(AUDIO) BOOKS
Struggling For Breath
Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni — a book review
I love watching a good detective, and I love reading crime books. I have read all John Grisham books, all books about Jack Reacher by Lee Child, and also all the Patricia Cornwell books. Add to that the medical thrillers by Robin Cook, and you know who my favorite authors are.
I’m spoiled, as I always measure all detective/crime books against the ones mentioned above, but lately I have ‘opened my mind’ to be less “judgy” about books, and see where the story takes me.
That’s what I did with Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni.
About the author, Robert Dugoni
It took some digging to find personal information about Robert Dugoni. He was born in February 1961 in Idaho, and raised in North Carolina as one of eleven children. When he was in seventh grade, he knew he wanted to be a writer, and by the time he went to Stanford University, he had already won several writing awards. After Stanford, he attended UCLA to study law, and practiced it for thirteen years in San Francisco.
In 1999 he quitted law and returned to writing.
For the next three years, he worked in three novels, winning prizes along the way. His first novel, The Jury Master, became a New York Times bestseller. The Seattle Times likened Robert Dugoni to a young John Grisham.
Dugoni completed his David Sloane series, of which The Jury Master was the first, and in 2014 the first of the Tracy Crosswhite series appeared.
Her Final Breath is the second in that series, which means I better listen to the first too! And then, of course, the rest too, as in 2020 the ninth was published!
Robert Dugoni has sold over 7 million books in over 25 countries and languages.
Like detectives? You will like this plot!
The story starts in a shooting range, where a police officer — Tracy Crosswhite — teaches another to shoot. Leaving the shooting range, Tracy spots a noose hanging from the gate at the entrance, which is an obvious threat at her address.
She’s drawn into the investigation of a man — The Cowboy — killing young erotic dancers in cheap hotels. During the investigation, her chief works against her, because of a years-old feud between the two of them. That’s why Tracy keeps quiet when she stumbles upon an old case of the chief, which might be the breakthrough she is looking for to catch The Cowboy. Her boyfriend — a lawyer — helps her with the investigation, interviewing witnesses from the old case, and getting closer to the truth.
After discovering that noose at the shooting range, they offer Tracy police protection, only to have it taken away when her chief discovers she’s investigating his old case.
But the threat is still there, and one day Tracy finds an intruder in her house. Finally, they have the killer, or do they?
What I like about this book
This book is made for easy listening (or reading), as the story flows on naturally, and it keeps you guessing. Since I have read quite my share of detectives, as you can see from the list above, I always try to unravel the story before I get to the end. To ‘know’ who the perpetrator is before I reach the end of the book.
It’s funny actually because when I do guess who it is, I am most likely to lose interest in the book. I don’t want to know who it is before it’s revealed, but I can’t help myself analyzing the information as I continue reading/listening. It’s quite a juxtaposition, right?! This book kept me guessing right to the end, and all that remained was to tie up some loose ends of the story.
I already have more Tracy Crosswhite books on my list!
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