Fatal by John Lescroart is one of those books that will sell a good number of copies based on the author's name. He has an audience and a voice that his readers have come to know and love. This was my introduction to his writing and I am not sure I would read another. While the writing was ok, there were some speeches that just seemed odd, the premise was pretty strange, and I had guessed the ending due to one of the speeches in the beginning of the book.
The story is about Kate, who chooses to cheat on her husband with Peter a friend and partner of her husband Ron. Kate meets Peter in a hotel for a one shot affair. The problem is Peter begins to unwind and starts to obsess over Kate. He goes to her house, calls her, and winds up near her when she is having lunch with her best friend and homicide investigator Beth. All of a sudden a terrorist attack occurs. Yes, you read that right. This is also the first quarter of the book.
In the next section, we are a few months after the attack when Peter washes up on shore. He has been shot and dumped into the river and it is up to Beth to find out what happened to Peter. She knows that Kate had an affair with a man named Peter, is it the same Peter?
I was actually into the beginning story. I figured I was in for a a reverse fatal attraction type story. When the terrorist attack happened and the book turns into a murder mystery following, I sighed out loud. It became a slog to read through, especially since I guessed who did it from something said in the beginning of the book. It turned out I was completely right.
This leads me to the speeches. There are some strange speeches within this book. Beth does a speech about how much she loves her gun, which borders on a 2nd amendment speech. It also goes no where. There is a strange speech about the priests not liking gay and lesbian people, which doesn't pan out. Finally, there is a lesson about anorexia which just is strange as it is a side character. I know people love Lescroart, but since I was a first time reader of his, it screamed that the editor is giving him freedom to write whatever he wants even if it doesn't fit.
I wound up not enjoying this one and felt there were too many things fit into a book that we have all read before. The hard part is I know this will sell a bunch of copies and wind up on the bestseller list. I found it just ok.
I gave it 2.5 stars.
I want to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Great who done it! Last few pages I think I said, oh he did it and then, no she did it and no.....

Enjoyed the book -will read more by this author. ( )

Even one little, tiny mistake can prove to be fatal.

Kate finds herself uncontrollably attracted to a married man. She herself is married, but she doesn't let that stop her. Before you know it, the situation spirals out of control.

If Fatal had stuck with Kate's and her paramour's family, I think this would have been better. The terror attack and a lot of the characters, (Alan, Ginny, Laurie), felt as if they were not really necessary to the plot. I also felt as if there were too many twists and turns, even though I was able to figure it all out, almost from the very beginning.

All that said, though, the story was fast paced and interesting. I especially liked the Police Detective Beth and her partner Ike. I hope to see them again in the future.

Overall, Fatal was a fun, quick story that was all over the place at times and could have been more focused. Even still, it was entertaining and I was glad to be reading Mr. Lescroart's work again.

You can get your copy here: Fatal: A Novel

*Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.* ( )

I have never read a book by this author before. It was well-written, but a tiny bit slow-paced. Not exactly “boring” – I mean, I did want to keep going and find out who the killer or killers were. At times, the narrative seemed a bit disjointed to me. The terrorist attack seemed a bit unneccesary to the story, even though it was touted as being a large part of the book. I wouldn’t be averse to reading more books by John Lescroart. ( )

Easy to pick up and hard to put down.

My full review at: https://thelastpageturnedbookblog.blogspot.ca/2018/05/book-review-fatal-novel-by... ( )