Tuesday, April 2

The Last Echo: Book Review

The Last Echo

The Body Finder #3

Kimberly Derting

HarperCollins
April 17th 2012
Young Adult | Paranormal

Official Blurb -

In the end, all that’s left is an echo.

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice.

When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye....

The Body Finder was the romance. Desires of the Dead and The Last Echo seem to have lost the spark of romance The Body Finder had. Romance becomes like that constant but almost unremarkable electric hum of the refrigerator. Crossing my fingers that Dead Silence brings back the spark in a good way.

While I like Violet and enjoyed her experiences Jay has always been my favorite character. I really miss him. He is just so rarely around in this book. In fact the concern I had at the end of Desires of the Dead about a romantic triangle in Violet's future turns out not to be unfounded. No more thrilled about the idea now than I was then.

The ending felt a bit off considering that it is the third of four. With each page of the wrap up I felt that I was witnessing the end of the story. Finito. No more. All snug and cozy. Violet had faced some hard truths and got a whole new perspective on life. It was all fairly satisfying. But along came the epilogue. So I can't just imagine that Jay is the bomb and they drive off into the sunset. That epilogue really set us up for a ground shaking sequel. Things are going to come to a head and it probably won't be pretty.

Jay is going to be challenged and he may not come off heavy weight champion. I just hope we get to see more of him. That he doesn't go down without a fight. Sounds rather fatalistic of me to say. Like I have already written him off. Make no mistake I am team Jay all the way. Girl would have to be dumb not to see his attractions. Best friend, funny, sensitive, attractive, social. All around all-star. But considering Violet isn't always making the best choices who can blame me for not thinking Jay stands too big a chance. Violet is always overlooking the obvious that her gift points out. So why not be foolish in love too?

Can anyone believe Violet's luck? I mean really. What are the odds of so many bad guys having her in their sights? Seriously, Violet must give off a pheromone that attracts these sick wack jobs. She could bottle it and the police could use it as a lure to catch the bad guys. A splash of this and they will practically fling themselves at you. Just don't forget your weapons.

I would like to see Violet do some real good with her gift. Maybe she could take down some really top dog bad guy without having to practically die doing it. I really didn't like the traditional bad guy threat. You better do what we say or we will hurt your loved ones. As if we should believe they have any honor and will keep their word. Keeping quiet is usually the undoing of any hope of survival.

It was an entertaining read. Didn't take very long before I was hooked and seeing trouble around every corner. Just wish there were more Jay. *sigh* But all in all I am excited to read the next one. A bit scared about what will happen. Not sure how many more scary guys I can stand to see inside their twisted mind. 

Content:
Language: Mild 
Violence: Moderate to Heavy