Member Reviews
I haven’t read any of this series before but I have read quite a few by this author and this is just good as all the others. Good story, great characters and plenty of twists and turns along the way. This is a really enjoyable read.
FATAL WITNESS, a serial crime thriller killer case, is the 7th book in the Detective Erika Foster series by bestseller author, Robert Bryndza and having read all his previous books in the series, they keep getting better. I was so involved in this story that I resented any interruptions. Just leave me alone and let me read! I loved this book!
The Novels in the Detective Erika Foster Series Include:
1. The Girl in the Ice (2016)
2. The Night Stalker (2016)
3. Dark Water (2016)
4. Last Breath (2017)
5. Cold Blood (2017)
6. Deadly Secrets (2018)
7. Fatal Witness (2022)
This is my review of Fatal Witness.
DCI Erika Foster of the London Metropolitan Police is back leading the investigation with her team including; DI Moss and DI James Peterson. Foster had just moved into her new old Victorian house, and area called Blackheath with everything still in boxes.
Erika’s husband, Mark had also been a police officer, who had died on the job over four years ago during a botched drug raid.
Detective Erika Foster is on a late-night walk near her new house, where she stumbles upon a crime scene, on her way back from the chip shop. She hears a scream from one of the flats on the ground floor, and when she enters the flat, she is greeted by a woman, Tess Clarke, who says her sister, Vicky is dead.
The twenty-seven-year-old victim lay on a sofa bed, with her arms bound behind her back, face down in a large pool of blood. This was a brutal attack.
DCI Erika Foster is assigned to the case and discovers that Vicky had been a true-crime podcaster working on a new episode about a sexual predator who preys on young female students around South London, stalking and attacking his victims in their halls of residence.
Over time, Erika discovers that Vicky's notes and recordings were stolen from her flat at the time of her murder. Was Vicky killed to guarantee her silence?
But then the body of a young Bulgarian student doctor is discovered in the same building, and this changes everything.
Erika and her team must find the killer before he strikes again.
In this novel there was a nice mix of work and personal life for all the characters. Having read all Mr. Bryndza’s novels, it is a treat to follow this series and the journey of the development of the characters. I highly recommend both this series and this novel.
Many thanks to the author and Raven Street Publishing via NetGalley for my digital copy.
This was the first book in this series that I have ever read, so new readers can rest assured you can pick it up from here.
I enjoyed it so much that I’m thinking of going back and reading from book one.
The mystery was very enjoyable, I loved the cast of characters and the attention to detail was superb. I don’t want to spoil a single thing because I read this completely blind, and I’m sure you’ll all enjoy doing the same.
If you want to read a book that has you guessing who did it until the very end, pick this up immediately!
This was a great book! I discovered Robert Bryndza a few months ago and was very excited to see a new one available on netgalley. His thrillers always keep me guessing, and I appreciate that his protagonists are women who are somewhat flawed but also very smart. He also doesn't use the Cassandra trope, which gets tiresome after a few books. This was my first Erika Foster book, but it made me want to start reading his backlist.
Erika moved into a new flat and as she's walking down the street one night, she hears a scream. Immediately rushing to help, she discovers a woman wailing over her sister's bloodied body. This, of course, spurs Erika into action, securing the crime scene, and starting to question who killed the aspiring actress. But nothing is as it seems--not the actress, her sister, or anyone in the building where the young woman lived. What follows is an intricate chase where the reader isn't sure who killed the young woman--and neither is Erika.
The familial relationships in this book are what made it so strong--and so honest. The mystery is interesting, and I was thinking about the book when I wasn't actively reading it. Erika's a great protagonist and a smart detective, even if I wanted her to just go home and go to sleep a few times. Really enjoyed this book!
Thank you so much for the opportunity to read Fatal Witness.
I always love catching up with Detective Erika Foster and is one of my favourite book series!
I read this while I had a lot going on so took a lot longer to finish than normally would, but I was hooked and kept wanting to get back to it.
Twisty and will have you guessing and reguessing.
Little disappointed in the ending and how quickly everything was revealed and concluded, but maybe that’s because there’ll be another one?? I hope so!
A great story of Detective Erika Foster who when walking home one night hears a scream and finds a dead body.
While investigating she discovers a girl called Vicky was working on a podcast 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. A riveting page-turner. and a astonishingly good plot with perfectly drawn characters and sharp, detailed writing.
I highly recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley & Raven Street Publishing for a advanced copy.
Detective Erica Foster is moving into a new home, in a lovely area but on the same day, she finds a crime scene. A young girl is brutally murdered and she is going to find out what happened.
I jumped from the book or the audiobook (while cooking and doing home chores) and it was nice.
This is the 7th book in the Detective Erika Foster series. As with all the previous books in this series, this book is written with a fantastic sense of dark humour and a brutal descriptiveness that packs a punch.
Erika finally has moved into her dreary cold fixer upper of a house. Walking home after a late dinner she hears screams coming from a nearby apartment block. A body has been discovered, brutally murdered. Vicky Clarke an up-and-coming podcast creator lies dead, her body discovered by her sister.
This book has it all mistaken identity, several suspects that flit I and out of the spotlight and most of all Erika’s team, Moss and Issac who bounce off each other with ease. Fantastically written with a shoal of red herrings that will keep you guessing up until that last minute. Highly recommend!
It's been some years since the latest book in the Erika Foster series was released so I was happy to get the chance to read (and listen to) Fatal Witness book 7. As much as I liked to read about Kim Foster again, did I find the story to not really take off. It's an OK book, it just didn't rock my socks. It started off good with the murder of a true-crime podcaster. And, of course, nothing is as it seems to be and there are some devious characters that could be the killer. And throw in some personal stuff in Erika's life to complicate everything. I found the book to be a bit mediocre, to be honest, enjoyable to listen to but at the same time not spectacular or anything. The ending was ok, not truly exciting.
