Title:The Last Girl
Author:Jane Casey
Series:Maeve Kerrigan, #3
Narrator:Sarah Coomes
Published:May 2013, Brilliance Audio
Length:15 hours 21 minutes
Source:Personal copy via Audible
Vast wealth offers
London defense attorney Philip Kennford a lot of things: a gorgeous
house with a pool in the backyard, connections in the top echelons of
society, a wardrobe worthy of Milan runways. But his money doesn’t
provide a happy marriage, or good relationships with his twin
daughters…and it does nothing to protect his family when someone
brutally murders his wife and daughter in their own home.When
Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan arrives at the scene, the two
survivors–Philip and his second favorite daughter, Lydia–both claim to
have seen nothing, but it’s clear right away that this is an unhappy
family accustomed to keeping secrets. Maeve soon finds herself entangled
in a case with a thousand leads that all seem to point nowhere, and it
doesn’t help that her boss, whom she trusts more than almost anyone, is
starting to make decisions that Maeve finds questionable at best.In The Last Girl,
Jane Casey once again demonstrates her ability to write vivid,
three-dimensional characters and spin a gripping, unpredictable mystery.
***Short & Sweet Reviews are
short, quick reviews. These will mainly be used for series books where I
have already done full reviews on some of the earlier books or for
books that I feel will suffice with a quick review. These will not be
used for review requests or blog tours.
My thoughts:This is the 3rd book in Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series and I really like this series…this police procedural is detail-oriented, but I love that aspect of it. And I absolutely adore the pairing of Maeve and Derwent. While he is definitely an acquired taste, being as chauvinistic and caustic as he is, he cares about his job and wants justice done. And deep down, I really do believe he cares about Maeve’s welfare!
The case Maeve was working on was engaging, the pace moved along fairly quickly and the subplot kept things interesting. The whole time, I was trying to figure out how they would intersect, as I know at some point they would…but I never guessed at the ending. There were plenty of twists and turns, with a few surprises thrown in.
As there are some storylines that pop up from the earlier two books, it only reinforces my belief that reading series in order makes sense. This series seems to be building on some threads that keep getting picked up from book to book and without reading the prior books, you might be a little lost.
I am looking forward to picking up the next book in this series as the ending leaves us with a bit of a cliff-hanger!Audio thoughts:I am really enjoying the narration of this series by Sarah Coomes. She is consistent with the voices she uses for each character and uses just the right amount of tension and emotion in her voice when needed. The pacing and tone are spot on and her British accent seems to be a good fit as well. I’m so glad that to see that she is continuing on with the narration of this series!
Books in this series:
0.5 Left for Dead
1. The Burning
3. The Last Girl
4. The Stranger You Know
5. The Kill
I love this series and am caught up for now. Need to look and see when the next book will come out. Derwent – well, some don't like him because of his attitudes. He's actually a big favorite of mine. 🙂
New author for me. Sounds like a good mystery.