Review: Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons

Fatal Promise (D.I. Kim Stone Book #9)
by Angela Marsons
Release Date: October 19th 2018
2018 Bookouture
Kindle Edition; 409 Pages
ISBN: 978-1786816924
ASIN: B07GD4XSX7
Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Source: Review copy from publisher

4.5 / 5 Stars

Summary
When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl. Gordon has a chequered past, but who would want him dead?

As the investigation gets underway, Gordon’s son is involved in a horrific car crash which leaves him fighting for his life. Kim's sure this was no accident.

Then the body of a woman is found dead in suspicious circumstances and Kim makes a disturbing link between the victims and Russells Hall Hospital. The same hospital where Gordon worked.

With Kim and her team still grieving the loss of one of their own, they’re at their weakest and facing one of the most dangerous serial killers they’ve ever encountered. Everything is on the line. Can Kim keep her squad together and find the killer before he claims his next victim? 

My Thoughts
Fatal Promise is the ninth book in the stellar Kim Stone detective series, but this one broke my heart.  It took me along time to read this one simply because the events in the previous novel were devastating and heartbreaking and I just didn't have it in me to read the next installment until this week.  However, I am so glad that I did as it continued the story set up in the previous novel and dealt with some major issues that needed to be dealt with.

First of all, if you have not read the previous entry in this series, you should do so in order to really get a good grasp of the person who was murdered and to understand the importance of the events in this book, otherwise you will be left completely in the dark. At the beginning of the novel, which picks up several weeks after the events in book 8, the team is dealing with a tragic loss and are devastated.  I truly love how the author dealt with the loss and how she developed the scenario, especially when a new team member arrived to replace the hole left vacant.  While my heart was broken, I could still smile through a lot of the situations in which the team found themselves, and the banter that is usually there slowly found its way back as the novel progressed.  I though the author did a wonderful job showing how each person dealt with their grief and developed throughout the novel. This could not have been easy for her to write and I commend her for it.

The plot itself was great, as usual; fast, interesting, with a lot of twists and turns.  There was actually a secondary plot line that Stacey was investigating which really had nothing to do with the murder and it was interesting in itself, simply because of the ethics involved.  I think I actually enjoyed Stacey's story line more than the original murder scenario as I have always been fascinated by the concept, but both were compelling.  I like how the author tries to incorporate a theme into each of her novels, but also continues the story from the previous novels. Simply, if you had to make a choice, what choice would you make? And could you live with the consequences of that choice for the rest of your life? And should you have to make that choice when circumstances are dire? It was an interesting concept and left me thinking about it for a couple of days.  Having the story continue from previous novels allows for great character development and good interaction between the characters.  I have been following the series since book 1 and love how much they have grown as people and as friends.  

Verdict
While the events in the previous novel were quite upsetting, I am so glad I finally read this book and had closure to what happened.  I was able to follow the characters in their journey through their grief and healing and really empathized with them as they continued to do their jobs.  I thought the novel was well-thought out, interesting, and well-written.  As always, I am a huge fan of Kim and her team, and look forward to continuing their story in the next book.