Hopefully, the next book in the series will be better.
I really enjoyed this thriller. The book flowed well and had enough content to keep me interested. A well written cast of characters. Plenty of twists and turns until the conclusion which came quite sharply for me.
But very readable.
4 stars
I was so happy to read the new Detective Erika Foster installment which is Book 7, and in my opinion the best one yet. This story line has everything you’d hope for in a crime thriller. A murder with no evidence? How can that be? Well, I thought I had it figured out as I got further into the story……oh boy, was I wrong. I read this in two sittings,, that how captivated I was. You will not want to miss this exciting story. Well Done Mr. Bryndza.
Thank You to NetGalley, Robert Bryndza and Raven Street Publishing for allowing me to read this great novel for my honest opinion.
I normally enjoy this series but I did find this one a little slow and not a lot of storyline, not one of the better ones of the series
Fatal Witness is one of the books in the Dect. Erika Foster series. The series is a police procedural series that let be honest has a long list of suspects for a horrific murder that readers will be wondering how to keep everything straight.
Robert Bryndza is hands down on of the best police procedural thriller writers I have read in a long time. The author brings readers into his world that will have readers wondering how could have killed this person. Erika Foster is a great female lead that all readers can get behind.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of Fatal Witness.
Erika Foster's new case lands on her lap by chance. Erika has moved to her new home which is in need of many repairs and furniture but at least it is hers now. She knows she needs a new bed but more importantly she needs food. She goes out walking to find food when she hears a woman's scream coming from a house just two blocks from hers. When she runs to the scene she finds a young woman's body. The person who screamed is the sister of the deceased. She discovered the body when she came looking for her when she didn’t show up for her shift at the restaurant.
Erika takes the case and starts looking for a killer. During the investigation, other issues will arise, including a case of mistaken identity, a podcast about a rapist from a decade earlier, an ex-con, and another dead body keeping the team quite busy.
I read only the first two books but I was happy to see that Erika is doing better in regards to her grief. She looks more stable in her position at work too. Sadly, Peterson is with someone else and has a kid with her but Erika is not alone, Igor is a nice addition to the mix. (Igor is her old boyfriend from back home).
In regards to the perpetrator and the hunt for him, I liked how Erika is able to follow the leads she discovers and her instincts are still quite admirable in guiding her to the right place but maybe not at the best time.
I was happy with the ending, I’m glad that Erika is not having Christmas alone this year.
Cliffhanger: No
4/5 Fangs
A complimentary copy was provided by Raven Street Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Raven Street Publishing and NetGalley for the gifted copy in return for an honest review.
How have I missed the previous SIX titles in the Erika Foster series by Robert Bryndza?
On the way back from the local chipper close to her new house, Detective Erika Foster stumbles upon a brutal murder in the home 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 plot has several disturbing twists that keep the reader guessing who the killer is..
One of the best crime novels I’ve read in a while – I’ve already purchased books 1-3 in the series to read..
So, I have a confession to make. I’ve had this book on my TBR pile for about six weeks and every time I thought that it might be time to pick it up I found an excuse not to. Not because I don’t love Bryndza’s books – I do! – but because I have a real soft spot for Erika Foster and after a four year gap since Deadly Secrets I was really worried that Fatal Witness wouldn’t cut the mustard. What was I thinking?!! Our favourite Slovakian police officer is back with a vengeance in book 7. She has even acquired a cat!
Erika has just “moved into” her new home in Blackheath. After a late evening walk to get some fish and chips she stumbles across a murder scene in a nearby block of flats. Running to the source of the blood curdling screams she finds the body of True Crime podcaster Vicky Clarke. It has been a brutal and frenzied murder with the victim stuffed inside a sofa bed.
When Erika is assigned to the case she starts digging into Vicky’s latest investigation for the podcast and discovers that Vicky was quite the detective and had uncovered 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. All of Vicky’s notes, recordings and computer equipment have been taken so it looks as though she has got close enough to the perpetrator that he needed to take her out.
As the case progresses there are complications when the chief suspect is revealed to be the brother of the Assistant Commissioner of Police. Erika never lets protocol get in the way of what is right but even she has to step more carefully with this one. Can she catch the killer before he strikes again?
If you have enjoyed the earlier books in this series you will not be disappointed by Fatal Witness. Erika Foster is back and at the top of her game. If you are new to this series what a wonderful treat you have got in front of you – seven of the best modern detective novels lie waiting to be devoured. Enjoy!
UK Publication Date: July 7 2022. 373 pages.
Supplied by Net Galley and Raven Street Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
4 Twisty Stars
* * * * Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
This was my first "Detective Erika Foster" book and I will go and see all the others. The crafting was very detailed, a bit intense but worked overall.
I enjoyed this one it had a good character and plot and I really like the series . It was fast paced and a good read
Thanks for letting me review this book to Netgalley and the publisher
Author Robert Bryndza has returned with the 7th book featuring Detective Erika Foster. Each book is a stand alone and this book is a standout with a horrific murder, a possible police coverup and the beginning of a new relationship. Thank you Netgalley and Ravenstreet Publishing for this ARC. The review of this excellent book is my own opinion.
I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. I loved this book! Robert Bryndza writes about serial killers and his strong lead detective is Erika Foster. She is loaded with flaws but she always manages to find the killer and make sure the case is closed. Not always easy - her superiors find a way to make her tasks twice as difficult for her and her team. This story is sooo good and there are mis-steps along the way. I totally recommend this book to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with many twists and red herrings throughout.