Their Last Breath by Sibel Hodge

Synopsis

Detective Carter knows all about torture – but he’s never known a case as dark as this one.

The Six…

An abandoned building goes up in flames. Six women are chained inside and left to die – the truth is left to burn with them. Only one piece of evidence remains, but will it be enough to find their killer?

The Detective…

Retired detective Warren Carter has been suffocated by grief for his wife and is looking for a new start. But when he gets a call that cuts to the heart of the force, investigating a corrupt police officer, he has to accept. This time, though, he’s going to have to face his demons and work out who to trust when the truth is guarded by his own colleagues.

The Bad Cop…

It was supposed to be the perfect crime: they knew the system well enough to beat it and get away with murder. But they didn’t know Detective Carter, and how far a man will go when he has nothing left to lose…

Author: Sibel Hodge

Publication Date: 24 September 2019

Publisher: Amazon Publishing Ltd

My Review

Having read all of Sibel's previous books I was super excited to be approved for an advance copy of this book.  I hoped I was in for a treat and I was right.  This had everything that I expected from the book and much more. It was fast paced and gripping from the first word until the last.

It was nice to see the return of the characters, Detective Warren Carter and Detective Becky Harris, who had played their parts in previous books but you don't have to read these to enjoy this book to the full.

Warren Carter is retired but when we receives a call from the Professional Standards Anti Corruption Unit he is drawn back to the force.  Six women have been found in a burned building and there is all the evidence to support that this is a human trafficking issue.

Becky Harris is assigned to investigate a double murder.  Two bodies have been found bound and stabbed to death and words scrawled across the wall.  The circumstances are similar to a previous case and it's looking likely that there is a serial killer in town.

Harris is warned by her superior that she needs to tow the line and that her gut instinct needs to be reined in and she has to follow orders but when she contacts Carter and the cases start to show an underlying thread, Harris against all orders, follows her heart to reveal the truth. Carter and Harris are soon teamed up and the race is on to bring justice for the 6 dead women.

This is not just a police procedural story it is so much more.  intertwined is the heartbreaking story of  one of the refugee's. She so desperately wants to escape the prison that she feels she is in close to Syria and start a better life for herself.  She has lost everything and everyone in the world and feels that with a little help and a little hope that she can finally be free.  Little does she know of the danger that she is placing herself in.

The book flips seamlessly from case to case and ultimately is joined together perfectly to bring about the fabulous conclusion.  Those that we trust are not always the people that they appear to be.

This books covers the theme of trafficking which Sibel has previously published before but the clever way that she has of writing makes each novel fresh and standalone from her previous work. This books kept me reading late into the night and I am so please to rate this a 5 star read.   I loved, loved, loved this book.