This is a gripping and fast paced thriller that consumed me for an entire day. I hadn’t read the preceding novels in the Cragie series, but will definitely do so now. It certainly works as a stand alone police thriller, with a good balance of character, action and suspense and has left me wanting more Cragie, curious as to his back story. The writer has added plenty of Scottish colour and vernacular along with some memorable turns of phrase making the characters likeable and accessible.

From the outset the story moves at pace and sweeps the reader along. A definite page turner that you won’t want to put down. A few cogent flashbacks tease at possible story lines without revealing where the writer is going to take you. As the story moves along the personal and work life challenges are well balanced, neither detracting or distracting from the other. The main cast are all enjoyable, flawed, authentic and likeable.

I don’t really see the Reacher comparisons made by some, other than the main character being ex military. This is a more ensemble piece, more realistic and better for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for an eARC of When Shadows Fall.

The sixth book in the excellent series featuring DS Max Craigie. Max and his team are alerted to the suspicious rise in the number of women falling to the death whilst climbing in Scotland. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that this is a more complicated case than they had first realised.
This is excellently written with a gritty and gripping story line and interesting characters. A very engrossing read.

Another fantastic, rollercoaster read from Neil Lancaster.This is the 6th book in the series and it does not disappoint. DS Max Craigie and his colleagues Janie, Ross, Norma, Barney and Barney's hacker friend Clive look into a sudden death of a lone female hiker. Great storyline well written and great characters. The book is full of corruption, a race against time for Max, un more ways than one, and tying up loose ends; who can you trust. Looking forward to next in the series. An author I'd recommend to anyone to read.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Neil Lancaster for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion

Another excellent book in the Max Craigie series. In this case, Max and his team are looking into a sudden increase in the deaths of solo women climbers, and why they have been deemed accidental deaths and not investigated further.
He is assisted by his brilliant team of colleagues and friends, Janie, Norma, Ross and Barney, and Barney's hacker friend Clive.
Max is in a race against time, but this time it is because his wife Katie is about to give birth to their first child.
The investigation is really clever and compelling, I couldn't stop reading.
Highly recommended.

Book six in a series that consistently delivers, what the reader wants and has come to expect. These stories rapidly unfold in a manner that drags the reader along with it. You are faced with no option but to run with it and I would expect most readers to devour it in one or two sittings.

This is not gung-ho action for action’s sake it is much more thoughtful than that. The author doesn’t shy away from tackling difficult themes and subjects. In When Shadows Fall he addresses a current and very real problem of modern society, that of toxic masculinity, incel behaviour and wider misogyny. That he manages to tackle it in a thoughtful and sensitive way within such a thriller is a clear demonstration of his skill as a writer and storyteller.

In a rare quiet time for the Policing Standards Reassurance Team, Max Craigie is visiting his wonderfully blunt aunt (a great cameo) when an old friend gets in touch. He is a helicopter pilot working in rescue and has concerns about a fall that is written off as an accident. After a bit of digging, he has found more and Max, trusting his friend’s judgement, agrees to have a look. Commonality is found, they are thirty-something blond women, trying to reinvent themselves after failed relationship by ‘bagging Monroes’ and climbing. Easy to discount as foolish inexperience but the team quickly comes to believe it is much more. They have a killer, possibly more, who hate women.

The killings and their aftermath are scary in their simplicity of their execution, making them convincing and believable. Another author might have made them more visceral, which is expected in the serial killer trope, but I think he’s judged it right, less can be more and what we are left with is unpleasant enough. The motivation is clear in the hatred, but this being the twenty-first century there is more to it, and this is the bit that will get readers thinking the most, it could be happening, perhaps not in this way but something similar.

The structure is familiar, with Max and Janie being the investigators in the field. They have a great rapport, in the buddy cop tradition and it is their chemistry that provides the glue that holds it all together. Potty mouth Ross is the boss who smooths the way for the (at times) maverick duo by pulling strings and having the ear of the top brass. He may be brash and insensitive at times, but he is a great boss to work for. Norma is the team’s analyst and does her best to keep Ross in check when required, something she does forcefully this time. The ‘scene stealer’ once again is retired spook Barney, striking a blow for dour Yorkshiremen, tab smokers, geeks and tea drinkers everywhere. Barney it seems gets to deliver the best quips.

Max is still struggling to balance his total dedication to work with that of a proper family life with Katie, who by now is heavily pregnant with the birth imminent. This provides the emotional conflict for Max, along with the pressure of making sure that he is there for the birth! Working the case makes him realise what he has to lose, adding to his determination to not only solve the case, but also protect his wife and child. For him the stakes are about to increase significantly.

The most thoughtful part of the story is when it is pointed out to Ross that two of the team are women and how the trauma of investigating a killer of women is affecting them. Initially taken aback he pauses to reflect and moderate his behaviour. This is beautifully judged, managing to be thought provoking without detracting from what makes Ross himself (and the reader wouldn’t want him to change too much).

