Graham Masterton returns us to the gritty crime and drug ridden streets of Cork with Detective Superintendent Kathleen 'Katie' Maguire based at Anglesea Street Station. A griefstricken Katie is returning home after the funeral of her beloved Connor, but she scarcely has time to breath before she is called to the site of a burnt out car with a man inside it. The victim turns out to be Justice (Judge) Garrett Quinn, whom Katie identifies. Quinn was set to pronounce judgement that day in the trial of Donal Hagerty for the murder of a man, his wife and child, thought to have been ordered by criminal lord Thomas O'Flynn, although there is no evidence for this. The burning of Quinn is but the first of a series of catastrophic events that hit Katie in the week from hell as she is vilified on the front pages of the media for being incompetent and ineffective.

Cork is being ripped apart by the war between the two main crime gangs run by Barry O'Riordan and O'Flynn, as Donal's brother, Billy Hagerty, is shot dead in a hit outside a pub. Young single mum, Roisin, rejected by her family, is pushed into the River Lee, along with her baby daughter, Ita. Roisin is the latest victim to die from the notorious Lee Pusher, selecting random victims to push into the river. A drunk man walking home in the early hours of the morning is shot in the back of his head. A young pharmacy student is stabbed to death in a nightclub, assumed to be one of the High Five, students cooking their own drugs in laboratories to sell, stepping on established criminal toes, that culminates in the horror of a bombing with multiple casualties. As well as all this and more, Katie's life is exacerbated further by the monster that is Chief Superintendent Brendan O'Kane and a fickle top police brass all too willing to hang her out to dry at the slightest opportunity.

Many of the males depicted by Masterton are the misogynist types likely to go on anonymously on our contemporary social media to spew their bile, hatred and poison at women. They are ugly, bullying, threatening and abusive men, insecure about their masculinity, power and manhood, terrified of the power that women have, habitual domestic abusers, hitting out constantly, destroying women emotionally, mentally and physically. These men unfortunately does not merely occur within the criminal fraternity but widespread within the community, and present within the boys' club that is the police force too. Katie is forced to handle the very worst aspects of the men in the police hierarchy, some openly resentful and jealous of her abilities and willing to do anything to bring her down. A dark, intense, and suspenseful Irish crime read that I found compulsive reading and a great addition to the series. Many thanks to Head of Zeus for an ARC.

In the latest Katie Maguire novel she is confronted by family tragedies, her past, gang warfare and misogyny. An excellent addition to this series, and thoroughly recommended. Relationships develop, change and sometimes threaten her whilst she has to solve a variety of crimes which are often violent. Although she is the modern face of police detection she has to constantly deal with sexist views from some colleagues and most criminals. New characters are introduced and the novel ends with a genuine cliffhanger .......... Would definitely recommend.

This was the first Katie Maguire book that I read and whilst I could have done with knowing more about the backstory I was able to enjoy this thrilling, plot driven pot boiler with an excellent sense of time and place.

The action was breathless and non-stop and the characters and plot well drawn and credible. I now have a lot of books to catch up with as I will be reading all the previous titles in this exhilarating series.

I get this is an Irish story and the use of certain language is needed to authenticate the book but this felt like I was reading a book in another language entirely and it detracted massively from the story itself. Not my favourite book of the series at all. Too many murders, some had little impact on the story as they weren't relevant and just felt like they were added to pad the story out.

Once more we are drawn into the violent, ruthless crimes commited by the criminals who inhabit the streets of Cork

Katie must use all her might to stop the killing of gang members and those trying to lock them away

Absolutely nothing can tear you away once you start reading this series

I’m going to be upfront and honest, Graham Masterton is one of my favourite authors – I’m not sure if this is a positive or a negative as I tend to judge him more harshly than authors I am less attached too.

The Last Drop of Blood is the eleventh book in the Katie Maguire Thriller series and while I have read a handful of them I have missed a few of the more recent offerings. However, I still class White Bones (The first in the series) as one of my favourite reads and recommend it to everyone I talk too about books, should they mention the like thrillers. So, reading this future instalment of the series wasn’t a hardship and the pages turned quite easily once I got into the swing of it.

