Review: Last Breath by Karin Slaughter

Title:Last Breath

Author:Karin Slaughter

Published:July 2017, Witness Impulse (HarperCollins Imprint)

Format:E-book, 176 pages

Source:Personal copy

Protecting someone always comes at a cost.

At
the age of thirteen, Charlie Quinn’s childhood came to an abrupt and
devastating end. Two men, with a grudge against her lawyer father, broke
into her home – and after that shocking night, Charlie’s world was
never the same.

Now a lawyer herself, Charlie has made it her
mission to defend those with no one else to turn to. So when Flora
Faulkner, a motherless teen, begs for help, Charlie is reminded of her
own past, and is powerless to say no.

But honor-student Flora is
in far deeper trouble than Charlie could ever have anticipated. Soon
she must ask herself: How far should she go to protect her client? And
can she truly believe everything she is being told?

My thoughts:I am still a relative newbie when it comes to Karin Slaughter – I’ve only read one full-length novel and one short story before picking up this one. And I picked up this one because it’s a prequel to her latest stand-alone book, The Good Daughter, which I will be reading in the next few weeks.

What I loved about this short story is that it not only introduces us to the main character of the upcoming book, Charlie Quinn, but it gives us a little bit of her backstory and some insight into her character. She has not had an easy life but despite that, she has made a good one for herself. We meet her husband, Ben and her father, Rusty Quinn, who had a part in her the tragedy that befell her when she was young. 

I also loved that this short story felt complete. Sometimes these short stories just fall short – they just manage to introduce us to a character but the plot lacks. In this case, that was definitely not the case. Not only do we get a great introduction to Charlie, but the case she ends up working on felt complete – it wasn’t rushed, it felt like the story was told without leaving us hanging by giving us a partial story. And boy of boy, was it a crazy case – I definitely didn’t see it playing out quite the way it did. 

I am very eager now to pick up The Good Daughter…especially if this short story is any indication of what I am in store for!