Chasing Shadows is the 9th book in the Detective Erika Foster series by Robert Bryndza whom is a new author for me. At times I had a little trouble keeping up with the story line, possibly because I had not read any of the previous books. In general I found this to be a good read, that eventually can to a conclusion for Erika finding those responsible for the death of her husband and several other officer's. I would recommend this book to others.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Chasing Shadows (Detective Erika Foster, #9) by Robert Bryndza has us falling right back into the life of Erika Foster. But this time something is wrong - she can't believe her eyes when the person who killed her husband and team is right is front of her. But with a new identity no one believes her, at first.

While Erika can push everyone’s buttons she is very likable and relatable. The pace is fast and there is nonstop action.

A definite read, I can’t wait to see what is next. I received a copy through NetGalley and this is my honest review.

It's nearly Christmas and Erika is called to a dead body. There is something strange about the scene, it is very clean and the dead woman is not wearing shoes. The teams enquiries lead to an address in Chiswick where Erika is horrified to bump into her husband's killer. She arrests him and is shocked when she is told to let him go as he is not the man she thinks he is. She is then put on compulsory annual leave until her medical.
While she is on leave she takes matters into her own hands and travels to various parts of the country to investigate.
People she trusted suddenly aren't as trustworthy as she thought, but she is determined to see this through now she is so close to solving the murders.
A good solid read.

Erika is playing no games!!!! This book was a HUGE wow. Its part of a series and because of this I want to read more about her.

Solid read

I enjoyed this book. There wasn't the heart-beating excitement I had hoped for, but I liked it. There are two stories that come together. The first is that of a police officer whose spouse and co-workers were killed when trying to catch a drug dealer. A decade later, she sees a man who she believes was behind the killing. But she is told that the drug guy had been killed several years before in a car accident and that the guy she is accusing is a different person. The second has a woman die in her apartment. Her body is found when a water leak wakened the floor and a radiator fell into the apartment below.

The characters and plot were good, but it never really tugged at me. Still. it is a solid read and I will be looking for the next book by this author.

Robert Bryndza is consistently excellent and all of his series are highl enjoyable. The cream of his output is the Erika Foster thread, which has now reached its ninth instalment. Chasing Shadows is particularly poignant as Erika is taken back to Manchester and the incident which saw her husband Mark killed along with several colleagues. It is well written, some of the revelations are shocking and the novel is gripping from the start.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Raven Street Publishing for my copy of Chasing Shadows by Robert Bryznda
Absolutely brilliant. I loved it
After nine years and on the ninth book Robert takes us back to the beginning, and we find out what went wrong that fateful day.
The Erika Foster crime novels are some of the best I have read, and I wait expectantly for each one and never been disappointed.
A terrific series that just gets better and better.
If you haven’t read these books yet, start now.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And breath!
Book 9 in the series and boy does it pack a punch.
It's the book every Erika Foster fans have been waiting for.
We finally have a detailed account of what happened to Erika's husband Mark and the rest of the team on that fateful day 10 years ago in Manchester, and boy was it worth the wait.

Erika comes into contact with the man responsible for Mark and her team's murders but he claims to be someone else and when Erika is told that it couldn't possibly be him as he died in a car accident several years previously.
Erika doesn't believe a word of it and in typical Foster style she is like a dog with a bone and refuses to give up.
When Erika is forced to take leave she starts her own investigation with the help of a few colleagues and her partner Igor.
But someone out there doesn't want Erika to find out the truth and there is a shocking turn of events that had me completely gobsmacked.
A brilliantly written novel that had me completely hooked

Detective Erika Foster #9

A collapsed ceiling. A dead body. What starts as a routine 999 call takes an unexpected twist when Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster arrives at the scene and discovers the body of a woman in an empty flat, with all DNA evidence scrubbed away. When forensics find cocaine residue coating every surface of the ceiling, Erika calls in the drug dogs who lead her to a mysterious parcel locked on the outside wall of the property. Chasing down the locker's owner leads Erika back where she never expected to be - staring into the eyes of Jerome Goodman, the drug dealer who murdered her husband ten years ago.

