The Countdown Killer by Sam Holland review

About The Book

Book: The Countdown Killer
Author: Sam Holland
Standalone or Series: Book 4 in the Major Crimes series
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication Date (UK): 5th June 2025

My Review

This is the fourth book in the Major Crimes series. If you’re new to it, I’d definitely recommend going back and starting from the beginning. While this can be read as a standalone, as the characters’ histories are so well presented that you can easily catch up in context, there are obviously some huge spoilers.

I’ve had The Echo Man on my shelf for a while and have seen Holland speak at events in the past so I’m absolutely kicking myself for starting here. This book was exactly my cup of tea. It’s dark, gritty and each character is so well written that it’s hard not to warm to the whole police team, even though they all have their own distinct personalities and quirks. Reading this reminded me of how it felt to discover Jeffery Deaver as a teenager or Nadine Matheson more recently as an adult.

In this entry in the series, Cara is working late when she receives a carrier bag containing a DVD. She loads it into an offline PC and discovers it’s a snuff film. Tracing the anonymous source who dropped it at the station only unearths more… Once abducted, the victims have just 48 hours before they’re killed. Meet The Countdown Killer.

Thank you to Insta Book Tours and HarperCollins for providing me with a gifted copy of the book in order to take part in the Book of the Month tour.