“He’s your perfect date. You’re his next victim.

When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case.

While she fights to secure her place on the investigation team, Erika can’t help but get involved and quickly finds a link to the unsolved murder of a woman four months earlier. Dumped in a similar location, both women have identical wounds – a fatal incision to their femoral artery.

Stalking his victims online, the killer is preying on young pretty women using a fake identity. How will Erika catch a murderer who doesn’t seem to exist?

Then another girl is abducted while waiting for a date. Erika and her team must get to her before she becomes another dead victim, and, come face to face with a terrifyingly sadistic individual.

Gripping, tense and impossible to put down, Last Breath will have you on the edge of your seat, racing to the final dramatic page.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles on a very exciting day. Not only have I managed to put this post together with the new WordPress Block Editor (just ignore me if you don’t use WordPress, but I know there are a couple of bloggers out there who will feel my pain) but today is the day I share my TWENTIETH 20 Books of Summer review with you, which is for Last Breath by Robert Bryndza. Last Breath was published digitally by Bookouture in April 2017 and by Sphere in paperback more recently (November 2019). I chose to read and review an eARC of Last Breath but that has in no way influenced my review.

It’s no secret that I love this series. I’ve come to realise of late that my true reading passion lies with police procedurals and serial killer novels. If I could only read one sub-genre for ever more, it would be police procedurals. No doubt about it. And the Detective Erika Foster series by the hugely talented Robert Bryndza is one of the best I’ve found.

Always keen to solve the crime, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first officers to respond to the scene of a brutal murder. The only problem is, it’s not her case and she’s most definitely not welcome. No matter how hard she argues. When Erika is the only person to spot a connection to a similar recent murder, and following the sudden demise of one of her colleagues, she fights her way onto the investigation and into the SIO chair. But there’s a sadistic killer stalking the streets of London targeting young woman, and time is running out. Can Detective Foster and the team connect the dots and find out who the mysterious killer is before it’s too late…

I really enjoyed this book (as I have enjoyed all previous books in this series). The author’s writing is absolutely spot-on and it draws you into the story instantly. I have such a soft spot for Detective Foster who is feisty and fearless. Her drive and determination to solve the case know no bounds. I flipping love it! Add to that the support of her outstanding team and Last Breath ticks all the boxes.

You do discover who the killer is fairly early on in the book but that allows the author to paint a much more vivid picture of them, showing the external factors which may have helped mould them into a merciless murderer (or maybe they’re just a psychopath, huh?). I really enjoyed seeing some of the story from their side of things too. The plotting, the planning, the manipulation and the entrapment. All wonderfully compelling and had me on the edge of my seat.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Last Breath and all of the Detective Erika Foster books that came before. This is a great series which crime fiction fans shouldn’t miss out on. I’m delighted to have two more books left to read in the Detective Foster series before I move on to Bryndza’s new Kate Marshall series. Incredibly readable, thoroughly enjoyable and very well-written. Recommended.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Last Breath. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Last Breath by Robert Bryndza was published in the UK by Bookouture and Sphere and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | Book Depository | Goodreads |

Robert Bryndza is the author of the international #1 bestseller The Girl in the Ice, which is the first in his Detective Erika Foster series.

The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath and Cold Blood are the second, third, fourth and fifth books in the series. The sixth book, Deadly Secrets is now available to purchase.

Robert’s books have sold over 2 million copies and have been translated into 27 languages.

In addition to writing crime fiction, Robert has published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels. He is British and lives in Slovakia.

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