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The Last Dead Girl

Review

The Last Dead Girl

Something shifted and she opened her eyes… She had a feeling of being watched a physical sensation, real as the touch of the air on her skin… She looked off across the lawn, tried to see if there might be some figure in the woods. But all she could see was dark between the trees.

Someone was watching Jana Fletcher all right. She was a woman having a hard time getting away from her past, a past filled with some very bad things. Just recently, though, she’s had a stroke of good luck, if you could call colliding with a deer on a country lane good luck. On that dark, rainy night, David Loogan just happened to come by at the very instant this pretty young woman needed a hand. David --- whom we met in VERY BAD MEN and BAD THINGS HAPPEN --- is using the name “David Malone” in his business as a home inspector in Rome, New York. Out there on the road, something instantly clicked between Jana and David. The question is: What was each of them doing out on a deserted stretch of wet asphalt late at night? And what happened to put that bruise on Jana’s face?

"Presenting readers with just the right number of potential suspects, plot twists and turns, this fast-paced tale will sweep you along like a roiling river in spring spate."

Ten days into their flash romance, David arrives to discover Jana dead on the floor of her apartment. Unsurprisingly, the police grab him for murder right off the bat. But he manages to convince the lead interrogator, Detective Moretti, that the cops don’t have enough evidence to detain him. That doesn’t mean he’s free and clear, though. Even if he were, it wouldn’t matter. For his own personal satisfaction, he needs to know what happened to this woman he knew so little about, aside from the almost positive conviction that he had fallen in love with her.

There is no question that David’s timing was bad, and in more ways than one. You see, he was already engaged to a woman named Sophie, which naturally arouses even more suspicion in the authorities. And Sophie is not too crazy about this turn of events, either. David’s life seems to be falling apart, and it all happened within the space of two weeks. How did he get himself into this mess?

David becomes so obsessed with Jana’s death that he throws caution to the wind, ignoring his business and sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, not the worst of which is snooping into Detective Moretti’s private life. He needs to dial it back a couple of notches, or he may have more to worry about than that split in his forehead.

Presenting readers with just the right number of potential suspects, plot twists and turns, this fast-paced tale will sweep you along like a roiling river in spring spate. Don’t plan on figuring out who the really bad guys are, though, because author Harry Dolan just won’t let you. He is a master at creating suspense and, as always, treats his fans to a giant rollercoaster of a ride.

Reviewed by Kate Ayers on January 17, 2014

The Last Dead Girl
by Harry Dolan

  • Publication Date: October 7, 2014
  • Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley Trade
  • ISBN-10: 0425273822
  • ISBN-13: 9780425273821