Fast paced, creative and intelligent crime thrillers don’t come better than this.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for access in exchange for a fair review.

This book didn't disappoint. What a rollercoaster of a ride, trying to suss out the bent cops.

Great storyline with the regular team being involved.

Another great read from Neil,Lancaster.

When Shadows Fall is the sixth book in the Max Craigie series. You’d be forgiven for thinking that by now, some of the impact would be lost -been there, done that, kind of a thing? You’d be wrong. So wrong.
When a woman falls to her death from a Munro in Scotland, it seems like a tragic accident. However, it soon becomes apparent that this death could be connected to the deaths of other lone women climbers. When Max Craigie and team start to investigate, it turns out there is much more going on than at first thought.
Fast-paced, brilliantly written and totally absorbing, it is tense and breath-taking, I loved it.
Thank you to Mr Lancaster, Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for my copy of When Shadows Fall by Neil Lancaster.
This book starts off with a bang and doesn't let up.
A young woman has fallen in the Scottish mountains, was she careless or is there something or someone else at work.
When Max Craigie sees the statistics he knows something is wrong. Then ensues a cat and mouse around the highlands of Scotland.
The twists and turns keep coming and you find yourself urging Max and his team to catch the culprit.
A great read and another fine addition to the series.

‘When Shadows Fall’,by Neil Lancaster is the sixth book in the DS Max Craigie series.
In the storyline of this case Max and his colleagues in the team look into a series of possibly suspicious deaths of lone female climbers in the Scottish mountains.As befitting their responsibilities for anti corruption at Police Scotland,they wonder how generally there has been little in the way of basic investigations or any detailed examination of the evidence perhaps linking these fatalities.Is this down to procedural incompetence,sheer apathy,a cover up, or is there something more sinister linking these losses of life?
Yet again the author quickly draws the reader into a vividly realistic scenario,where it is truly compelling to find out just what is going on behind these deaths.
The authentic humanising portrayal of the personalities and various quirks of Max’s coworkers make it so easy to imagine their characters,making it feel even more imperative to root for them and their operational success.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ at HarperCollins for an advanced copy for review.

Another excellent chapter in this series. The main characters work very well, but I still have my reservations about the deus ex machina/spook providing vital help in record time, now together with his mate Clive(?).

There's a strange trend happening on Scotland's munros - lone women (literally!) dropping like flies and falling to their deaths, despite being fit and healthy. DS Max Craigie is alerted to this phenomenon by a friend in Search & Rescue, but with his heavily-pregnant wife at home, he's stuck between two worlds - the public he swore to protect, and the family that is about to expand. There appears to be a serial killer on the loose - preying on vulnerable women, and thinking he has managed to commit the perfect crime.

This is another fantastic book in the Max Craigie series, and one that I was looking forward to continuing! An easy 5* book.

Another fantastic book in this series featuring Max Craigie and the team. And what a team,great characters who leap off the page,especially Rossboss. Also an intriguing and fascinating story.

Another excellent book in the Max Cragie series although it can be read as a standalone. Good to see the usual characters back again so it was just “the baddies” you needed to get used to for this book although good to see (minor) characters previously used feature too. A great storyline that has you engrossed and curious to know where things were going as the story unravels. Definitely a book I’d highly recommend!

This is the 6th book in this series and it's brilliant.

A young woman has fallen to her death whilst hiking and soon Max Craigie and his team discover she is not the first. In fact 5 more women have fallen and died.

I love a good police procedural novel and this is an interesting and slightly disturbing read.

There is a lot of human drama and a few OMG moments but this a book I really enjoyed and will be reading a few previous books just to catch up on the back story of Max and his excellent team .

Absolutely love the Max Craigie novels by Neil Lancaster Max and his team are fighting corruption with in the police force and all the stories are well written and keep you on the edge of your seat, I can't see why this couldn't be read as a standalone but it would be better to read the other books first to understand the back stories. Also I absolutely adore Ross his boss, who is politically incorrect and doesn't mind how he talks to people but he gets the job done and because of him Tw@tappotamus is now my go to word.

The 6th Max Craigie thriller finds him in the Highlands of Scotland. After an initial inquiry into a young woman who has fallen to her death whilst hiking on a munro it seems there have been more similar deaths in the past year which have only been classed as accidents and so Craigie and his team start a further investigation.
The novel is fast paced and tense and sometimes the team are put in danger but there is always light relief in the banter between Craigie, Janie and Ross. On occasions, however, this can appear forced and unauthentic and become slightly annoying. Behind the police procedural Lancaster continues Max’s personal story. His wife, Katie, is expecting a baby imminently and Max is torn between his desire to see the investigation to its conclusion and caring for Katie who is a hundred miles away.
Lancaster has written another thrilling, addictive novel which is highly disturbing in its content and one which hopefully will not deter people from continuing to climb munros to enjoy their beautiful views, This can be read as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading all the previous Craigie novels too.