Having said that it did take me some time to get into the swing of the book and this was due to the vast cast list that the book involves. The primary plotline of the book involves two Irish Criminal Gangs; which have a lot of members active and in their back-story. I don’t know if it is the done thing with books, but a cast list at the front of the book as a handy reference might really work in the readers favour, as not only is there the aforementioned gangs there’s also the Garda (Irish Police) department in which Katie Maguire works and the police officers she is in charge of and a handful of other characters thrown in the mix and it took me a lot of working out who was who. Having a list to refer too would have really helped to smooth things along; it would also have helped the author who I am certain changed the surname of one of the main antagonists in the last chapter of the novel. As well as the alternative name of Billy – I don’t wish to say too much about this character as it’s a vital turning point to the novel – but they have a second name and I am almost certain this name changes at one point in the story too.

I thought that the multiple cases working together was well executed and I felt as invested in the side-crimes as much as I was the main gang-warfare plot. The case of the Lee Pusher was as captivating as the gangs being at one another's throats and I feel the handling of this multi-levelled, complex story is a real credit to Masterton as it didn’t leave me scratching my head in confusion.

What I really enjoy about Graham Masterton is his background in writing horror novels and how this experience lends itself to the grizzly nature of the crime scene. The Last Drop of Blood is no exception to this – and the night-club crime is particularly morbid, but so well written that even my seasoned horror-story loving stomach turned. Bravo! The scenes of violence are expertly written without being too far fetched and I can only put this down to Masterton's expert writing skills.

Katie as a protagonist is engaging and exciting to read about – her life is never simple and this fact helps the pages keep turning as much as the thriller elements of The Last Drop of Blood. Although, I did find myself questioning if Katie's complicated life has started to go a little too far; at this point, she has lost several partners for one reason or another – murder, suicide, moving away, affairs, etc – and I while the murder scenes aren’t over the top, I do wonder if Katie's life is? Especially with a new man on the horizon in The Last Drop of Blood while she is pursuing a relationship with a female Detective; with whom she shares a rather incredulous sex scene, but as a seasoned Masterton reader the erotica aspect was like water off a ducks back.

Despite the fact that The Last Drop of Blood feels like it needs one last proofread and edit – just to get it water-tight in the naming department if nothing else – it has inspired me to pursue the rest of the Katie Maguire series and read the novels that I have missed out on as it is a solid and enjoyable thriller which I now feel eager to enjoy more of – and I hope that this isn’t the last of the Katie Maguire series as I have since read it is rumoured to be.

A Judge about to sentence five of Cork’s criminals is found burned to death in his car. Then four members of the rival gang are shot blowing up 3 members of the public with them. Cork is becoming a gang city. Can Katie stop the violence?
This was so gripping and had me up way into the night reading. Loved the characters and how they all linked together The gore and the sex was the icing on the cake. This ended on a cliffhanger and now Im going to have to wait ages to get another fix. Cant wait....Highly recommended.

I love Graham Masterton's books, so I was super excited to be allowed to read an advance copy of his latest novel "The last drop of blood" featuring Katie Maguire, a detective in Cork's Garda, I like Katie, she isn't perfect and she has had to fight her way to the top and she comes across as no nonsense, tough but fair but some think of her as a cailleach (witch/ Hag)

In the start of this book, Katie is burying her Fiancee, Conner, battling against her creepy boss and all the while, trying to juggle and solve all the crimes happening in Cork, including trying to put a stop to the dark underworld of Cork's gangs. The body count is high in this one and not one for the feint hearted, as Graham Masterton is quite graphic in his writing, It has been rumoured by Graham Masterton that this is to be the last novel featuring Katie Maguire but who knows we might not of seen the last of her yet. Fingers crossed.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author, Graham Masterton, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Last Drop of Blood in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
If this is your type of genre, you will enjoy this book. I was hooked from the start with the latest offering from this author.
As usual, the storyline was well written. It barrels along as you turn each page, wondering what on earth could possibly happen next.
The characters are well drawn and compelling. And with vivid scenery, this book was very hard to put down.
Well worth a read.