Narrated by Ann Marie Lee
If you’re looking for a completely original storyline, and love all sub-genres of romance, then I highly recommend the Dr. Charlotte Stone series by Karen Robards. Equal parts paranormal, thriller, mystery, romance and even a touch of humor, this series is sure to have something for everyone as long as you love fantasy style romances. In that regard, I will note that a large part of the plot in this series requires you to suspend belief long enough to accept that ghosts exist and that there are some humans who can interact with or hear their remnants.
For those of you who are not familiar with this series, please also note that the The Last Time I Saw Her is the fourth and last book. Although each book contains a different central serial killer case which must be solved, the romance arc develops over the entire series, and therefore for maximum enjoyment the books should be read in chronological order starting with Book 1, The Last Victim. Additionally, I suggest that you not read my review beyond the next two paragraphs which generally explain the series. After the fourth paragraph, where I describe the background of The Last Time I Saw Her, in particular, you may find spoilers for some of the earlier books.
Dr. Charlotte Stone, once targeted by the depraved “Boardwalk” serial killer who killed Charlie’s best friend and her family, is no longer a victim. Instead, she became a psychiatrist who researches serial killers and now she is the hunter who hunts down these madmen. The fact that she has a gift which allows her to communicate with the newly dead, particularly those who have experienced violent deaths, makes her even more suited to help protect society from their deviant behavior.
There is one spirit of convicted serial killer Michael Garland who has become quite a problem, however – for her heart that is. She studied him in life, and never doubted his guilt, but it wasn’t until he saved her life, giving up his in the process, that she began to question Michael’s crimes. Torn between her knowledge of how serial killers operate, and her unmistakable attraction and heartfelt feelings towards Michael, she doesn’t know what to do. Never mind that his time in a spiritual plane where she can still be with him is no doubt limited, even though he has proved to repeatedly risk what he has left of his earthly spiritual presence to save Charlie over and over again. Meanwhile, there is a real, living and breathing man, Special FBI Agent Anthony Bartoli, who specializes in apprehending serial killers, and who also has made no secret of wanting to take their professional relationship to a more personal level.
In The Last Time I Saw Her, the story picks up where Book 3, Her Last Whisper, ends. Michael has once again been sucked up into the purgatory where spirits await to be extinguished, and Charlie is devastated. She can no longer deny her love for Michael even while her scientist’s mind tells her how reckless and hopeless such feelings are. Meanwhile, Michael is equally determined to hang on to this spiritual plane at least for as long as it takes to convince Charlie to pick a safer profession and move on to finding a love interest who could really make her happy.
It is in this heart-breaking situation that Charlie once again finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and once again the target of a serial killer, except this time, she’s in the crosshairs of several convicted serial killers. Will she be able to quell her penchant for saving others long enough to ensure her own safety? Will Michael be able to leave his spiritual purgatory long enough to come to her rescue again? Moreover, even if he does, will he be able to convince Charlie to seek safety for both the protection of her life and her heart?
Interestingly, while I have been a big fan of this series, I had previously only read the books. As this was my first time actually listening to the Dr. Charlotte Stone series, it will not be a surprise that I had already developed my own expectations for how the characters should sound. Of course, it required some adjustment on my part as to what the characters actually sounded like.
Putting my own internal voice for each character aside, as well as the two points I note in the next paragraph, I thought Ann Marie Lee delivered a generally good performance. Both Ms. Lee’s attention to timing and the pacing of the narration were well suited for the high action-suspense nature of this listen and aided the flow of the plot. Additionally, Ms. Lee produced different, easily distinguishable voices for the numerous characters in this story. Moreover, not only were her characterizations distinguishable from one another but they also generally did justice to the particular personality types and other descriptions of the characters as written by Karen Robards.
There were, however, two areas that I did have a little difficulty with. The first is a common problem I note from time to time in audiobooks – I could hear audible breathing in between longer phrases. While this effect wasn’t overly noticeable, or prevalent throughout the entire audiobook, I did hear it from time to time especially when I played the audiobook on my more sensitive, higher-powered car speakers (on my earbuds I did not hear this effect). The second issue, which perhaps is somewhat due to the intensity of the suspense of this read, is that at several points in the book, I felt like the narration was a little over dramatic, especially when it came to the acting out of Charlie’s scenes. In that regard, I remember pausing a few times to reflect whether a PhD trained in studying serial killers really would have been as audibly affected by some of her interactions, or perhaps whether a person with her training may have been able to present a calmer demeanor even in the face of these otherwise overwhelming situations.
All in all, my couple of observations concerning the narration notwithstanding, I highly recommend The Last Time I Saw Her, and the Dr. Charlotte Stone series in general, as a one-of-a-kind action and suspense filled romance with some interesting PNR elements woven in between. Given the opportunity, I would definitely listen to it again, particularly given the compelling nature of the romance which I have felt invested in since the first book.
BJ
Narration: C+
Book Content: A-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence Rating: Fighting
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Random House Audio
The Last Time I Saw Her was provided to AudioGals by Random House Audio for a review.
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