The Last Echo (The Body Finder, #3) in Sequel Reading Challenge

Mar 07, 2012 Andrea at Reading Lark rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, read-in-2012, 5-stars, young-adult, arc, paranormal, mystery, pacific-northwest

Review Posted on Reading Lark 3/16/12: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2012/...

I have been a big fan of Kimberly Derting's writing since I picked up The Body Finder. I loved her writing, her characters, the pacing of the plot, the mystery, and the setting. After living in Washington State for the past two years, I love the setting even more because I can visualize it so much better. Derting is truly one of the greats when it comes to sense of place. She transports the reader into the heart of he Review Posted on Reading Lark 3/16/12: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2012/...

I have been a big fan of Kimberly Derting's writing since I picked up The Body Finder. I loved her writing, her characters, the pacing of the plot, the mystery, and the setting. After living in Washington State for the past two years, I love the setting even more because I can visualize it so much better. Derting is truly one of the greats when it comes to sense of place. She transports the reader into the heart of her setting. The gray, gloomy Pacific Northwest is the perfect backdrop to a series where a character finds dead bodies. Derting's writing makes one believe in the impossible.

The Last Echo is a triumph for Derting. It is the best in the series so far in my opinion. Don't get me wrong - I loved The Body Finder and Desires of the Dead - but there is just something about this book that outshines the other two. This installment gives readers what we have come to expect from Derting - strong characters, a mysterious plot, and compelling prose. However, what sets this one apart is the mood. Derting has pushed this story into a much darker place than she has previously taken us into before. The plot is maturing along with Violet and as she gets pulled deeper into Sara and Rafe's world things get more terrifying.

The beginning of this novel sets up Violet's work on Sara's team. I enjoyed getting to see Violet in this new circumstance. In the past, she has largely been with Jay or her friends. It has always been a very high school driven story, but that all changes in this book. Violet is being forced to be more of an adult and her relationships are suffering. I do feel the need to mention that I really missed Jay in this one. The relationship between Violet and Jay has always been one of my favorite elements of this series. While those moments do crop up in this book, I just felt like there was a lack of Jay. He was not as present as he had been in the past. With that being said though, I was happy that the moments where Jay was around were really good ones. I wish that there had been a Jay for me back in high school. He is by far one of my favorite YA leading men.

In addition, I was impressed by Derting's daring with this one. The killer that Violet and the team are tracking in this one is a girlfriend collector. He finds young women who fit a certain profile and kidnaps them. He keeps them alive for awhile, but eventually he gets rid of them to make space for the next girlfriend. This segment seemed much darker to me than the mysteries in the previous books. I love that Derting always cuts away from the main story-line to give readers a chance to get inside the killer's mind. Those portions in this book gave me the chills. To say that I was freaked out by this killer would be putting it mildly; he made my skin crawl. Derting didn't hold anything back in the scenes where he is involved.

The Last Echo is a chillingly addictive page turner. Once the momentum started rolling after the initial chapters, I couldn't put this one down. It kept me up until the wee hours of the night; I couldn't stop reading until I had reached the last sentence. There is so much that could happen in the next book. The ending is ominous, but it wasn't one of those cliffhangers that will have you throwing your book across the room and cursing the snail like speed of future release dates. I, for one, will be waiting anxiously for book #4's release in 2013. The Body Finder is a series that I don't want to end; I'm sincerely hoping that Violet, Jay, and Rafe will be around for a considerable amount of time in the future.

The Last Echo is a must read. This is one of those series that I drop everything else on my TBR list for - it's that good.

One Last Gripe: I wish that Violet had spent more time with her friends. I hated that she was always blowing them off and giving them the wrong impression. However, I do understand her motivation. Sadly, I missed Chelsea.

My Favorite Thing About This Book: The plot - so so good

First Sentence: Violet strained, searching for the sensation through the suffocating blackness.

Favorite Character: Violet

Least Favorite Character: Gemma
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Feb 21, 2011 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-tour

Find more of my reviews on my blog, The Reader's Antidote

I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy myself with this series. I love these kind of mystery thriller CSI-with-a-twist-of-supernatural YA books. And I actually liked this one better than Desires of the Dead, the second book in the series. Why, you ask? Because of the killer. This killer was by far the creepiest one of the series, and the creepiest villain I've read in YA. It's one thing to know when you're crazy or horrible and continue Find more of my reviews on my blog, The Reader's Antidote

I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy myself with this series. I love these kind of mystery thriller CSI-with-a-twist-of-supernatural YA books. And I actually liked this one better than Desires of the Dead, the second book in the series. Why, you ask? Because of the killer. This killer was by far the creepiest one of the series, and the creepiest villain I've read in YA. It's one thing to know when you're crazy or horrible and continue to be that way, but it's a whole other thing to not know you're crazy so you keep doing what you do.

Derting has a finely-honed skill of perfectly getting inside the killers head and succeeding in freaking her readers out! I don't know if she just reads about serial killers or is besties with one or what, but she is able to be the killer, and that is so creepy. You almost feel bad for this killer. Often these kind of serial killers (AKA "collectors") have had bad childhoods, and it's revealed to us that this is also true for this serial killer. He's trying to copy someone from his past into these girls so that he'll get approval from said person (though this person has no idea that he's a killer). It's insane and intricate and just amazing. Well done, Derting.

Another element that was really brought to light in this one (besides the killer) was the agency that Violet now works for (basically a league of psychics) and how this affects her relationship with Jay and also with Raffe. It's so obvious that there are some weird, but not altogether unpleasant, physical and mental feelings between Violet and Raffe. One of the things I loved about this "love triangle" is that Derting addresses how, although Violet wanted to think that Raffe only wanted to be friends, she finally understood that that's not all he wanted. Finally, a YA heroine not playing ignorant! I'm really interested to see where this triangle is going to go, although I would have liked to see a lot more of Jay. I am so team Jay.

There are so many new elements to this book, and although it's sort of moved from the small-town feeling of the first and even second book, it was done extremely well and not abruptly. Things have been slowly building in this series and I'm on pins and needles! I can't wait to see what kind of killer she comes up with next. Derting is the queen of YA thriller for me. ...more

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