Thanks to Netgalley for providung the Advanced Reader Copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The 10th book of the Tracy Crosswhite series “One Last Kill” is here. Last time, Tracy, in her investigation into the disappearance of investigative journalist Lisa Childress, had found that her boss and Chief of Police Marcella Weber was a part of a corrupt drug task force back in the 1990s. She is back at work after a short holiday and is immediately assigned the case of a serial killer who was active between 1993 to 1995.

Forced to partner with her work nemesis, Chief Johnny Nolasco, Tracy begins her foray into the past to find the killer who has eluded the police successfully all these years. She has her work cut out for her with the not-very-helpful Weber and abrasive Nolasco throw in a series of obstacles along her way. The investigation soon becomes a quagmire with leads pointing to various suspects that fizzle out.

Of course, read through the book to know who is the killer and how they are caught.

As always, Dugoni has managed to create a complex situation out of an impossible investigation that even I began to wonder if and how the case will ever be solved. Despite it being a cold case, Dugoni has infused a sense of urgency into the story through the circumstances around the case, particularly the kind of pressure the police department usually has to put up with while handling high profile cases, and the dynamics of the people who work together to help people get justice. That is a very clever way of storytelling.

The best aspect of Dugoni’s tale is the varied shades he manages to give his characters; no one is completely good nor completely bad. Everyone has their own reasons for being the way they are; it might be something very trivial (eg. inflated ego) or something very serious to them, but these characters always feel justified in doing what they do. In fact, the book is a rather unique insight into the various personalities and attitudes that form the police department and how these characteristics affect their work and the dynamics of their work space. The reader is forced to look at these people as the flawed individuals they are, rather than the bigger than life figures they are often projected to be.

This book also provides a satisfying and realistic conclusion to the case that started in the previous book “What She Found.” Even though I have only read the ninth and 10th book of the series as of now, I was still able to follow the many high points of Tracy’s life and career; Dugoni deserves a big kudos for that. It is not an easy task to do, in a long series of books, with several cases that involve people who are interconnected.

This book is a solid police investigative thriller which will grip you totally and entertain you undoubtedly. I loved it and can’t wait to see where the story travels next.

This book gets 5 out 5 stars.