BOOK REVIEW: Last Breath (DCI Erika Foster, #4) by Robert Bryndza

Last Breath is the fourth book in Robert Bryndza’s DI Erika Foster series. These are basically straightforward police procedural novels based in England. Foster is an immigrant from a Slavic country who has been in the country for decades but still has a slight accent and her own cultural differences from your typical British police officer. She has very little respect for administrative rules and the chain of command. Her focus is on finding the evil men who abduct and/or savagely murder women. Sadly, she has a lot of men to track down.

Bryndza has a sparse, straightforward writing style. In Last Breath, the reader learns pretty early in the book who the perpetrator is by getting his perspective on the planning and execution of his crimes. This is a device often used by mystery writers because it raises the stakes by giving the reader more insight into the criminal’s horrible crimes and twisted ideology. It also heightens the suspense of how and whether the police will catch the criminal because we get to see more details of how close (or far) the police are getting to the perpetrator.

The main aspect of the DCI Foster series which differentiates it from others are the supporting characters (in addition to the protagonist's obsessiveness with catching criminals). I appreciate the diversity of her investigative team which consists of DI James Peterson, a handsome Black guy (with whom Foster has a friend-with-benefits relationship) and DI Kate Moss, a chubby lesbian who regularly supplies the comic relief in the story.

Overall, Last Breath is an average entry in the DCI Foster series but since the series overall is well above average for the genre it is a suspenseful and entertaining read recommended for aficionados of the British police procedure genre.

Title: Last Breath.
Author: Robert Bryndza.
Paperback: 362 pages.
Publisher: Bookouture.
Date Published: April 12, 2017.
Date Read: December 26, 2018.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3./4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.