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A review by katiya
Her Last Breath by Kate Gable
4.0
Two people are murdered in their bed. The main suspect claims she can't remember how she came to be in their house. Is it as simple as it seems?
The story I read was Last Breath with Charlotte Pierce as the lead detective. I've noticed that there are two other versions Her Last Breath and What I Did with Detective Charlie Finn as the main character in some of them. This point is worthy of a mention because the story seems subtly edited in this newer version.
There were a few things that bothered me:
Let's start with the ending - it was too convoluted for my liking. I would have worked the story differently. The story had already wound around so many angles that it needed to wrap more cleanly.
The main character was lost in the plot. Charlotte/Charlie had less than a third of the screen time despite being the person who is the most likely to be continuing in the series.
The solution felt rather like bait and switch: a rabbit being pulled out of a magician's hat instead of the expected pigeon.
I'd prefer an omniscient narrator to a revolving point of view shared by several characters. Moreover, the shifts in time bogged the story down.
There were a few things I liked:
When the main suspect doesn't know if she is innocent or not, the plotline has so many places it could go and the author used that to her advantage.
The detective was not a "straight off the shelf" police officer. There was a degree of depth to her character. She had an intriguing backstory.
This book wasn't your typical police procedural - which, now that I think about it, is a con as well as a pro.
Overall, I liked the story. (But another edit wouldn't hurt.)
3.5 Stars
The story I read was Last Breath with Charlotte Pierce as the lead detective. I've noticed that there are two other versions Her Last Breath and What I Did with Detective Charlie Finn as the main character in some of them. This point is worthy of a mention because the story seems subtly edited in this newer version.
There were a few things that bothered me:
Let's start with the ending - it was too convoluted for my liking. I would have worked the story differently. The story had already wound around so many angles that it needed to wrap more cleanly.
The main character was lost in the plot. Charlotte/Charlie had less than a third of the screen time despite being the person who is the most likely to be continuing in the series.
The solution felt rather like bait and switch: a rabbit being pulled out of a magician's hat instead of the expected pigeon.
I'd prefer an omniscient narrator to a revolving point of view shared by several characters. Moreover, the shifts in time bogged the story down.
There were a few things I liked:
When the main suspect doesn't know if she is innocent or not, the plotline has so many places it could go and the author used that to her advantage.
The detective was not a "straight off the shelf" police officer. There was a degree of depth to her character. She had an intriguing backstory.
This book wasn't your typical police procedural - which, now that I think about it, is a con as well as a pro.
Overall, I liked the story. (But another edit wouldn't hurt.)
3.5 Stars