24 Days
On December 1st, 1997, a man disappears from a shopping mall. The children of Clearwater, Illinois know him as Santa Claus. Detective Ryan Pine knows that Santa is really a man named Albert Peterson, a father and husband, and he sets out to bring Albert home by Christmas.
Twenty-four days to find a missing mall Santa. It should be easy.
But with each passing day, the mystery deepens. Albert isn’t the only one who winds up missing. Secrets are exposed, pasts are laid bare. And ultimately, the closer Detective Pine gets to the truth, the more he realizes that everyone in his small, snow-capped town is hiding something…
- Bobby Baxter - Detective, Ryan’s best friend
- Ryan Pine - Detective
- Albert (real name Robert) - Missing person, Luisa’s husband
- Luisa - Albert’s wife
- Tim - Albert’s son, 8
- Katie - Ryan’s wife, deceased
- Naomi - Tim’s mother, deceased
- Ronald - Police captain
- The real Albert - Tim’s father
- Pauline - Naomi’s mother
- Ryan and Bobby are investigating the disappearance of Albert, who went missing from the Clearwater mall while working a Santa Claus shift.
- Ryan hates December because Katie was killed four years ago while waiting for Bobby to pick her up from work at Destin Family Diner.
- Luisa is Tim’s stepmother. His birth mother, Naomi, is deceased.
- Albert married Luisa two days after Naomi died.
- Ryan discovers that Luisa used to be a nurse at the same St. Louis hospital where Naomi died.
- Tim goes missing.
- Ryan goes to the St. Louis hospital where Luisa worked to inquire about Naomi and Luisa’s connection.
- Afterwards, he goes into a bar and finds a man who identifies himself as Albert, Naomi’s widower.
- Albert says Naomi was hospitalized with terminal ovarian cancer and Luisa was one of the nurses caring for her.
- Albert tells Ryan that Tim disappeared the day after Naomi died and that he always suspected Luisa was involved, but the authorities could never find Luisa or Tim.
- Luisa had a partner named Robert at the time.
- Luisa and Robert kidnapped Tim, and Robert assumed Albert’s identity before marrying Luisa.
- Ryan breaks into Luisa’s house and finds a picture of Luisa, Robert and Tim outside Destin Family Diner on the night Tim was kidnapped.
- In the background of the picture, Katie is waiting to be picked up, and Bobby is standing next to her.
- Captain Ronald explains to Ryan that Bobby is dead. When Bobby went to pick Katie up at the diner, both he and Katie were stabbed to death.
- Ryan’s grief over losing his wife and best friend on the same night was so overwhelming that his mind convinced him Bobby was still alive and had been working with him for the past four years.
- Ryan asks for an update on Tim’s case, and Captain Ronald tells him that a citizen’s dog keeps barking at a wall of snow near the caverns, but the area cannot be searched until the weather improves.
- Ryan goes to the caverns, digs through the wall of snow and finds Robert and Tim trapped behind it.
- Robert left because he felt guilty about kidnapping Tim and wanted to find Albert and reunite him with Tim.
- Luisa quickly figured out Robert’s plan, caught up to him and tricked him into going to the caverns, where she trapped him.
- Robert says that when he and Luisa stopped at the diner on the night they kidnapped Tim, Tim was screaming that he wanted to go home to his real parents. Bobby and Katie overheard and tried to intervene, so Robert stabbed them to death.
- Luisa and Robert are arrested.
- Tim is taken to St. Louis to reunite with his real father.
24 Days is a great new Christmas advent thriller, and I ended up binging it in one day. The short chapters and fast-paced story kept me invested without feeling rushed. I especially enjoyed the twists, several of which caught me off guard.
Ryan was a strong main character for me, and I found myself connecting with the emotional turmoil he was dealing with after losing his wife four years earlier. With her death happening in December, the timing added another layer to the Christmas setting and to what Ryan was going through. Bobby made for an interesting partner for Ryan while he navigated the investigation, and I liked how his character fit into the story as everything unfolded.
The Christmas setting worked really well for me, too. I loved the festive atmosphere mixed with the suspense, and the story had exactly the kind of Christmas vibe I was looking for while still delivering plenty of twists.
If you like Christmas thrillers, emotional main characters, and unexpected twists, then you will enjoy this book.
- Suicide
- Cancer
- Kidnapping
- Murder
ISBN: 9798140405939
Publication Date: November 6, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
