Review: Fatal Witness by Robert Bryndza

Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house in Blackheath when she stumbles upon the brutal murder of Vicky Clarke, a true-crime podcaster.

Erika is assigned to the case and discovers that Vicky had been working on a new podcast episode about a sexual predator who preys on young female students around South London, staking out his victims in their halls of residence before breaking in at the dead of night. When Erika discovers that Vicky’s notes and sound recordings were stolen from her flat at the time of her murder, it leads her to believe that Vicky was close to unmasking the attacker, and she was killed to guarantee her silence.

The case takes on a disturbing twist when the body of a young Bulgarian student doctor is discovered in the same building, and this makes Erika question everything she thought she knew about Vicky. With very little evidence, the clock is ticking to find the killer before he strikes again.

Review

I am so thrilled that Erika Foster is back! I love this series and have often thought about it over the four years break. My only issue is that I forgot some minor details about the storyline. In particular, I can’t recall what caused the tension between Peterson and Erika. However, I was able to reconnect with the characters and the other aspects of the story and this turned out to be another captivating, twisty read.

Erika has just moved into a new house. She heard a scream while out walking on the first night and this led to the gruesome discovery of a young woman murdered in her flat. The twists begin with the discovery. I already had questions at this point but they all turned out to be the wrong questions when the first twist occurred. This had me scratching my head as I joined the detectives’ team in wondering what exactly was going on.

Erika remains one of my favourite lead detectives of all time. She is so easy to connect with. Her portrayal is so relatable and she is a joy to read. I love working on these cases with her and the team. Her character development just keeps getting better and I especially enjoyed her softer side in this story. I liked seeing her work with Kate and Peterson once again.

This was a dark, interesting case. The perpetrator of the crime was quick to eliminate witnesses and leave no evidence behind. I couldn’t guess this person’s identity though I did have some suspects. I truly enjoyed reconnecting with Erika and can’t wait to find out what’s next for her. What a thrilling page-turner!