Review: The Final Hunt by Audrey J. Cole

  


Print Length: 310 pages
Publisher: Rainer Publishing (June 7, 2022)

From Goodreads.com: Alone in a hunting cabin, off-grid in an untamed wilderness. How does a marriage come to this?

After John disappeared while hunting - presumed dead from a bear attack - Cameron found the crime photos. His role in the recent Seattle serial murders was discovered. The media destroyed her reputation. She lost her dental practice, is on the brink of losing her home.

Everyone has a secret. But if her husband could hide the unimaginable from her, who’s to say he’s truly dead?

“What brings you so far from home?” the Alaska State Trooper had asked. The truth.

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My Rating: 1 star out of 5
The premise of this book caught my attention as I'm a sucker for a good "wife of a serial killer" book. However, this was not it. 

It started off promising, with Cameron having her entire life fall apart before her eyes after she finds proof that her deceased husband was actually a serial killer who was responsible for murdering eleven women. Within days, the tabloids have gone crazy with their speculation that she either knew or was an accomplice to his crimes, she's lost her dental practice, and is on the verge of losing her house. To make matters worse, the detective in charge of investigating her husband's crimes has a video of her car on the route to the cabin where the bodies of two women were recently found, on the night they were taken. At least Cameron has one ally in her corner. Her husband's best friend and partner in the law firm Simon. At least until she cuts and dyes her hair and takes off in her private plane to the wilds of Alaska based on nothing more than a hunch that her deceased husband isn't really dead at all. 

And that sadly, is where the book completely fell apart. While I believe it is worth mentioning that I had already figured out what the two major plot points were going to be by the time she landed in Alaska, I still had hope for the way the author would bring it all together. Instead, we now have Cameron who has absolutely NO IDEA how to survive in the snow-covered, wilds of Alaska going on one ice fishing trip (cut short), and suddenly she is an expert in driving a snowmobile, using a map and compass, and somehow surviving every ridiculous thing the author can think to throw into the story. Crashing the snowmobile? Check. Avalanche? Check. Pack of possibly rabid wolves poised to attack? Check. I could go on, but you get the point. It was about this time I started rolling my eyes. 

Her mission in Alaska fulfilled, Cameron returns home to face the fact that she disappeared after being implicitly told not to by the Detective handling her husband's case. The real accomplice is revealed, again not a surprise, but whatever, and Cameron is rescued by the Alaskan State Trooper she had just met. The same man who then destroys evidence that could be used against her, and withholds pertinent information from the lead Detective.  Things that work out in his favor as he eventually gets a happily ever after with Cameron moving to be near him in Alaska and taking over a small dental practice there.

Not only was the plot completely ridiculous, but the characters weren't particularly likable either. I was most disappointed in the fact that Dane (the state trooper) after only knowing Cameron for a handful of days goes against everything he should have stood for to help her get away with all of the things she was guilty of. I also think Tanner (the lead Detective in the Teacher Killer murders as they were called) came across as a bit of a novice taking him until the epilogue of the story to even consider running a simple search that should have been run the moment Cameron mentioned her theory to him.

All things considered, I am sure there may still be those to whom this book will appeal. Sadly, it just wasn't for me. 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own

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                                          The Final Hunt is available from Amazon.com
                                          (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)

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