The Last Victim: A Novel (edition 2012)

I have always enjoyed books from Karen Robards. I did not enjoy this one as much. The main character starts out very whimpy. She spends all her time upset about the past and her paranormal problems. Towards the end she finally starts to suck it up and become a character I could like. Maybe in the next book I will like her more. ( )

This book kept me just interested enough to finish reading but I will not be continuing this series. The romantic relationship between Dr. Stone and the ghost is ridiculous to me. Without that, the storyline would've been much better. The unexpected twist at the end earned it the third star. ( )

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Last Victim through LibraryThing, and I am so glad that I did. Robards delivers a chilling tale of a an expert called into help with a murder/abduction case, but the story is far from your typical mystery. Robards really surprised me with this book by having her heroine receive help from the most unlikely source and made this book really standout from your usual mystery/suspense novel. The story's mystery was good and set up well by tying it to a case involving Charlie when she was younger. It was also full of many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. I also really enjoyed the supernatural element thrown in which I hadn't been expecting. Robards also does a really good job with her character development while also leaving some information thus setting up future books in this series. Overall this was such an amazing read that I would most definitely recommend. I am sure that at some point I had read this author before although its been a long time, but The Last Victim has caused me to push Robards to the top of my must buy list. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. ( )

A Doctor, an FBI agent and the ghost of a serial killer try to solve a case -- does this sound like the start of a bad joke? No, it is not really a joke, but the book itself will be a little difficult for some to swallow and the premise teeters on the knife-edge of being jokish.

I grant you that ghosts are now becoming the in thing to write about but in this case I think the author takes it one little step too far. Charlie (the criminal pathologist) is interviewing a hottie serial killer when another inmate kills him. What Charlie never seems to tell anyone is that she sees ghost. This time the hottie ghost, Michael Garland, stays with her, attaches to her and they, uhm, interact with each other – hotly, sexily!

I see that this is the first book in what appears to be a dualogy and I am sure that this relationship between really intelligent and well respected Doctor will make a whole lot more sense n the second book, but I could barely get through this book with a straight face let alone subject myself to another one.

The characters are fully fleshed, (so to speak) the mystery is somewhat interesting yet not altogether too complicated. The main character Charlie was difficult for me to like, or empathize with. I found her to be annoying. A lot of my problem with this novel is that I had to suspend my disbelief to the point that I might have well been reading fantasy instead of trying to read this like a mystery/romance that it is advertised as. ( )

"The Last Victim" is a fairly entertaining, breezy read. The story follows Dr. Charlotte Stone, a psychiatrist who studies serial killers, as she helps the FBI track down a serial killer who is eerily similar to the serial killer she herself witnessed as a teenager. It has the usual love interest, and an unusual angle in that Dr. Stone also sees ghosts of the recently violently departed. I didn't give it a higher rating for a number of reasons. One, the book is not plotted as tightly as I would've liked. I read a lot in the mystery/romantic suspense genre, and there are better works out there. Also, while the characters are likable enough, they are somewhat one dimensional. Another reason I didn't rate it higher is that the prose was not that strong. All in all, though, the book was entertaining. It would be a good beach read. ( )