‘Last Run’ by Hilary Norman.
Published by Severn House ISBN  978-0-7278-6566-3

I suppose this could be considered to be tautological but I found Last Run to be a really gripping thriller.  The title is literally correct as it indicates that the first happening is the murder of a lone runner on Miami Beach’s North Shore.  Running continues to be a significant factor in events as the story develops.   The detective assigned to the murder is Sam Becket who becomes concerned that this murder connects to others and that his adopted daughter, Cathy, who is a student at Trent University and also a runner is particularly vulnerable. 

Sam’s family is very important to him and he fears for the safety of its members.  Unfortunately he is right in his fears and he is forced to jeopardise his career in his efforts to stop the murders.

There has been a previous book about Sam Becket  - Mind Games - which was published in 1999 and I would judge that the time lag does reflect the aging of the participants.  The references to that previous book are sufficient to interest the reader who has not read it but not extensive enough to bore one who has.

The build up of suspense is very cleverly done even though, at first, connections between disparate happenings are not clear.  Concern for the people involved as they reveal various issues which worry them is evoked as we sympathise with their human passions.  The psychological aspect of crimes is obviously a central theme for Hilary Norman and one of the characters here is a child and adolescent psychologist enabling insights into behaviour to be easily incorporated into the story.

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Jennifer S. Palmer

Hilary Norman has written 19 novels so far - mostly stand-alones and another, Ralph’s Children,is due in publication soon.