While cosy crime may appear to have captured the Christmas market, there are actually a host of seasonal thrillers for those who prefer their holiday reading to feature a bit more bloody murder and mayhem. If that sounds like your festive cup of tea, check out these five recent releases:
The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen
Antti Tuomainen’s The Winter Job is a high-stakes thriller where desperation and survival are intimately entwined. Set in 1982, the story centres on down-on-his-luck Ilmari Nieminen, who is hired to transport an antique sofa to northern Finland – a tempting opportunity that promises financial relief, just as the harsh winter closes in. However, he’s being followed and soon decisions, betrayals and moral compromises emerge.
The story explores how far someone will go when cornered by circumstance. Author Antti Tuomainen excels at building atmosphere: the biting cold, the bleak snowy landscapes and the claustrophobic tension of a world locked in frost become characters in their own right. The danger feels as natural and relentless as the weather. The pacing is taut; scenes unfold with urgent clarity, rarely leaving breathing space before another twist ramps the stakes higher. The protagonist is flawed and human, not a glamorous anti-hero but an ordinary person facing extraordinary choices. Watching him navigate icy roads, shifting loyalties and escalating peril makes for a compelling, emotionally grounded journey.
While the villains remain shadowy and the motivations murky, this ambiguity heightens the suspense and moral unease. The Winter Job doesn’t rely on complex puzzles or elaborate reveals. Instead, it offers a gritty, atmospheric ride that probes desperation, survival and the cold logic of crime. Nordic noir that actually lives up to the moniker.
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Watch Over Me by DK Hood
DK Hood’s Watch Over Me delivers another tense, fast-paced case for Sheriff Jenna Alton and Deputy David Kane as Christmas descends on Black Rock Falls. When teacher Ellie McBride staggers into a local bar bruised and terrified, claiming she has escaped a kidnapping attempt, Jenna launches into action. But the CCTV footage tells a different story: Ellie never appears on camera. This discrepancy sparks controversy – the fear that someone is manipulating events from the shadows.
Hood ramps up the tension as disturbing messages begin appearing in Ellie’s classroom, turning what seemed like a single incident into something far more personal. The stakes rise again when social worker Laney Prescott vanishes, and Jenna’s worst fears are confirmed after a grim discovery in Laney’s home. With two women targeted and a predator still at large, the investigation becomes a race through worsening weather and deepening suspicion.
What Hood does best here is blend procedural detail with relentless pacing. Jenna’s determination anchors the story as connections between the victims slowly come into focus. The isolated, snowbound setting heightens the sense of vulnerability, especially when another call for help sends Jenna back into danger. Taut, atmospheric and unsettling, Watch Over Me is a gripping winter thriller that keeps the pressure high until the final pages.
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Survive the Christmas Drive by Krystal Power
Krystal Powers’s Survive the Christmas Drive is a high-tension thriller that turns a routine holiday trip into a fight for survival. On 23 December 1985, Tim and Blair leave Omaha for Cedar Rapids, only to be caught in a vicious Midwestern blizzard. As visibility deteriorates and the roads empty, news breaks of a nearby prison escape – four convicted killers are on the loose, including a man attorney Tim once represented.
The 1985 setting isn’t just nostalgic; it deepens the peril. With no smartphones, GPS or quick ways to call for help, the couple’s isolation becomes palpable. Period details ground the story without slowing it down. Meanwhile, the blizzard functions as a genuine antagonist, transforming the open interstate into a hostile, suffocating landscape where each headlight or rest stop could signal danger.
Tim and Blair’s appeal lies in their ordinariness. They’re not trained for a crisis, and watching their marriage strain and strengthen under pressure provides much of the novel’s emotional weight. The escaped convicts remain more symbolic threats than fully developed characters, but that choice keeps the focus firmly on the couple’s escalating ordeal. Tautly structured and relentlessly atmospheric, Survive the Christmas Drive delivers a sharp, snowbound thriller where the festive season is a backdrop to fear rather than comfort. Read our full review here.
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The Christmas Tree Killer by Chris Frost
Chris Frost’s The Christmas Tree Killer turns the familiar cheer of the festive season into the backdrop for a chilling serial killer investigation set in an unforgiving Pennine winter. When a hiker discovers a neatly wrapped parcel in the snow – containing a severed limb – DI Tom Stonem is pulled into a case where each new clue arrives disguised as a Christmas gift.
The premise is instantly arresting, and Frost makes atmospheric use of the blizzards, dense forests and isolated trails that turn the landscape into both hunting ground and hiding place. Stonem is a grounded, methodical lead whose steady professionalism contrasts sharply with the theatrical cruelty of the killer. As more packages appear, addressed to unsuspecting locals, the investigation widens into a tangle of village secrets, grudges and half-buried histories. Frost keeps the pace tight, shifting between unsettling discoveries and the quiet dread of not knowing who might be next.
What elevates the novel is its smart balance of police procedural detail and dark festive flair. The Christmas motifs are used not as gimmicks but as eerie thematic echoes – gifts, rituals, expectations – twisted into something sinister. Moody, tense and sharply plotted, The Christmas Tree Killer delivers a satisfying winter thriller where the season’s traditions become instruments of fear rather than comfort.
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The Christmas Magpie by Mark Edwards
Mark Edwards’s The Christmas Magpie morphs the promise of domestic joy into creeping dread. Noel and Dani move into a new home hoping for a perfect first Christmas filled with festive cheer – a sparkling tree, thoughtful gifts and the warmth of a welcoming community. But as Christmas draws near, the decorations and goodwill give way to unease: strange presents appear on their doorstep with no sender listed, and an unsettling sense of being watched begins to take root.
Experienced thriller author Mark Edwards winds up the tension by transforming familiar holiday rituals into sources of menace. The normalcy that should bring comfort becomes unnerving. The unanswered questions accumulate slowly, fostering quiet paranoia. Who left the gifts? What are their intentions? And is someone spying on the couple’s every move?
The power of the novel lies in its psychological suspense. Rather than relying on graphic horror, Edwards leans into uncertainty, dread and fear of the unknown. The contrast between the season’s warmth and the underlying threat is handled deftly, making it questionable whether the festive season is truly safe or simply a facade. The Christmas Magpie offers a disturbing reminder that sometimes the scariest dangers hide behind wreaths, glittering lights and holiday cheer.
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Click here to see our 12 Crimes of Christmas feature for 2025 – a dozen cosy crime novels.
