Stephen Booth is a superb author. His series featuring Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, of which One Last Breath is the fifth novel, is superb, and gets better with each instalment. Booth is a master at building believable and fascinating characters, with whom it is easy to get very involved with as the series progresses. As usual, the relationship between Cooper and Fry is somewhat stormy, yet the unacknowledged and grudging mutual respect is still evident just below the surface. Cooper in particular learns a lot about himself in this novel, as he is forced to confront his past, and the way in which he involves himself with other people.
Set, as usual, in the Peak District, One Last Breath has all the hallmarks of Stephen Booth - a challenging, believable plot, expertly described landscapes, complex relationships between the characters, myriad sub-plots and diversions, which in the end come together to make a cohesive whole. This is by no means a typical 'whodunit' - from the outset we meet Mansell Quinn, a convicted murderer recently released from prison with a mission to complete. When his ex-wife is brutally killed soon afterwards, the hunt is on to recapture Quinn, who manages to elude the best efforts of the police. Cooper meanwhile explores the background to Quinn's original conviction, finding along the way a dark web of deceit, cunning, and cold-heartedness among Quinn's family and associates. These investigations provide both help and hindrance in the attempt to locate Quinn and obtain a conviction for the murder of his ex-wife. The complex plot reaches a superb climax, with a real anxiety tangible in every word.
Throughout the novel, Booth explores challenging issues of justice, family relationships, long-lasting friendship, failure, police procedure, illustrating how it is unwise to assume anything without evidence.
As with all his novels, this is well worth reading. Buy it! More please...
