The Last Move by Mary Burton
The Last Move is the latest standalone romantic-suspense thriller by the popular author Mary Burton.
It focuses on Theo Mazur, a veteran detective who moved from Chicago to San Antonio to be near his daughter, and Kate Hayden, an FBI agent who has just found the latest victim of a vicious serial killer. Thankfully, the victim was still alive.
Theo loves his job at Chicago, but when his ex-wife decides to move to San Antonio to advance her career, he has no choice but to transfer from Chicago to San Antonio.
He has to go even if means he’ll start at a lower level at the new place. He can’t help it: his ex wants to take his beloved daughter with her, which means Theo would be unable to see her as much as he’d like to.
He’s been working at the San Antonio police department for the last six months when a strange highway killing makes him realize that the scene looks somewhat familiar. It reminds him too much of a murder that a particular FBI agent, Kate Hayden, has solved recently. So what is this murder doing here then?
He has no choice but to call Katie to come down to San Antonio and look over the case. Could she have made a mistake and arrested the wrong guy? And if not, maybe there’s a copycat doing the rounds this time?
When she arrives, Theo is waiting for her at the airport and soon they go to check out the body and the crime scene. Thus, the investigation in the new case starts.
But if this is not enough, soon another murder darkens the highway around the city, one which leaves Kate perplexed: this crime is almost identical to another one of her previous cases which Kate has already solved with the killer behind bars.
As we follow the story, we get glimpses into the killers’ thoughts and figure out soon what is really going on and why are two killers after Katie.
Still, the story is fast paced and suspenseful with enough gory details to call this book a crime-mystery thriller. As for the romantic part? From the beginning, the attraction between Kate and Theo is obvious. Their attraction to each other grows stronger as the time passes and they spend more time with each other.
However, nothing really happens until way into the second half of the book. So the romance is there, but it’s more low-keyed. It does not overshadow the adrenaline-filled cat and mouse game between Kate and the killers.
As usual, the book is well written and expertly edited. Compared to some other books I have read recently, The Last Move was a breath of fresh air: its ease of reading (without stumbling on grammar and spelling error after error), nice story flow, well-fleshed out characters and overall, a sense that the money you paid for this book was well spent.
Read more about Mary Burton (biography and books).
