“The man lay on his front, his arms and legs bound and pulled up with a rope connecting the two. His head was arched back, so he faced the curtains, and there was masking tape over his mouth. Erika gingerly reached out and checked his pulse.

Yep. Dead all right.

When Detective Erika Foster finds politician Neville Lomas naked, hog-tied, and dead in his own bed, skittish higher-ups at the Met quickly rule the death from natural causes. Case closed . . . until two months later when a well-known casting director and a star footballer are found murdered and tied with the same knots. The Met can no longer ignore what’s staring them in the face: there’s a serial killer loose in London, and they’re out to settle a score.

As Erika and her team investigate, things take a strange turn as CCTV footage turns up five female suspects . . . and they’re all identical.

In the hunt to identify the women, Erika is outpaced at every turn by an elusive sex worker with dirt on enough powerful men to make the Met’s top brass nervous – and desperate.

As time ticks away until the killer strikes again, it’s up to Erika to untangle the web of evidence and answer the critical questions: What ties the victims together, who else is caught up in this scandal, and how far are the higher-ups willing to go to protect their own?

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

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Lethal Vengeance by Robert Bryndza. Lethal Vengeance is published by Raven Street Publishing today (that’s Thursday 8th February 2024) and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free ARC of Lethal Vengeance but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to the team at Raven Street Publishing for sending me a finished copy.

DCI Erika Foster is back, baby! Words that make this reader very happy indeed. Way back when, in January 2016 when I was a newly hatched fledgling blogger, I requested a copy of The Girl in the Ice from NetGalley. I think it was the second book, possibly the third, I had ever downloaded from the site. And it blew my mind! I loved it so much and developed a bit of a girl crush on the lead character – DCI Erika Foster. Now *counts on fingers* eight years later I am delighted that Erika and her team are still going strong, kicking bad guy and bad gal butt in London. The latest instalment, Lethal Vengeance, is another corker of a tale that all crime fiction fans should do everything in their power to get hold of. One of my favourite crime series out there, long may DCI Foster and her team reign!

During an overly romantic, out-of-character dinner with her boyfriend, Igor, at a top London restaurant, Erika decides she needs a breath of fresh air. On her way back to their table she takes a wrong turn and ends up in the plush accommodation section of the building where a housekeeper is on the phone to the police. Erika, always on duty, stops and listens in to the conversation, soon realising that her help and knowledge are required at the scene of a suspicious death. The victim is instantly recognisable, it’s Conservative MP for North East Surrey, Neville Lomas. Erika assumes she’ll be given the case, what with being the first on the scene. So she’s shocked when she’s pushed aside by a more senior colleague and told that he will be leading the investigation, not her. Shortly after, Lomas’s death is ruled as being from natural causes. That is until a second body is found, then a third. With nothing to tie the victims together and with those higher-up trying to shut down her investigation at every turn, will DCI Foster be able to untangle the intricate knots of this case before London’s latest serial killer claims another victim…?

Lethal Vengeance is a gripping, highly compulsive read that held my attention from start to finish. Could this be Erika’s most taxing case yet? Let’s face it, life is never easy for Erika and her team but this case pushes our kick-ass protagonist to new heights! Following several high-profile murders, with the top brass keeping a watchful eye on Erika’s every move and with avenues of investigation being shut down without so much as a by-your-leave, Erika and her dedicated team are floundering. She firmly believes it’s the same killer, the way the victims are displayed along with the signed polaroids proves that, but why these three victims? What’s the connection? The pressure is truly on, maybe more so than ever, and in the world of DCI Erika Foster, that’s saying something!

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I would heartily recommend Lethal Vengeance along with all of the earlier books in this excellent series. I do believe this book will work well as a standalone if you’re keen to dive straight into this latest release. But the series as a whole is a glorious thing so why not treat yourself and start with The Girl in the Ice. Really get to know these standout characters and see how each case shapes them into the team they are today. The characters are once again superb. DCI Foster softens her hard shell a little in this novel thanks to her boyfriend’s sixteen-year-old son, Tom. But other than that she’s still as headstrong, formidable and feisty as ever. Ready to reprimand the newly promoted DC who has recently joined the team or tell her superior officers exactly how wrong they really are! I love her character. I always have and I always will. If you want a job doing, get Erika to do it! The plot was well-thought-out and paced perfectly with plenty of intrigue and tension. This is very much a ‘one more chapter’ book before you realise that it’s gone midnight and you have an early start in the morning. All in all, another cracking addition to a brilliant series. An absolute ‘must read’ for all crime fiction fans. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of Bryndza’s accomplished storytelling and I look forward to many more Erika adventures in the not too distant future (she says hopefully!). A tense, well-written police procedural that delivers on all counts. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of Lethal Vengeance. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Lethal Vengeance by Robert Bryndza was published in the UK by Raven Street Publishing on 8th February 2024 and is available in hardcover, 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 | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Robert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over five million copies.

Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.

You can find out more about Robert and his books at http://www.robertbryndza.com