The Last Victim

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.

"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." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Karen Robards is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of forty books and one novella. The mother of three boys, she lives in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.