Last Breath

Detective Erika Foster, Book 4

By: Robert Bryndza

Narrated by: Jan Cramer

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

He's your perfect date. You're his next victim.

When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time it's not her case.

While she fights to secure her place on the investigation team, Erika can't help but get involved and quickly finds a link to the unsolved murder of a woman four months earlier. Dumped in a similar location, both women have identical wounds - a fatal incision to the femoral artery.

Stalking his victims online, the killer is preying on young pretty women using a fake identity. How will Erika catch a murderer who doesn't seem to exist?

Then another girl is abducted while waiting for a date. Erika and her team must get to her before she becomes another dead victim and come face to face with a terrifyingly sadistic individual.

Gripping, tense, and impossible to turn off, Last Breath will have you on the edge of your seat until the final dramatic moment.

©2017 Robert Bryndza (P)2017 Bookouture

The Erika Foster series never disappoints!!

With Last Breath British author Robert Bryndza has another 5 star suspense thriller in his Detective Erika Foster series. Erika Foster is, in my opinion, as compelling a character as any homicide detective in novels currently in print; indeed, she may be the best. Prior to beginning the Erika Foster series with The Girl in the Ice Robert Bryndza was best known for writing romantic comedy novels much like those written by Nick Spalding, another Brit. After writing the four novels (so far) in this series he has firmly established himself as a top author of the suspense mystery genre. This four novel suspense thriller series is an absolute must read for those who like lots of action, intense suspense, and smart and decisive crime solving. British actor Jan Cramer as narrator is a perfect fit for Bryndza's novels. She is a gem as a narrator.

Erika Foster series is a must for procedural fans

Bryndza's Foster series is sharp, witty, clever and extremely entertaining.

Foster is a self confessed "b___h. She is smart, indescreet, impulsive and demanding. She is constantly at odds with her peers and her superiors. And most of all she is a brilliant detective. The same can be said for Department Q's Carl Mork. So if you love Department Q you will love the Foster series.

Tense and nail-biting addition to series

As an Audible newbie last summer I became hooked on Bryndza's series. I snapped up the first when it appeared on Recommendations and can highly recommend Last Breath. Jan Cramer's narration is excellent and is as "atmospheric" as the story.

Love Erika Foster

Not as good as the first 3, especially when I was impatiently waiting...but good enough to want another. My favorite female sleuths: Erika Foster, Tracy Crossehite, Elise Sandburg, and Kim Stone. Need more stories!!!

A little too much standard serial killer formula

Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls, and this book follow the ABCs of writing serial killer books. Each books starts after the killer has moved beyond an initial victim, features a hidden torture room/lair, and ends with bedraggled, abused girls rescued amidst a climactic shootout. Oh, and there’s a tough as nails, but uppity, lady, either a survivor victim or a lady officer/agent. It isn’t a bad formula, but it does make some of the story more tedious and unpalatable, especially where we are subjected to the grisly details of all the places that the bad guy put his scalpel. I prefer clever sleuthing to torture-p🤢rn. Unfortunately, following clues is a distant second to describing the gory parts.

This author’s personal formula quirks are also present. He uses water and wetness prominently, lots of rain, wet clothes, and puddles of blood. And he loves the “I see dead people” thing, whether Erika’s nightmares or the killer hallucinating/dreaming about past trauma or victims.

The level of Erika’s prickliness against every authority figure, and the “I lost my cop husband” angst also annoyed me. These have been constant themes in the series, but they were over the top here.

I'm hooked!

Stories so well written and read. I look forward to checking out their other works!

Remember- No Jan Cramer

Good story I enjoy Robert Bryndza. The narrator almost ruined it. I say almost because I was able to get through it on 1.3 speed. Barely. Jan Cramer narrates a “thriller” about a serial killer like she is reading a happy little children’s book to a toddler.

Awful narrator ruins the book for me

The narrator is terrible - her intonation is totally out of synch with the text. She sounds like she reads a cook book or a ladies magazine when describing a murder victim.

It’s a rookie performance. Why are they using her again? Please get another narrator. This one is do annoying that she ruined the book for me.

Exciting throughout. Best Foster book so far.

I like this one the best of the 4 I have listened to so far. Not too many twists but a great build up to a satisfying ending. I enjoy the main characters a lot

Top notch police procedural

The combination of Bryndza's masterful craftsmanship and Cramer's brilliant performance once again creates a story you just can't stop listening to. I'm already eager for the next.