I’ve not read any Neil Lancaster before but something about the setting of this book, and the focus on hiking, really attracted me - and I really enjoyed it. It is fast paced, twisty and totally engaging. I need to go back now and read the other books. I was impressed at how the author made the passages dealing with the technological/computer side of policing so exciting. It could sound like a cliche, but I genuinely couldn’t put this down.

Max Craigie and the team are back! Max is contacted by an old friend, he works for the Mountain Rescue Team and he suspects some foul play when he realises there have been a few deaths of young women that individually haven’t been through a full investigation. This is the 6th book in the DS Craigie series, only the 2nd I have read, I feel this book can be read as a standalone or as part of the series. By not reading book 1 yet I do not feel like this has in any way reduced the enjoyment of reading this book. I feel like the connection with the characters has developed during the telling of this story and already gave that bond the reader needs with the characters. I really enjoyed When Shadows Fall and would definitely be recommending this book, and in fact the entire series to anyone who enjoys a good whodunnit thriller. The tension was built well throughout, making it hard to put the book down. I am really looking forward to seeing where this series will go next and it seems Neil Lancaster has ideas on how to keep it from going stale with some fresh ideas. Thank you NetGalley and HQ for this arc so I can share my personal thoughts.

Yet again, this author is prepared to include dreadful, chilling crimes in his storyline. A friend of Dectective seargeant Max Craigie's suggests that a d3ath on one of Scotland's Munros is suspicious and may not have been an accident.Max and his tem quickly find that there have been a number of deaths following the same patten and that there is a serial killer at large. During the investigation, the team realise that there is far more involved in the case, including police corruption, the dark Web, and offshore bit coin trading. As well as dealing with the enormity of these crimes, Max also has to cope with the need to be at home with his wife, who is about to give birth to their first child. There is a lot of banter within the team, much of it initiated by Inspector Ross, who has an irreverent manner and management style. He peoopers his conversation with several expletives, often in a humorous way. These conversations include quite a lot of Scottish dialect terms. This is a very good book with a fast-moving, hardly a let up in the tension and graphic descriptions of the stark beauty of the Munros. Well worth a read.Another great

All of us in Oundle Crime love Neil Lancaster’s Max Craigie series, which we’ve been following for some time. This is Book 6 and was published earlier this year. It’s another cracking story – one of those books you just don’t want to set aside. We think Neil Lancaster is a gifted storyteller and none of his novels has disappointed any of us so far. This definitely deserves 4 Stars. DS Max Craigie works in a small team based at Police Scotland’s corporate headquarters at Tulliallan, in Fife. Ostensibly called the Policing Standards Reassurance group, they work under the radar and report directly to the Chief Constable. The cases they usually investigate involve the most serious crimes with an element of police corruption. This story begins when, Shay, a friend of Max’s and a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot, tells him of his suspicions that someone is killing lone women climbers. He’s been concerned about several recent call-outs and done some background checks on the women who had died in falls. All of them were experienced climbers, had been well-prepared for their climbs and had gone out in decent weather. He’s even checked the statistics and found that of the 114 fatalities on the hills in the past 10 years, only ten were women, because “blokes are stupid and reckless, and women are more sensible.” Max thinks it looks suspicious but is perhaps even more struck by all the cursory police investigations and fatal accident inquiries, so the team start to pick away at the most recent deaths and soon believe Shay is onto something. Quite quickly they think they’ve identified the culprit but nothing is as straightforward as it seems and a game of cat and mouse follows, with the investigation turning this way and that before they finally can close the case. Our verdict Put simply, Neil Lancaster is a great storyteller and the pace of this makes it really hard to put the book down. Most of the characters are well written, particularly Max and his colleague Janie. The head of their unit, DI Ross Fraser, is less convincing because every sentence he utters is over-filled with expletives, which makes him a rather cartoonish character, but you just have to try and ignore that. The villains are always shadowy creatures, hovering around the edges of the story. The reader can follow what they are doing but not necessarily identify who they are, so the big-reveals at the end of these books are always very satisfying. And the locations across the Highlands of Scotland are brilliant. When Shadows Fall is tense and exciting and Ian Rankin’s cover quote (“Think Jack Reacher fronting Line of Duty.”) is pretty well on the mark. These books might not win literary prizes but they are such fun to read! Great plots, twisty narrative that keeps you guessing, crimes that spread far beyond the usual suspects, and a small police team working against the odds. In our view, they tick all the boxes. You could read When Shadows Fall as a standalone novel, but we think you’ll enjoy the series more if you start with Book 1 – Dead Man’s Grave – and work your way through the series in order. That way you’ll be able to follow how Max and the team develop, and the crimes they deal with along the way are all really interesting. And if you do enjoy these books by Neil Lancaster, we also recommend you read his first three novels featuring Tom Novak, which are pure adrenaline-charged thrillers and great to read. Review by: Norfolk Gal and Cornish Eskimo, Oundle Crime

When Shadows Fall is the sixth book in the series and I have loved them all. Lots of character development in this one and, as always, my favourite character is DI Ross Fraser. Plenty of excitement and thrills, and the only reason I’ve given 4 stars instead of 5 is that I don’t think the writing was quite as good. This is just a personal niggle of mine, but there were numerous occasions where dialogue tags were used unnecessarily (Max said, Jack said, Max said, etc) when it was very obvious who was speaking. Despite that, this is a great story and I’m looking forward to the next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the early copy.