Engrossing, fast-paced story - and maybe better still, a character who's a highly capable cop tinged with vulnerability (in fact, he and his wife remind me a bit of another favorite couple of mine, James Patterson's Alex Cross and his wife, Bree Stone). I missed the first book in this series, but trust me, I'll be at the head of the line when the next one comes out (reportedly in early 2019).
Detective Inspector Zachariah Boateng, who is South African, works for the Lewisham Major Investigative Team (U.K.) and is married to Etta, an attorney. Their young daughter Amelia was shot and killed five years ago (I presume that was detailed in the first book). Responding to an invitation from old friend and police colleague Troy McEwen to come talk about "back then," Zac walks in to find Troy dead - an apparent suicide. Zac thinks otherwise, believing that Troy's death is connected to some mistakes that happened during a case they worked some 20 years earlier that they buried under the paperwork.
If Zac is correct about Troy's death being a murder, he believes he could be a target as well - as could others involved in that long-ago incident. When a another one turns up dead, Zac is certain he's on the hit list as well. Problem is, he can't conduct an official investigation of Troy's death without revealing everything he knows about what really happened back then - details he's never shared with anyone, including Etta; putting the spotlight on them could, in all likelihood, cost him his career and his marriage. So amid his other duties, Zac tries to work in surreptitious investigation of Troy's death, with the assumption that there's a single killer with the singular purpose of evening up the score. But can he find that killer before the killer gets to him?
The path toward that end is filled with speed bumps, misdirections and dead ends as expected - and the ending leaves the door a little bit open for future stories (also as expected with a series). The ride at times seemed a bit choppy and disconnected, but my overall take is that I enjoyed it - in no small part because the driver is such an interesting character that I want to read more about him. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the advance review copy. Good job!
Last Witness by Chris Merritt (Bookouture, July 2018); 325 pp.
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