Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni

Netgalley has offered this suspense in exchange for an honest review.

Tracy Crosswhite is fuelled by a sense of justice. Having brutally lost her sister a number of years before, she understands the need for closure. While dealing with the retrial of her sister's convicted killer, her boss, Nolasco, sends her current investigation of a murdered stripper to the cold case division.  Now as more bodies turn up it looks as though there is a serial killer on the loose. Tracy  falls directly into the spotlight having to deal with a stalker, a media leak, her vindictive boss, police brutality lawsuits and a killer who seems to be one step ahead. Can her boyfriend Dan help her connect an old case to this current spate before Tracy lands up on the list of bodies too?

Generally not having read the previous book/s in a series hinders the cohesiveness of plot lines. I would have liked to have known more about Tracy's character but the book can still be read as a stand alone. I received an uncorrected proof but luckily there were very few errors. I enjoyed the author's writing style-descriptions were just enough to imagine scenes without being bogged down by too many details. The plot itself is a typical detective/crime story. Clues are fed to the reader throughout to try and work out the killer's identity. In this instance it was not as obvious, but could only have been part of a certain amount of characters. Tracy is a good strong main character, and her interactions with colleagues and their personal stories added another dimension. Her boss was brought across very well-each time he appeared on the page there was a physical angry reaction to his  underhandedness and despair that he would not get what was coming to him. I did feel that some characters were superfluous to requirements-I understand why Katie had to start the story and the full circle to end it but I felt too much was concentrated on her. I also felt that using phrases like "blade stance" so often then lost their effect on me. Dan seemed a little too good to be true-maybe in the full series we will get to see more of his other sides.

Overall a good impression-about half way through the book I felt that it was worthy of four stars  but with the conclusion I had to take one away-I generally base that on whether the book was gripping and memorable enough to warrant a reread and sadly in this case it wasn't. Recommended for light, easy reading.