Review: The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

Author: Kimberly Derting

Publisher: HarperCollins

Page Count:  360 pages, Hardcover

Date Published:  April 17th 2012

 

Goodreads 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....

My Thoughts: Creepy. Just. Plain. CREEPY.

Yes, these are murder-mystery books. Yes, the protagonist can sense the murdered bodies and their murderers. But The Last Echo, the third book in The Body Finder Series gave me chills, nightmares and yes, a few eye-twitches. I felt the writing in this book improved a lot since the first two, and so did the plots, characters and timing of everything. Nothing was out of place. It was a clear story once again, which I think is something everyone enjoys.

Of course, there were some things that... Shall we say, irked me. What was hinted in the last book, Desires of the Dead, has become more prominent. Yes, the dreaded almost-love-triangle. No, there hasn't been an epic feud between Jay and Rafe, but there's most definitely that connection between Violet and Rafe that will make Jay fans cringe. Don't get me wrong, I like Rafe... But as a friend of Violet's, not a boyfriend. I liked the paranormal team in the book that are working with Sara Priest as well. Though I hated seeing Violet withdrawing from her other friends, it was nice seeing her interact with others who understand a bit of what she has to go through.

Then there's the total creep factor in the book. So, in each book, Kimberly Derting throws in chapters in which it's the killer's point of view that we're reading from... Sounds a bit iffy, right? Here's a series about a girl who can find dead-bodies and serial killers are going around murdering teen girls. I was totally fine with the first book. Yeah, it was a bit unnerving at first, but not so much that I had a nightmare. The second book having chapters from the POV of someone who isn't a serial killer was totally fine as well. But this book. THIS BOOK. *Shudders* The sections in which we get a peek into "the girlfriend collector's" mind had me cowering under the covers. I don't know, it's not even that bad, but something about it made me look behind me multiple times while walking to my bus stop. That guy is seriously messed up! He's obsessive and his brain is nutso and honestly, I think the thing that Derting was trying to get across was that he's really just a sad little boy in an adult's body, vying for his mother's attention. Which was upsetting, yes. But like I said... He was creepy. Creepy.

Lastly, the writing. It has definitely improved. I felt much more connected to all of the characters, even the most insignificant. Violet's gone from being in my opinion, a little bit whiny, to much more likeable. Yeah, Jay is perfect as always and Rafe was mysterious, but we got to learn so much more about him.  I can't say which of the three books so far is my favorite, but this one was most definitely extremely well done. Congrats Kimberly Derting on another fantastic book! I can't wait to read the next one!

Have you read The Body Finder series? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!!

Have a great day/night everyone!
-Kristy