A Winter's Kill

A serial killer and FBI Agent become neighbors…

Ex-FBI Agent, Carolyn Ryder returns to her hometown unaware that the #1 Most Wanted Serial Killer in the country has moved there as well. She has no gun, no badge, no authority. What is she going to do?

It's winter, and a new kind of predator has just come out of hibernation. All summer long he has been hibernating, just like the bears do in winter. During the fall he spent his months preparing, getting ready, making sure this season would be his best ever. And when winter finally comes…he'll hunt.

The winters in Willow Falls, Iowa are cold, brutal and unforgiving. And so is the town's newest visitor. Except he's not passing through. He's here on vacation, for some fun and he's going to stay for a while.

They call him "Robin Hood", a winter serial killer who has left a gruesome trail of horror and death across four Midwestern states. His grisly trademark is skewering his victims to tree trunks using a hunting crossbow. Now he's here…

For ex-FBI Special Agent Carolyn Ryder, winter is the season to reflect, to come home, to take stock and to grieve. Willow Falls for her is filled with sorrow and regret. She has returned to her hometown to bury her mother after a long battle with illness. Her sister blames Carolyn for not caring, for not being there for her and their mother, for being a cold, dispassionate person who was more interested in building her career than in the family.

In the close-knit community of Willow Falls, Ryder has no reputation, no authority and no say with the townsfolk. To them she's a stranger, an outsider, someone who can't be trusted.

Then the first body is discovered; a local, a teenage girl found almost crucified to a white pine deep in the forest.

The local police aren't equipped to deal with something like this, yet they stubbornly refuse Ryder's help. With no support, Ryder decides to go it alone, to follow the clues herself, to trust her instincts. Slowly she starts to formulate a theory as to who the killer is. But no one will believe her. It's too incredible to conceive.

Lock the doors, check the windows, stoke the fire and keep the lights on. It's winter, and a new kind of predator has just come out of hibernation.

A Winter's Kill is a dark, sinister, gritty novel from the Amazon Thriller Best Selling author, JK Ellem.

"Don't try and take him on your own Carolyn. He's different, a cut above all the others I have ever seen. This is a man who, all his life has deliberately chosen the most difficult path, the hardest option so he can test himself and be the best."