The Last Echo (Body Finder, #3)

by Kimberly Derting

Violet has always kept her strange ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and best-friend-turned-boyfriend Jay. But now she's using her gift to help track down murderers, working in a group that includes the mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe. When Violet discovers the body of a college girl murdered by "the girlfriend collector", she is determine to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new "relationship" and Violet seems to have caught his eye...

• ISBN10: 0062082205
• ISBN13: 9780062082206
• Publish Date: 16 April 2013 (first published 29 March 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

She had found a home that night. A safe place where she could put her gift to good use. With Sara's team of misfits." (Violet Ambrose)

The Last Echo focuses less on romance and more on the mystery, but it mostly focused on Rafe.

Rafe's name was mentioned on almost every single page. His physical appearance is always described. He is an enigma. nobody knows anything about him and he doesn't let anybody get close to him. Oh wait! Violet is the only girl who is able to get through to him and she's the only girl that he allows the get close to get close to him. She's the person that he acts different around. Every time Violet is around Rafe, she forgets she has a boyfriend. Oh, and when Violet and Rafe touch, a spark or some intense electric feeling passes through them. I wish I was joking! Rafe is a character that I feel was intended to create tension in Jay and Violet's relationship, but ends up being a character that takes over the whole entire book.

Violet also joins Sara's psychic team. I love books that have a ragtag group of teenagers with different personalities trying to solve mysteries and save the world. It's this element that I love in Unbreakable and Unmarked by Kami Garcia. However, in The Last Echo, the only character that I got to know about was Rafe. The other characters remain stereotypes and seem unimportant.

The one thing I didn't expect to work in this book was the mystery, but I ended up being surprised. The killer in this book is known as The Collector and I actually enjoyed the killer's POV in this one. It was dark, creepy and twisted. I actually found myself feeling sympathetic for the killer's past while feeling disgusted with myself for feeling sympathetic at the same time. The killer's POV, motives and profile was done extremely well in The Last Echo.

I'm not a fan of Violet, the main character in The Body Finder series, because I feel like she unnecessarily puts herself into dangerous situations, but in The Last Echo, I felt so much of dread for Violet. She is involved in so many dangerous occurrences and at the end of the book I became so worried about what would happen to her. I'm also quite interested at how The Last Echo ended. Violet gains an imprint because she killed The Collector in self-defense as well as Sara's team being run by a powerful force that doesn't want Violet to leave. I can't wait to see how Violet deals with events that ended The Last Echo in Dead Silence.

I enjoyed The Last Echo much more than I enjoyed The Body Finder and definitely much more than Desires of the Dead. The mystery aspect was freaky and creepy, the romance between Violet and Jay took a backseat and I even started caring a little about Violet.

[Leah]

This book was soooooooooo good. It's been absolutely ages since I read Desires of the Dead, but I started The Last Echo remembering pretty much everything about Violet, which says a lot about the previous two books because I basically just fell right back in love with this series. This is the third (and penultimate!) Body Finder novel, but it's one of those series that doesn't lag in the middle, doesn't lose its way. Violet's special ability is the forefront of the book, and once again she's hunting for a killer, who leaves distinct echoes on his victims, but this time she's not alone as she has her team to help her; well, the team she's part of, technically it's Sara's team (well, considering that ending, I'm not sure *whose* team it is, but that's another book - the final book, sob).

I honestly got so absorbed in this book that it only took two sittings to complete, and I read the vast majority of it in that final sitting, because it was just so darn good. There was so much tension, so much antsyness, I had to finish it, because I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and poor Violet doesn't half go through the ringer in this one. But I like that Violet is strong and doesn't let any kinds of incidents get her down, or stop her from using her ability for the best reasons.

And Jay! I love Jay. I know Derting's trying to make some kind of triangle between Violet, Jay and Rafe, but to me there's no triangle. It's always been Jay and Violet, and to shoe-horn Rafe in makes me sad. BOYS AND GIRLS CAN BE FRIENDS WITHOUT ROMANTIC FEELINGS. Especially when the girl has a very loving, supportive, amazing boyfriend like Jay. Seriously, it's not like Jay is a jerk and Rafe's a hero. Jay is amazing, awesome, sooooooo sweet. Honestly there's no contest. I mean Rafe's not a bad guy, he's lovely, but Jay wins this one for me.

I'm stoked to read Dead Silence, and mildly terrified, because I have no idea what's going to happen, but I'm mostly stoked. The Last Echo was a terrific read, so absorbing and I was racing through the pages to get finished because I could barely put it down. Derting is such a good writer. So good, and this has been one of my favourite Young Adult series that I've ever read, and it says it all that it's been about three years since I read Desires of the Dead and I remembered most of it really, really well, and very easily got into The Last Echo.

[Amber]

Loved this! Excellent. Love Rafe.

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Review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/04/last-echo-by-kimberly-derting.html


The Last Echo is just as good - if not better - than the previous installments in this amazing series. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I adored Kimberly Derting's story and characters as I always do.

Like with the first book, there were lots of creepy chapters in which we were inside the killer's head. A lot of other people found this incredibly creepy as well, and this is one of the things I most enjoy about this series. These chapters, along with sending a chill down my spine, gave some background information on the killer that added lots of depth to his character, even though we didn't know who he was until the end.

Violet was as awesome and as badass as ever. Her scenes at the end were beyond amazing, and I was holding my breath for her. She's a great protagonist, and a great example of the badass female characters in YA.

Jay wasn't in this book as much as he is in the others. Violet and Jay's relationship takes a back seat in this novel, and I liked that. As much as I missed him, I loved seeing Violet on her own for the majority of the book.

We did, however, see lots of Rafe, who I adore. We learn a lot about his character in this book, which I loved, because he became more than a two dimensional brooding badboy.

I actually really like the potential of the love triangle in this series, which is surprising! This is one of the love triangles that is done right. Both guys are good for Violet, but in different ways. They both attract different sides of her character and I love it. And if you're worrying about Violet cheating on Jay then don't! Violet isn't like that.

The ending was so, so shocking! What was that!? Like I said above, I was holding my breath throughout the whole thing. It certainly changed the entire dynamic for the rest of the series and it was FLAWLESS.