The Last Breath
Kimberly Belle
Harlequin MIRA, Sep 30 2014, $14.95
ISBN: 9780778317227
In 1994 Rogersville, Tennessee, Ray Andrews is convicted of
murdering his second wife Ella Mae. Ray’s
family and neighbors react with horror to the crime of passion, but soon the
residents of the Appalachian small-town somewhat moved on with their lives;
while Ray went to prison and his daughter Gia fled Eastern Tennessee to become
a globetrotting humanitarian aid worker at disaster sites.
Sixteen years later, an ailing Ray leaves prison wearing an
electronic monitoring device to die in his home. While many including his two other adult
children (Lexi and Bo) object to his humane release and some actively protest
near the house, Gia returns to Rogersville to help him in his final weeks. However, she also has nagging doubts about
her father murdering her stepmother, but her efforts to learn what happened on
that fatal night are stonewalled even by Ray and his three-piece suit lawyer relative
Uncle Cal. Her only solace is the
neighbor Jake the bartender.
The Last Breath is a taut twisting romantic suspense as the truth
may not set Gia free. The vivid setting
and the support cast (especially the family) enhance the tension. The present day Gia inquiry and the Ella Mae
1994 final days are terrific subplots; while the well-written Jake romance
distracts from the otherwise superb family drama.
Harriet Klausner
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