Book Review: The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

Reading Level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (April 17, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062082191
ISBN-13: 978-0062082190

Series: The Body Finder #3

Source: ARC provided by publisher

Cover: As with all the others, I feel like this cover perfectly represents and echo. I love how it mimics the last two but that the color has something to do with the plot this time.

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

Mini-Review: Once again, Derting weaves an intensely chilling thriller that is absolutely impossible to put down.

Summary:

In the end, all that's left is an echo... 

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet's talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it's Violet's job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice. When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by "the girlfriend collector" she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new "relationship" and Violet may have caught his eye...

Review:

Apparently someone is telling Kimberly Derting that she can't top the last two novels in this series and she took it as a challenge. It's rare to find books that continually get better. But Ms. Derting needs to stop since I already gave The Body Finder a 5 so I'm not really sure where I can go from there. But I guess if she's testing my rating system, it might as well be stuck on the top instead of the bottom. The Last Echo takes everything you love about this series and amplifies it.

I like Violet so much because she's just a regular girl. Sure, she can find bodies but she isn't a super hero. I thnik this novel, out of all of them, really shows this. Working with the team, Violet is stretching her time thin. The late nights, the stressful cases and new friendships on top of school, a boyfriend, older friends and parents is really wearing on Violet. Not to mention, poor Violet has two enemies to deal with this time and is tested in everyway. I liked that she didn't magically know how to defend herself. She definitely has some skills and uses those to the best of her advantage but she hasn't morphed into a black belt between books. For me, this really stressed her normalness despite her ability.

I thought I was going to really hate the love triangle that was being introduced in book 2. I've always thought that Jay and Violet are one of the best and most real YA couples I've seen so far. They fight in a healthy way, they make up, they respect each other and you can generally see how much they care for each other. So introducing someone else that is going to threaten this relationship just wasn't okay for me. But in The Last Echo, we got to know Rafe as Violet did. And this ended up being a good thing. As I've said before, good love triangles will represent two paths a character can take and apparently Ms. Derting knows this as well. Rafe understands her on an entirely different level, one that Jay will never be able to. But Jay has Violet's past and knows her in a way Rafe never will. I think getting to know Rafe and his story better really enriched my view and I really enjoyed this aspect which is a testament to his charcter considering I'm head over heels for Jay. I hope Rafe will find happiness...just not with Violet. And though I could tell that Derting tried to squeeze as much Jay time in there as she could, I wish Jay could have played as big a part as he usually does.

I read a few reviews of Desires of Dead that had a problem with the plot and the killer. If this is something holding back from The Last Echo, rest assured you have nothing to fear. Echo introduces one of the creepiest killers yet. I felt like Derting went to a really dark place to find this new killer and she understood him. The killer named The Girlfriend Collector had deeply rooted motivations for what he did and every time one of his chapters came up I was both terrified and excited. The first hundred pages were a little slow for me but once I hit a certain point, things start speeding along and I found I couldn't set this novel down.
As with all the books in this series, The Last Echo was addictive. Violet and Jay are unforgettable and the mystery will have you gripping your sheets until your knuckles turn white. It seems odd to write that once again Ms. Derting has outdone herself but seeing as it is once again the truth, I need to say it. The Last Echo is another step up for this series which has already become one of my favorites.

Rating:

Favorite lines:

Instead she fell asleep dreaming of secret notes and soft kisses.She fell asleep dreaming of Jay.

--Pg. 16 of an ARC of "The Last Echo" by Kimberly Derting

Except the moment she unlocked the passenger side door to let him in, the date had become unnecessary. She'd just agreed to take their relationship to a whole new level. She'd just agreed to become his. 

--Pg. 48 of an ARC of "The Last Echo" by Kimberly Derting

Violet wanted to shush Krystal, to tell her she was being entirely too loud--especially in light of the fact that they were talking about becoming felons and all.

--Pg. 64 of an ARC of "The Last Echo" by Kimberly Derting

His voice sent a spiderweb of fear shooting from Violet's core, radiating outward, firing tenuous threads that made her arms and legs quiver.

--Pg. 121 of an ARC of "The Last Echo" by Kimberly Derting

Rafe took a swing of his coffee, hiding the grin behind his cup. "I thought that's what girl's liked to hear...that they're right."

--Pg. 181 of an ARC of "The Last Echo" by Kimberly Derting