘The Winter Killings’. I found ‘The Winter Killings’ to be a gripping, tense and dramatic read, which certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
‘The Winter Killings’ is superbly written but then I have come to expect nothing less from Wes Markin. Wes certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be one hell of a story and then some. For me, this story certainly started in a memorable way. The story hit the ground running and maintained a fast pace throughout. Wes describes his characters so vividly and realistically that they seem just as real as you and I. Reading ‘The Winter Killings’ was a bit like being on an at times rather scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. I love the way in which Wes makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action. That’s how I felt anyway.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Winter Killings’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Wes’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
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