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Summary
Summary
Electrifying suspense, cutting-edge psychological insight, and an unforgettably sensuous love story-these are the trademarks of Karen Robards's sizzling novels. Now the New York Times bestselling author launches a red-hot new paranormal romantic thriller series featuring the fascinating Dr. Charlotte Stone, a serial killer expert whose extraordinary powers lead her from ecstasy to terror.
THE LAST VICTIM
Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.
A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life-no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer's bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie's best friend, Holly, then left the girl's body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.
Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.
Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer-or a sick copycat with his M.O.-is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie's help.
This is the one case Charlie shouldn't go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie-whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts-a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.
Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.
From the Hardcover edition.
Author Notes
Karen Robards was born in Louisville, Kentucky on August 24, 1954. She graduated from the University of Kentucky. Her first novel, Island Flame, was published in 1981, when she was 24 years old. Since then, she has written more than 40 contemporary and historical romances including To Love a Man, Sea Fire, One Summer, Irresistible, Whispers at Midnight, Guilty, Shameless, and Sleepwalker. She has received six Silver Pen Awards, two Waldenbooks Wally Awards, one Romantic Times award, a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, and has been named to the Romantic Times Romance Writers Hall of Fame. She has written a number of series, including The Banning Sisters and Charlotte Stone. Her title's, The Last Kiss Goodbye and Hush made The New York Times best seller list.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Robards (Sleepwalker) kicks off a paranormal romantic suspense series with this engaging but uneven tale of serial murder and ghosts. When she was 17, Dr. Charlotte "Charlie" Stone was the sole survivor of a horrific attack by the Boardwalk Killer and has spent her life studying serial killers as a result. Fifteen years later, Charlie is called in to help the FBI solve a series of murders eerily similar to those committed by the Boardwalk Killer. In addition to her psychiatric knowledge, Charlie also has the ability to see ghosts, like Michael Garland, an inmate Charlie was studying before he was stabbed to death. Michael's ghost becomes attached to Charlie, and Charlie surprisingly finds herself turning to Michael for comfort as the Boardwalk Killer, or a copycat, escalates his killing spree. Robards sets up an interesting dynamic between Charlie and Michael, but too much focus on their relationship overshadows the hunt for the Boardwalk Killer. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Robards (Sleepwalker, 2011, etc.) combines a few of her favorite themes in the first of a series featuring a psychiatrist with paranormal abilities who researches serial killers. During her senior year in high school, Charlie Stone survived a vicious attack by a serial killer who slaughtered her friend Holly Palmer's family and then abducted Holly. Her classmate's body was found buried beneath the boardwalk less than a week later near the coastal North Carolina town where the family had lived. Dubbed the Boardwalk Killer, the murderer attacked several families with teenage daughters before the killings stopped, and the girls' bodies were always found within a week following their abduction. Fast-forward 15 years, and Charlie is now a psychiatrist researching serial killers at a Virginia prison when FBI special agent Tony Bartoli and his colleague come calling. It appears either the Boardwalk Killer has resurfaced or a copycat murderer is on the loose. Since Charlie is an expert on aberrant behavior and has seen the Boardwalk Killer, the FBI wants her help. They must act quickly, though, if they want to save the latest girl to be abducted. The team heads to Kill Devil Hills, the site of the most recent crime, and Charlie quickly discovers that she's brought along some extra baggage. The ghost of one of her subjects at the prison, a convicted serial killer named Michael Garland, has "attached" himself to her. (He claims he's innocent, but DNA proves otherwise.) It appears that in addition to being a brilliant, beautiful, serial-killer magnet, Charlie also can see and communicate with the spirits of some victims of violent deaths. And hot-looking Garland just happens to fit the bill--he died of a stab wound in Charlie's arms right before she left the prison. As the search for the Boardwalk Killer intensifies and Charlie wrestles with her attraction to the hunky dead serial killer, she has steamy erotic dreams about Garland that may or may not have actually occurred. Is there a ghost of a chance that Robards can conjure up a more believable--and less repulsive--love interest for Charlie in her next installment than the ghost of a convicted serial killer? Sadly, probably not.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Charlie Stone, thirtysomething, single, and attractive, is the only known survivor of the infamous Boardwalk Killer. Fifteen years later, as a psychiatrist researching serial killers on death row, she encounters murderers in the safety of a cinder-block room with plenty of chains and a guard. That is, until the Boardwalk Killer returns, and she is called upon by the FBI to assist in the investigation. But there's more! The ever-popular and tireless Robards grants Charlie psychic abilities: she can see and talk to the ghosts of the recently, violently departed. Inconveniently for Charlie, she is also doggedly, comically haunted by the ghost of the devilishly handsome Garland, one of her research subjects. Robards successfully infuses the thrilling murder investigation with the unlikely, even otherworldly, but definitely steamy romance between specter and woman. Charlie's exasperation with Garland and his bad-boy-with-a-nice-side charm make for a tantalizing sexual tension. Readers may question the likelihood of a serial killer (alive or otherwise) sweeping Charlie off her feet, but that near taboo only adds to their chemistry. A fun and sexy read.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Fifteen years ago Charlotte (Charlie) Stone witnessed the brutal murder of her friend's family by the infamous Boardwalk Killer. The same killer seems to be back at work, and Charlie, now a psychiatric expert in serial killers, has been called in to help the feds, including attractive FBI agent Tony Bartoli. But Charlie has a well-kept secret: she can see the dead. While this trait is sometimes useful, at the moment she is being haunted by a hunky psychopath who takes perverted pleasure in keeping her off balance but needs her help as well. VERDICT Violent and eerie, with a whisper of humor, this clever paranormal is a tantalizing, nonstop read and the first in a projected series. Robards (Sleepwalker) lives is Louisville, KY. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.