The Last Echo by Kimberley Derting

About the book

The Last Echo is the third book in The Body Finder series by Kimberley Derting. It was published by Headline on 29^th March 2012 and the book is 368 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Plot Synopsis

Violet Ambrose as the unique ability to locate the dead due to the echoes they give off. To begin with, she only told her parents and loyal boyfriend Jay but now, more people are involved. By working with a secret team, Violet finally has the chance to really help save lives and find murderers before they can hurt more people. Working with the team puts Violet in much more danger than anyone is happy with but when she finds a body left by ‘the collector’, she is determined to solve the case before anyone else dies. What Violet doesn’t realise is that the killer wants to add to his collection and Violet is right in his sights.

What I thought

It has been so long since I read the first two books in this series and I was a little worried I wouldn’t remember what the hell was going on. However, once I got stuck in to The Last Echo, it all came flooding back quite quickly.

Protagonist Violet has the ability to find the dead, more importantly, those who have been murdered. The bodies give off a unique echo which leads Violet to their body. It also matches up with an echo from the murderer, meaning Violet can help to catch them. In the first books, Violet was really secretive about what she can do and only her parents and boyfriend Jay knew about it. In this book, Violet is working with a secret, psychic team who all have unique abilities. It was quite strange to see Violet’s ability so out in the open and for others like her to be working on the same team. However, this also brought in some really interesting characters who could do some really interesting things.

The Last Echo’s plot revolves around ‘the collector’, a serial killer who targets female students. As well as the book being told by Violet’s point of view, there are also chapters told from the killer’s perspective, which gives insight into his character and his actions. This way of telling the story is something that Kimberley Derting has done in each book so far and something I hope that continues. These books have so much mystery and excitement in them and I think this one has had the most so far. Also, the chapters from the killer are incredibly creepy and really made my skin crawl at times.

Due to the nature of the plot, and certain events that happen, this book shows what a kick ass protagonist Violet is. Not only does she have such a unique ability but she is also brave, courageous and determined. She completely throws herself into each new situation, wanting to make sure that anyone who is in danger doesn’t end up in a body bag. However, what she doesn’t think of is herself. Violet has little care for her own safety and doesn’t think things through. In this book, Violet ends up in some quite sticky situations due to her not thinking but this also provided a hell of a lot of action and excitement.

While I loved the majority of this book, I was very sad to see that Violet’s boyfriend Jay wasn’t around very much. Jay was a character who I loved a lot in the first two books and it was a real shame that he wasn’t around more in this one. Without his presence, there was also a severe lack of romance. The scenes between Violet and Jay are always great to read and while there was a couple, there definitely wasn’t enough. Also, he’s been a rock for Violet up until this point and it felt as though she was throwing him away a little bit now that she has people like her to talk to and be around.

The Last Echo was the best in the series so far in regards to action and mystery and I cannot wait to see what will happen to Violet next, especially after the shocking ending that we are left with here.a