Karin Slaughter is such a good writer! Last Breath does not disappoint.

Last Breath is about attorney Charlie Quinn, and her 15-year-old client, Flora (Florabama Faulkner - great name!!), who wants to be emancipated from her seemingly abusive grandparents that are misappropriating funds from Flora's trust fund. Flora and Charlie bond over having suffered the loss of their mothers under tragic circumstances.

The plot thickens when Flora, the honor student Girl Scout, is surprisingly arrested for trafficking drugs. As the story unfolds, the reader is on edge, waiting for each new reveal to solve the multiple mysteries spun in Last Breath.

This is a good one! ( )

In this short story, we get to know Charlie, one of the main characters in The Good Daughter. I instantly liked her, and her nerdy husband Ben and of course, Charlie's father Rusty, a lawyer that had no problem representing vile criminals.

When Charlie was thirteen did her life change forever when two men broke into their home. Now, is she working as a lawyer herself and when a young girl called Flora Faulkner begs her to help her is she taken in by the girl's sad story. But, it turns out that not everything is at it seems.

I really liked this short story. Often when I read novellas that take place before or between books do they feel incomplete, like they would have needed to have more meat on their bones to really tell a story. But, Last Breath manages to both introduce Charlie and tell a story that is perfectly told without feeling like it would have needed more pages to flesh out the story. I enjoyed it very much and I was looking forward to reading The Good Daughter as soon as possible after finishing this novella!

PS. I just finished The Good Daugther and it was splendid as well! ;)

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

3 stars is generous. Prequel to Slaughter's new novel, The Good Daughter, but completely unnecessary if you want to read just the novel. We are introduced to female lawyer, Charlie Quinn, whose family has suffered a twisted and devastating tragedy (in Slaughter's usual style) when Charlie was just a girl because his father felt everyone deserved a good lawyer. Now 28 years old, Charlie decides to help a young Girl Scout pursue emancipation from her grandparents, but all is not what it seems to be. ( )

I guess I should have read this book before I read The Good Daughter, but it was still entertaining. It’s a nice, quick paced read on it’s own, so now I’ll have to go refresh my memory on the main story. ( )

A well done novella. I really enjoyed it but I read after The Good Daughter. ( )