Wow. I couldn't read this book quickly enough, I needed to find out all the relevant information. I was instantly pulled into this book and I could not put it down again until I had turned the last page. A routine 999 call finds a ceiling collapsed, a dead body found in a spotlessly clean flat, no DNA or clues to be found. Then Erika come face to face with a man from her past.

Filled with secrets, lies and betrayal, this book has everything and more to keep your interest.

Published 5th June 2025

I would like to thank #NetGalley #RavenStreetPublishing and the author #RobertBrynda for my ARC of #ChasingShadows in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley,publisher,Raven Street Mysteries and author,Robert Bryndza for the opportunity to read,Chasing Shadows,as an arc ebook.The main character,Erica,was the head Inspector Commander Chief of an Armed Response Team,one of which was her husband. They were going to surprise a drug dealer but someone had tipped them off. The team was attacked by the drug dealers and four police were shot and killed,including the commander’s husband.She herself was wounded and blamed for what happened.No one was arrested.The story jumps ahead ten years later and Erica,with her best friend at the police station,Moss,are going to apprehend the killers who got away. Most of the story really starts when accidentally Erica sees someone who resembles the main drug dealer. No one believes her but she’s determined to find him and finally put him away for the murders he committed. I gave it four stars because so many characters kept changing their identities that it got hard to keep tract of all the different names.
Book on sale,June 05,2025.

Book 9 in the Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster series and for Erika this is where her past finally catches up with her present. Ten years earlier she lost her husband Mark when a raid on a suspected drug den went wrong and in the shootout he was killed, along with several other police officers. None of the suspects had been caught and the case remains open. As always this is a brilliantly executed police procedural and I raced through it.

Briefly, December 2024 Erika has been called out to a flat in London. A body has been found after a radiator collapsed through a ceiling into the flat below. They cannot identify the body but enquiries lead them a parcel locker nearby. With traces of cocaine Erika tracks the owner down only to find herself face to face with her husband’s killer. He goes by a different name now, and she is told it isn’t him, but desperate to bring him to justice Erika goes above and beyond her bosses orders and finds herself in deep water.

A seriously twisted and brilliant plot with some terrible truths coming into the light shocking Erika, and me, to the core. We finally know the truth about what happened 10 years ago and it’s a startling truth. Fast paced, edge of the seat stuff, this was a superb read, the writer at his absolute best!

It’s been 10 years since Erika Foster watched her husband die. She was to blame for poor surveillance and sent to a new station. The people to blame were never found. It’s funny how things work out sometimes, one seemingly inconsequential clue can open a very large can of warms. Foster is an amazing character and I love reading about her investigations as she runs a loyal team, despite her stubbornness they go to the ends of the Earth for her. She recently started dated Igor, an intelligent man she knew from her country, another loyal servant. After reading a new book I wondered how far Bryndza will take her story and hope this wasn’t the last. I enjoyed reading an early copy and wrote this review voluntarily.

A continuation of the Detective Erika Foster series and all books in the series to date have been page turners. In this book Erika is investigating a potential murder when her investigation takes a sinister turn leading her back to troubled times in her personal and professional life when her husband and colleagues were murdered. This book is a fast paced thrilling read, the crossover between events 10 years ago and the current investigation and hunt for the truth is really well written and keeps the reader gripped as to how the story will develop and unfold. I have purchased and read all books in this series but this is my favourite so far. I look forward to where the author takes Erika and the series in the future.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this great thriller.

Chasing Shadows finally gives us the backstory of what happened to Mark back in Manchester and oh boy - this was amazing! There was twist after twist and the biggest one shook me to the core! Erika was quiet insufferable this time and I really had a hard time with this BUT her being like this was completely within reason in the end! As always Robert delivered a fantastic story and even though we are way into this series - the books get stronger and stronger!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me this Arc <3

I love the “Erika” books. I am a fan and like that she gets the bad guy in the end (spoiler alert).

