Member Review
Review by
Aravind R, Reviewer
Gregg Olsen’s Final Victim marks a tense and emotionally charged conclusion to the excellent Megan Carpenter series – or at least, it seems to. For years, Megan has been striving to bury her horrific past and build a normal-ish life. But in this sixth instalment, that fragile peace is shattered as Wallace, a stalker who seems to know too much about her previous life and has been taunting her through cryptic emails, steps into the fore. The investigation into the gruesome murder of a female cop and another apparently unrelated cop-death leads Megan where she does not want to go, but precisely where Wallace wants her. Faced with the prospect of losing everyone she has come close to loving, Megan must revive her former self – a survivor unafraid of getting her hands dirty – and destroy Wallace, whatever the collateral damage.
As with the earlier volumes, Olsen’s pacing is tight in Final Victim, and the emotional stakes are high, with Megan’s internal struggle – her reluctance to let anyone know of her past and her distress at keeping Ronnie, her partner and the closest thing she has ever had to a friend, in the dark – woven seamlessly into the taut procedural drama. The realistic and ever-evolving characters – from Megan and Ronnie all the way to the supporting cast – have always been the strength of this series and will be remembered for a long time. Olsen’s description of places, people, and action is vivid, conveying the tension and the urgency to the reader accurately.
However, the reveal of Wallace’s identity falls short of the expectations built for so long, as it feels slightly predictable. The ending, while offering resolution, does not tie up all the threads and feels somewhat rushed. I hope this vagueness is intentional, and Olsen has plans to develop those threads further with a spinoff or a continuation. For the present, though, Final Victim works well as a satisfactory culmination of this taut, gripping series with as much emotional depth as action, suspense, and blood!
I am grateful to Bookouture, for the digital review copy of Final Victim through NetGalley, in exchange for my unbiased review.
As with the earlier volumes, Olsen’s pacing is tight in Final Victim, and the emotional stakes are high, with Megan’s internal struggle – her reluctance to let anyone know of her past and her distress at keeping Ronnie, her partner and the closest thing she has ever had to a friend, in the dark – woven seamlessly into the taut procedural drama. The realistic and ever-evolving characters – from Megan and Ronnie all the way to the supporting cast – have always been the strength of this series and will be remembered for a long time. Olsen’s description of places, people, and action is vivid, conveying the tension and the urgency to the reader accurately.
However, the reveal of Wallace’s identity falls short of the expectations built for so long, as it feels slightly predictable. The ending, while offering resolution, does not tie up all the threads and feels somewhat rushed. I hope this vagueness is intentional, and Olsen has plans to develop those threads further with a spinoff or a continuation. For the present, though, Final Victim works well as a satisfactory culmination of this taut, gripping series with as much emotional depth as action, suspense, and blood!
I am grateful to Bookouture, for the digital review copy of Final Victim through NetGalley, in exchange for my unbiased review.
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