Thank you very much to the publishers for the ARC.

Excellent twisty storyline.
Keeps you guessing right to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Looking forward to the next one from Neil Lancaster
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

DS Max Craigie #6, he’s ex army, ex Met officer and now Police Scotland at Policing Standards Reassurance (anti corruption).

40-year-old Leanne Wilson is on holiday in the Highlands bagging Munro’s*, well away from her controlling ex. She begins the ascent of the challenging A’Chralaig and on reaching the summit, she uploads a picture as a kind of up yours mate. Shortly after, she has a chilling encounter on the narrow path alongside the rock face.

Meanwhile, Max is at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle watching the dolphins with his beloved aunt Elspeth. Happy days. His wife Katie is imminently expecting the arrival of their first child. He gets a call from an old pal Shay Hammond, a coastguard search and rescue pilot at Inverness, about a death on the hills that he’s concerned about. He asks Max to come and take a look as it’s clear to him that the experienced climber should not have fallen from where she does. Shay has five other reasons for concern, he believes someone is targeting lone female climbers. Who is stalking them and why? In addition, why have the investigating authorities not connected the dots? The team is on the case.

A new Max Craigie is always a cause for celebration and now it’s 6 for 6 at five stars from me, so that tells you all you need to know about this cracking series.

The characters in the team are what makes it for me although, of course, the plots are always tense and exciting. Max is extremely likeable, he’s hard-working and committed although his past is still an issue for him but his relationship with Katie warms your heart and there’s also lovely Nutmeg (the dog!). DC Janie Calder is a great sidekick and is one strong woman. At the heart of the team is the potty mouthed, hilarious, straight talking but very caring boss DI Ross Fraser, who underneath all the bluster is a diamond. He provides many LOL moments which is welcome relief amongst the dark plot. There’s also Norma with the data and ex MI5 Barney, who is a wizard with tech and surveillance and we’ve just been introduced to Clive, a hacker who plays a vital role in the escalating drama. Aunt Elspeth also always provides food and a chuckle or two and can give Ross a run for his money.

As always, the plot is a thriller. It’s scary, vertiginous and chilling with cruel and ruthless perpetrators. At times, my heart is in my mouth, there are so many shocks as the team try to unmask the corrupt. It becomes the worst kind of game playing, an evil cat and mouse scenario. It’s gripping, a genuine page turner which builds and barrels through many twists and turns to an edge of the seat/cliff path conclusion. As usual, the setting in the Highlands is full of atmosphere providing an awe inspiring backdrop to events.

I love the ultimate end and we get a useful hint of how the series may progress. That’ll be interesting!

It can be read as a standalone but if you do, you’re missing out on a belter of a series.

With thanks to Nick Galley and especially to HQ for the epub in return for an honest review.

* Monro’s are mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet, 914 m. The name comes from Sir Hugh Monro who published a list of the highest mountains in Scotland in the 1890’s. If you reach the summit of one, it’s known as bagging it.

Thanks to Neil and NetGalley for allowing me to read When Shadows Fall before the publication date.
It is a real page turner which I read over 2 days.

This is the 6th book in the DS Max Craigie series but it could be read as a standalone book.
The main characters are well developed and it looks like there just might be a new , quirky addition to the team in the future.

The description of the scenery in the Scottish Highlands is positively atmospheric, particularly the personification of a Munro.

It involves some very topical, distressing and thought-provoking subjects. (Well done Neil for the way which these are handled within the book).

The serious aspects of the book are lightened by the banter and the comical thread, mainly attributable to the actions of the irreverent D.I. Ross Fraser. His use of Scottish slang and an ever-increasing dictionary of words, which he makes up as he goes along, never cease to be amusing.

Yet some of the team perceive that Ross oversteps the mark, before being put firmly back in his box by the capable DC Janie Calder and intelligence analyst, Norma.

Of course, a Max Craigie book would not be the same without the adorable Nutmeg.

Since Katie Craigie has become pregnant, Nutmeg has changed allegiance from Max and has become inseparable from Katie. Nutmeg now spends most of the day keeping watch on the ‘bump’ and preparing to be a nanny to the, as yet, unborn child.

I was so excited t9 read this as I love the Max Craigie series and I have to say this really lived up to my hopes and expectations. Max’s boss Ross was on absolute top for in this and for me he’s my favourite as he’s just so full of character. I was initially unsure of how Max would be able to investigate when his friend contacted him concerned about a pattern of women climbers falling to their deaths but it was simply explained how it could fall under their remit and from there on in it was a whole lot of action. Neil Lancaster does a great job of keeping up quite a pace with many revelations along the way and I also love the politics between the team and the general police forces they work alongside. The team are on top form in this, the way they’ve developed though the series is fantastic but I’m looking forward to seeing if Max can manage a different work /life balance in the next book giving the intensity each of these investigations has but either way these are really well developed characters now. The storyline was in parts tense and terrifying and kept me glued (and also amused thanks to Ross) from start to finish.