Joanna Schaffhausen

Last Seen Alive is book 5 in the Ellery Hathaway series continues the story of Detective Ellery Hathaway and FBI Agent Reed Markum. These are not stand alone books and should be read in order to fully grasp the intention and background as each book lends itself to the next.

Someone witnessed a kidnapping that occurred 14 years ago but remained silent. Abigail Hathaway’s life story was no longer private following her survival from abuse and captivity. Francis Michael Coben took pleasure in abducting and torturing young girls in Chicago until he was successfully put behind bars. Abigail Hathaway was the girl who was found and survived. There were books and movies made about her life and experience.

To escape the attention of her past, Abigail “Ellery” Hathaway becomes a patrol officer in the quiet town of Woodbury in MA. Her brother Daniel who was sick with leukemia died 6 months after she returned home. Her father had abandoned the family and left her feeling abandoned when she needed support the most. She was saved by now FBI agent, Reed Markham, who was only a newbie when he became determined to find the abducted girl. He received a lot praise and notoriety after the girl's safe return. The relationship between Ellery and Reed is one filled with intense emotion and complications which are revealed over the course of the previous books.

Presently, it's been 17 years since Coben was locked up in a prison for life on death row in Terra Haute for his tortuous killing spree of young girls. Although Ellery and Reed parted ways, his work for the FBI brings him back to Boston where Ellery now works. It seems that Francis Coben is playing games by offering to provide information. "He's been locked up for seventeen year now. Life on death row in Terre Haute is torturous in its isolation and tedium. Coben's decided to cook up a little excitement for himself. So he whips out his pipe and plays the one tune he knows will us all to the dance. I'll give up the missing girls," Detective Reed tells TV reporter, Kate Hunter. Yet, again, Ellery is asked to assist with the interview which enrages her since she just discovered evidence a "Coban"-like killer, a copycat. The last thing she wants is to provide a psychopath an avenue to receive more attention. With the possibility of obtaining information regarding the other missing girls and possibly a clue to the new copycat killer, she agrees to talk to Coban. There's always a risk when meeting up with a sociopathic killer and this time proves to be risky than before.… (altro)

Det. Annalisa Vega launches still another attempt to redeem her family’s name in the annals of the Chicago Police Department by investigating the death of an ex-cop who was her boss’s old that Sam Tran, who left the CPD years ago to set up his own private agency, has been found hanging from a tree in Rosehill Cemetery, his old workmate Lynn Zimmer asks Annalisa to help bring closure to his ex-wife, Lara, and their 13-year-old son, Benji, by figuring out who strung him up. Annalisa, who was determined to follow in the footsteps of her father until he turned out to be such a dirty cop that she ratted him out, figures her best leads are in Sam’s open case files. Nina Osteen had asked him to find her mother, Charlotte, who’s been missing since New Year’s Eve 1989. Brad Morrison hired him to track down the Queen of Hearts killer who bashed Brad’s wife, Kathy, and her lover, Stephen Powell, to death during a motel tryst 22 years ago. And Vincent Vega, Annalisa’s own brother, wanted Sam to protect his daughter, Quinn, from the anonymous stalker who’s been spotted on her college campus dressed in a gorilla suit. Each of these three doors opens onto a labyrinth of its own, and Annalisa, who crosses paths along the way with a fourth perp, the Chicken Bandit who’s been holding up local convenience stores, will have to explore them all in pitiless detail, exposing herself and several more innocent characters to danger and death, before she’s finally able to tell Lara Tran who killed her husband. As grueling and ultimately exhausting as pulling your own week of double shifts on the Chicago force. (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2023) I agree...grueling and utterly exhausting. An average, middling mystery.… (altro)

I was so excited about being excepted to receive an advance copy of this book to review, from the description it sounded like my kind of book. If i had seen this in a book shop and read the description i would have defiantly purchased the book on the spot!
And i am so pleased to say i was not disappointed in this book in the slightest.
The characters are memorable and it takes a different twist from other serial killer books which is always good to get something a little different and to see the characters in a different light.
The story is set in a small community where the most crime the local police have to deal with are someones bike being stolen and that making the headlines.
The only female on the small police force, Ellery, is hiding a secret and wants it to stay that way. She has managed to keep it hidden form everyone for years but that all starts to change when part of her past starts to come back and haunt her.
Police detective Ellery Hathaway is a former child victim of an infamous serial killer Francis Michael Coben. She was the only survivor out of the 17 victims, rescued by FBI Agent Reed Markham.
She is a survivor, she has managed to make a new life for herself and even though the scars on the outside have faded, the inner ones still haunt her.
When 3 people disappear without a trace and with little or no motive, all around the time of Ellery's birthday for the past 3 years she fears that history is starting to repeat itself.
She has been trying to convince her boss Police Chief Sam Parker that the disappearances are linked but without explaining her past she struggles to get any luck convincing anyone else of her theory.
With her birthday looming she fears it won't be long before someone else goes missing so she phones the only person she can think of that might just believe her. The man that rescued her and saved her life, Agent Reed Markham.
As the pair along with Ellery's dog Bump start digging into the cases of the missing persons, trying to find a link between the 3 cases things start to take on a menacing personal twist.
Is this the work of a serial killer? And what is the link between past and present?
This book is really well written and it really does draw you in and immerses you into their world. It deals with the physiological effects that still impact both Ellery and Reed and the impact that it has had on both their lives.
I would love this book will become a series and what the author will sweep us away with next.
This is definitely a book to recommend to anyone who enjoys this genre of books. I think we can expect good things from this author Joanna Schaffhausen and i have high hopes for her career after this book gets published on the 5th December.
I would put her the same class as more well known authors such as Karin Slaughter and Mo Hayder so very high praise indeed.
Congratulations Joanna on such an astounding debut and i can't wait to see what you come up with next :-)… (altro)

Dead and Gone, the third entry in the Detective Annalisa Vega series, might be my favorite so far. But they're all so good it's a tough call. Like the first two it’s a fast‑paced police procedural with a stack of cases for the detectives to juggle. What makes it stand out is that it looks into the ‘gray areas’ of police work – places where enforcing the law takes a back seat to doing what’s best for the ones involved and the community. A few developments in the personal lives of Annalisa and her police partner/ex-husband Nick made picking up the next installment a sure thing for me.… (altro)