Breathe Your Last: An addictive and nail-biting crime thriller

Lisa Regan

Nov 2020 · Detective Josie Quinn Book 10 · Bookouture

About this eBook

Josie presses her hands into the center of the drowned girl’s chest and pumps, counting off compressions. She takes in the girl’s beautiful face, her brown eyes glassy. Breathe. Just breathe…

 

The body of a young girl lying face down in a swimming pool—white tennis shoes still on her feet, chestnut hair fanned out like a halo—is the last thing Detective Josie Quinn expects to find on an early morning visit to see her brother before class at Denton University. But when she recognizes the girl’s face as she drags her limp body from the water, there’s only one question racing through Josie’s mind: how does a champion swimmer accidentally drown?

 

Nysa Somers’ family are distraught. She was a model student, beloved daughter and everybody’s friend. There’s no way she would do anything reckless enough to put her scholarship at risk, let alone her life. It’s up to Josie and her team to piece together what happened in the hours leading up to Nysa’s death, and that begins with finding her missing backpack.

 

But the bag, discarded in the woods on the nearby campus, contains nothing more than empty food wrappers, Nysa’s phone and a cryptic calendar entry telling her to be a mermaid.

 

The next day, a terrible housefire envelops the nearby home of a retired fireman, nearly killing his two granddaughters. The last words the little girls heard him mutter before he set the blaze were, be a match.

 

As the body count rises, it’s only Josie who can see the deadly pattern forming. Can she convince her team that the wrapper found in Nysa’s bag is the crucial link they’re missing? Josie knows she must go it alone if she’s going to stop this silent and calculated serial killer before any more precious lives are taken.

 

But with the killer finally in her sights, Josie takes a dangerous risk and finds herself hanging onto life by her fingernails. Can she trust her team to save her, and before it’s too late?

 

An unputdownable and nail-biting crime thriller from an Amazon, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Caine.

Everyone is talking about Breathe Your Last:

‘Absolutely brilliant!!!! One hell of a rollercoaster ride, with so many twists and turns it'll make you dizzy!! It's energetic, exciting, thrilling and nerve-wracking!!… will have you shouting O.M.G. at every page!!’ Stardust Book Reviews, 5 stars

‘Brilliant, nail-biting, rollercoaster of a ride… There were times I gasped "Oh No!" and shed a few tears… a super novel.’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars

‘Wow! Great story. There was one moment where I completely froze in shock…

Can’t wait for the next one!’ Rachel Owl Books, 5 stars

‘An absolutely brilliant book. I was totally gripped from the first page. Full of intrigue and psychological thrills. A really fast-paced book. The ending is a total wow!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars

‘Wow, what a rollercoaster of a thrill ride! Absolutely loved this book it had me hooked from page one… five stars.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

‘Holy crap… The twist in this book is one I never saw coming. I cannot sing the praises of Breathe Your Last enough. This is one book that no one should miss.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars

‘Wow, wow, wow!… blew me away… so much nail-biting action. I really thought I was going to have no nails left by the end of this book… Just loved it so much.’ Blue Moon Blogger, 5 stars

Ratings and reviews

Breathe Your Last by Lisa Regan Detective Josie Quinn #10 Murder mystery, police procedural, serial killer, and more. This book is not my favorite in the series, and I am not sure why…perhaps I it seemed a bit more unbelievable than previous books. Still and all, it was enjoyable and allowed me to see what Josie, Noah and the gang were up to. What I liked: * Josie: focused, intelligent, loving, caring, intense, good sister, good with her team, in love with Noah – eager to see what happens next * Noah: didn’t see a lot of him but know he loves Josie and seems to be good at his job * The police procedural aspects of the story * Hearing the thoughts of the murderous whack-job killing people for reasons I found implausible…but then whack jobs are hard to fathom * Seeing the team members * That the killer was eventually determined and dealt with * Some of the red herrings * The way the book ended * Wondering what will happen next What I didn’t like; * The murderer * knowing that there is indeed a drug like the one used in this book – rather scary to think about * That innocent people were so easily done away with Did I enjoy this book? Yes, It was okay Would I read more in this series? Yes Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC – This is my honest review. 3-4 Stars

After a laundry accident, detective Josie Quinn meets her brother at his job in the university swimming pool. By accident, they find the clothed body of a young woman floating in the water. It turns out to be Nysa, a swimming champion. So, how could she drown? CC- TV shows that she didn’t bring her swimming gear or backpack. No-one else entered or left the building. And why did she come at 6 am? Not much later a retired fireman nearly dies in a house fire. His grandchildren that miraculously are saved by Josie, tell the police that he set the fire himself while acting very strange. The readers know that there’s a serial killer at work who does away with people that have offended or upset him/her, people that deserve to die. Josie is convinced that both incidents are related and that there’s a drug involved that makes people docile and obedient without incapacitating them. Nobody believes her. She feels that this case is slipping through her fingers with no real leads and she fears that she won’t be able to solve it. Her relationship with her colleague Noah is under a lot of strain as they both are preoccupied with work and spend that much time working that they hardly see each other. Josie’s personal life is more than a little complicated. Much of the background story has been told in the previous instalments of this series but the most relevant facts are given again. As I remarked in the previous book, the personal life of the protagonist form a large part of the narrative but there is also more than enough action and suspense that are merged into a really thrilling story. There are more than enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. The information and the clues are released a little bit at the time so that I figured out a few things but not much sooner than Josie self. The development of the case with painstakingly difficult, multiple interviews and forensics that sometimes fail to give the expected or much-needed clues, this case feels like a realistic police investigation. Only at the end, there is a grand finale with a life or death chase to conclude the case. I thank Netgalley and Bookouture for the free ARC they provided me with and this is my honest, unbiased review.

This novel is absolutely buzzing with thrills from start to end! I loved the set up, and the antagonist was as scary as they get. There’s danger around every corner and it doesn’t get more life threatening. There is so much at stake throughout, I couldn’t help but hurry through it to find out who the culprit was. I also really enjoyed the romantic element. Don’t get me wrong, this book is first and foremost a crime book but the relationship between Noah and the kickass lead, Josie just heightened everything. Then there was an oh-my-goodness ending where I wanted to cover my eyes, but that’s just stupid when you’re reading. So... with one eye open, I braved the rest. ‘Breathe Your Last’ is a tightly plotted, tense, police procedural and thriller with huge lashings of action. Brilliant and bravo!