A classic mystery/thriller by Gerri Hill with my favorite cops
We had to wait a long time for book #5 in the Hunter series. As a fan of Gerri Hill, and especially a fan of her mystery series, I jumped to read the book as soon as I got the chance. I’m glad to hear that the author did not disappoint.
While I don’t remember all the cases Tori and her team solved, I do remember her own story pretty well. The evolution she went through as a police officer and as a person, and the fact that through Sam she eventually also found the belief that she deserved a little happiness, still sticks in my mind.
Tori and her partner Casey are wondering and curious when they find hundreds of photos of Tori pinned to a wall at the scene of a supposedly random act of violence. Photos of her as a twelve-year-old, after her family was killed and she was orphaned, until to this day. What does this 72-year-old man, shot for seemingly no reason, have to do with Tori’s story? And when it turns out that the gun found in the house was the murder weapon used to brutally kill Tori’s entire family, Tori is brought back to her past with full force, shaking her to the core. After the initial shock, Tori becomes a bull terrier who, once she has grabbed a bone, will not let go, until she finds out what happened back then, even if she has to break some rules to do it, which wouldn’t be the first time either. The only question is, is it possible to find the truth after more than thirty years?
The story is narrated in the third person most of the time we accompany Tori on her emotional journey, which is filled with rage and thousands of questions, as she discovers puzzle piece after puzzle piece, not always by entirely legal means, and slowly pieces together the story. The closer she gets to the truth the more victims line the way. Can she put an end to it?
Besides hunting down and uncovering the details about the dirty cops of yesteryear, the most exciting part of the story is Tori’s struggle with herself. I could feel her inner turmoil, should she follow the desire for revenge or stick to law and order after all? This fine line and the accompanying emotional roller coaster ride captivated me and let me feel everything she felt. The anger and revenge feelings, that almost overtake her, the great struggle within her not to just pull the trigger and take revenge, or not do it and feel like she has let her family down. Simultaneously she wants to involve Sam and her friends but she wants to protect them too. Ultimately, she has to ask herself, is it worth giving up everything she has built with Sam, and the friendships with Casey and Lesley, her family of choice, for a brief moment of revenge? This is where Gerri Hill plays to her strengths, she did an exceptionally good job of bringing the feelings and emotions between the pages of the book.
When we are not accompanying Tori, we are following Sam and Casey. On the one hand, they want to support Tori, but on the other hand, they want to protect her too, even from herself, which is anything but an easy job. They prove once again how important they are for Tori and what it means to have friends who always have your back but sometimes also question your decisions and challenge you.
The plot is exciting and has a good pace with a not-so-unexpected finale, action guaranteed. A stirring and involving reappraisal of Tori’s family tragedy in the classic mystery/thriller style of Gerri Hill. Even billed as the final book in the series, I still hope we get more of Tori, Sam, and their friends. I just love this group of women.
Highly recommended it to all Tori Hunter and mystery fans. But you have to read the books in order, to understand everything.
ARC was provided by Bella Books to LezReviewBooks.com in exchange for an honest review.