So, book number 9 in the Erika Foster series. A series of books that I have been following since the first title 'Girl in the ice' came out already quite a while ago. I enjoyed every single title, was happy with the parallel series on Kate Marshall; but ever since the previous Erika book, 'Lethal Vengeance' I had been looking forward to more Erika, and finally, here we are !!
Rest assured, 'Chasing Shadows' has not let me down. Erika digs in further into events from the past, confronts her demons, who knows where this will lead to (you will, once you finished this book).
As from the very start the book hits in, and more ore less races you until the end, quite some action quite some suspense,
I really enjoyed being dragged into the story, a story well told, with interesting characters and a nice plot.
And as always, after the epilogue, Rob shares some thoughts with us, his readers, so nice of him getting a bit more personal; and, maybe even more important, him teasing for more to come. So looking forward to it !!

Robert Bryndza has a way of making a book suspenseful even though readers know who most of the antagonists are from nearly the beginning of the book. Chasing Shadows, the ninth book in the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Erica Foster, continues to be set mainly in London with a few trips to the Manchester area and to Wales. This time a routine emergency call ends with a twist. A dead body is found in the apartment above a collapsed ceiling. With DNA evidence scrubbed away, it seems a dead end until drug residue is found on the ceiling. When the drug dogs lead her and the team to a parcel locker on the outside wall of the property, a Foster gets a big surprise. After finding the locker’s owner and her boyfriend, Foster finds herself staring at Jerome Goodman, the man who murdered her husband ten years ago.

The arrest doesn’t go as planned. His passport and lawyer say his name is Kieron Bagshaw. Foster is forced to take leave to deal with her post traumatic stress disorder, but she uses the time off to do some digging of her own, with some help from a few trusted colleagues and her partner, Igor.
Foster is principled and tends to go against authority if she feels they’re not doing what’s right. She has a direct manner, gets results, and is well respected by her team. However, because she occasionally bucks authority and ruffles feathers, her career feels stalled. She can be stubborn, feels her job is a calling, and doesn’t care what people think of her which makes her more challenging for the brass to control. The other characters are well defined as well, with a set of repeat characters from previous books along with new ones related to the cases in this story line. It was good to see Detective Inspectors Moss and Peterson get high visibility in this novel with some great character growth and depth. While most of the story is from Foster’s point of view, there are occasionally chapters from the point of view of the antagonists.

The prologue is chilling and the first chapter gets readers engaged in the emergency call mentioned above. The plot is twisty, deeply involved, and intense at times. It quickly builds momentum as the plot twists and turns and higher-ups try to contain the investigation. There are unpredictable moments in the story that are unsettling. It allows readers to gain insight into the thoughts, behaviors, and actions towards others of both Foster and the antagonists. There is a surprise near the end that completely caught me off guard and makes me wonder what is in store for Foster in the next book. My biggest quibble is that the storyline goes back and forth in time frequently and this disrupted the flow and pacing for me.

Overall, this gripping, emotional, and complex police procedural has well-developed and compelling characters, contains plenty of action, and has a plot that keeps readers turning the pages to see what will happen next. If you are expecting a solid series that will have mysteries, suspense, crime, and action, then this is a series that I recommend.

Raven Street Publishing and Robert Bryndza provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for June 05, 2025.

Absolutely brilliant book. I've read this series from the start and I did not see that coming! I was hooked from the first page and I can't wait to read the next one.

The fourth book by Robert Bryndza I have reviewed and the second of the Erika Foster books I have read. Such is my enjoyment of Roberts books I have purchased a further seven which await me finding time to read them. 'Chasing Shadows' is an excellent book that brings together a few loose ends from earlier in the series and had this reader on the edge of his seat unable to put the book down, needless to say read in a day. It would be wrong of me to divulge much of the plot as I feel that would ruin it for other readers, but I would urge the avid readers of Roberts books to purchase and read at the earliest available time. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Another 5 star book by Robert Bryndza i love his books and his writing style. although the starting was little slow but when the story
line starts i really love the twists and the story line. i love the way Erika solve the mysteries and the patience level. i will definitely recommend this to every thriller lover. fantastic once again.