Welcome friend! Do you read crime thrillers? I have a soft spot for them and they are great company when I am making slow progress on a long read. 🙂 My latest is Final Term by Leigh Russell. This is the 19th book in the DI Geraldine Steel Series which is well-loved by readers. Let’s take a look at the synopsis and dive into my thoughts.
Final Term
By Leigh Russell | Goodreads | DI Geraldine Steel Series
When a pupil accuses a teacher of molesting her, his career and marriage are threatened…
The girl’s corpse is discovered in the woods, and the teacher becomes a suspect in a murder enquiry. The victim’s best friend is then murdered so she cannot reveal the killer’s identity. The investigating team are satisfied the teacher is guilty, apart from Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel, who believes the wrong man has been arrested.
All of her colleagues disagree… but if she is right, the real killer remains at large.
Content notes include murder, abduction, vandalism, violence and strained marital relationships.
My thoughts on Final Term
The opening scene in Final Term is of a young school-going girl, Cassie, getting ready. Her character instantly comes off as wild and rebellious as she is applying make-up in spite of there being a strict appearance code in school. She has a troubling childhood and relationship with men and maybe because of that she is very protective of her sister. When Cassie accuses a teacher of molestation and is later found dead in the woods, everyone wants the evidence to show that the teacher, Paul, did this but something does not line up.
Paul and his wife, Laura, are happily married and on their way to starting a family when the molestation charges against Paul change everything. The investigation eventually leads them further apart rather than being each other’s unconditional support. The tension of living with a tarnished image in the neighbourhood, being on the receipt of vandalism due to an unproven allegation… There is a lot of stress in Paul and Laura’s life. I liked the questions they pondered separately – what it meant for Paul’s career to have a molestation charge, even if it is false, can they trust each other, would they need to move, etc.
Geraldine had a lot of leads to follow and I liked the way in which people like the girls’ parents and boyfriend were interrogated to get a full picture. It was heartbreaking to see how little Cassie’s peers and teachers seemed to care about her. Geraldine, through her compassion, pondered the value of life. Cassie’s friend’s subsequent murder made things worse because a life had been lost for knowing something that would have helped the case. I enjoyed watching Geraldine follow her gut and through many interactions with colleagues, I got a glimpse of how she has developed in the course of the other novels.
Final Term was a good story and it resolved the mystery of the murders effectively, with Geraldine being the officer to solve it with her instincts and thoroughness. She is not perfect and as is typical in many investigative novels I have read, she does find herself in danger. She is brave and I loved her for that. There were some loose ends that I would have liked resolved but from a police investigation point of view, it makes sense to not go further into them as they do not add any further value to the truth itself.
I like Final Term! The writing is easy to read and I read this book in two sittings. I loved the sneaky ways in which the author revealed the murderer. I expected more of the spotlight to be on Geraldine and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the characters that the book followed.Â
If you are interested in this book, add it on your Goodreads TBR. 🙂
About the Author: Leigh Russell
Leigh Russell is the author of the internationally bestselling Geraldine Steel series: Cut Short, Road Closed, Dead End, Death Bed, Stop Dead, Fatal Act, Killer Plan, Murder Ring, Deadly Alibi, Class Murder, Death Rope, Rogue Killer, Deathly Affair, Deadly Revenge, Evil Impulse, Deep Cover, Guilt Edged and the upcoming Fake Alibi. The series has sold over a million copies worldwide. Cut Short was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award, and Leigh has been longlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award. Her books have been #1 on Amazon Kindle and iTunes with Stop Dead and Murder Ring selected as finalists for The People\’s Book Prize. Leigh is chair of the CWA\’s Debut Dagger Award judging panel and is a Royal Literary Fellow. Leigh studied at the University of Kent, gaining a Masters degree in English and American Literature. She is married with two daughters and a granddaughter, and lives in London.
Many thanks to Random Things Tours for giving me a chance to highlight this book on my blog in exchange for an honest review. Check out other reviewers on the tour:
Thanks for the blog tour support x