Robert Bryndza is quite popular for his police-procedural thriller series “Detective Erika Foster.” “Fatal Witness” is the seventh book in the series and here are my thoughts about it.
A young woman is brutally murdered in her own home and Erika, who just so happens to be around when the body is discovered, gets pulled into the investigation. She, along with her team of detectives, launch an investigation into her death and are almost immediately impeded when they try to interrogate Richard, one of the tenants in the apartment she was found, who happens to be the brother of the police commissioner. Thus begins a convoluted investigation that throws twists at the detectives at every junction. The fact that much of the evidences is destroyed, only makes the investigation more complicated.
Do Erika and her team of detectives manage to figure out the truth? If yes, how so? Who is the perpetrator? We get to know these things in a crisply written story which contains enough turns to keep us engaged.
Erika is relatable as a regular woman filled with vulnerabilities and insecurities. She is good at her job and is thorough and doesn’t let go of something until she has completely drawn it out and flipped it over. I can’t say her characterization completely worked for me but it does help readers identify with her. The other characters are also fleshed out sufficiently enough to aid the narrative.
However, the small drawback I mentioned above was not detrimental to my enjoyment of the story at all; the main reason for that would be the pace and the narrative style of it. It starts in full gear and never much loses speed, even when the investigation stalls. Also, the ominous atmosphere Bryndza manages to maintain throughout hooks the reader. He also has managed to throw in quite a good number of red herrings very cleverly too.
Do read this book if you are into fast-paced investigative thrillers containing unique and vulnerable people.
This book gets 5 out of 5 stars.
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