Chasing Shadows by Robert Bryndza
Detective Erika Foster #9
~ Prologue packed a punch and set the stage for all that was to come. I’ve read four out of the nine books so far and each can be read without reading others although I sometimes wonder what I have missed by not reading the other books in this series. ~
What I liked:
* Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster: focused, fit, somewhat abrasive, impetuous at times, strong leader, tenacious, in a relationship with Igor, not easily pushed around, intriguing though perhaps not an easy person to be best friends with
* Learning more about Erika’s past, how her husband died, and why she moved when she did
* Igor and his son Tom who are now a big part of Erik’s life
* The intricately woven criminal plot that was fun to watch unwind as the police procedural threads were followed, red herrings were exposed, new clues occurred, and how it was all came together as a strong case to put some very evil people away
* The look into how people can be corrupted, who might do the corrupting, and how it can impact so many people in the present and future
* That though I find Erika abrasive and not easy to like, I can still admire her professionally and as a person
* Erika’s team – all of them – but especially Detective Inspector Moss – they worked together flawlessly and were up to the task they tackled
* The tie-in to the Christmas season
* The way the criminals were described, being able to see how cold and callous they were, being glad they were caught and then wishing that one would do something to undo the deal that prevented incarceration
* Knowing that there will be another book in the series
What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about the many crimes committed and how easy it was for the perpetrators to do what they did
* Knowing that this story, though fiction, is believable, could, and probably does happen all too often
Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC – this is my honest review.
In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Detective Erika Foster confronts her greatest nemesis—where the lines of justice blur and secrets unravel.
A collapsed ceiling. A dead body. What starts as a routine 999 call takes an unexpected twist when Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster arrives on the scene and discovers the body of a woman in an empty flat, with all DNA evidence scrubbed away. When forensics find cocaine residue coating every surface of the ceiling, Erika calls in the drug dogs, who lead her to a mysterious parcel locker on the outside wall of the property. Chasing down the locker’s owner leads Erika back where she never expected to be – staring into the eyes of Jerome Goodman, the drug dealer who murdered her husband, Mark, ten years ago.
She arrests him on the spot, but there’s just one problem. His passport and his solicitor say his name is Kieron Bagshaw, and his record is squeaky clean.
With top brass demanding she take leave to deal with her PTSD and even her closest colleagues questioning her sanity, Erika decides to use the time off to do some digging of her own. Trawling for clues through old newspapers, encrypted messages, and secret underground passageways, Erika makes a series of shocking discoveries that move Mark’s murder from cold case to active investigation, all while flying under the Met’s radar.
The revelations will push Erika to the brink, forcing her to confront the trauma of her past and the truth about what happened the day Mark died – and who among her friends was involved from the shadows.
Robert Bryndza is an international bestselling author, best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over seven million copies.
His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months it sold one million copies, reaching number one in the Amazon UK, USA and Australian charts. To date, The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language and has been sold into translation in 30 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).
Robert has released a further six novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, all of which have been global bestsellers, and in 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller. Fatal Witness, is the seventh Erika Foster novel.
Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling, Shadow Sands, the third book is, Darkness Falls and the fourth, Devil’s Way has just been published.
Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England. He studied at Aberystwyth University, and the Guildford School of Acting, and was an actor for several years, but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. He self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels, before switching to writing crime. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia, and is lucky enough to write full-time.
You can find out more about Robert and his books at www.robertbryndza.com
