A wicked game is afoot, and Lexi is just a chess piece in play.
Vigilante turned cop Lexi Winter is drawn into the investigation of a chain of apparently random murders. As the bodies pile up, Lexi realises she is a pawn in a psychotic – and deadly – game.
A breathtakingly fast-paced and compulsively gripping crime thriller from a rising star.
Lexi Winter is studying for her detective exams but her nemesis Vaughn is out there somewhere and her concentration is fractured. Just as she’s wondering if her hypervigilance is tipping over into madness, Vaughn resurfaces and issues a challenge. Five people will be dead by the end of the month. If Lexi can identify and save the last one before the deadline, he’ll turn himself in.
As Lexi’s colleagues scramble to untangle what it all means, Lexi is implicated deeper and deeper into the murders. On top of this, she begins to see a strange figure everywhere she goes. Branded as suffering from PTSD, Lexi’s credibility is in tatters with her colleagues, but Lexi knows it isn’t her mind that is the problem. A wicked game is afoot, and Lexi is just a chess piece in play – and she suspects that checkmate will mean her death. There is only one thing that Lexi can do – play along, wait for the chance to strike back, and bring about the endgame…
Sarah Barrie is the author of nine novels, including her bestselling print debut Secrets of Whitewater Creek, the Hunters Ridge trilogy and the Calico Mountain trilogy. In a past life, while gaining degrees in arts, science and education, Sarah worked as a teacher, a vet nurse, a horse trainer and a magazine editor, before deciding she wanted to write novels. About the only thing that has remained constant is her love of all things crime.
Her favourite place in the world is the family property, where she writes her stories overlooking mountains crisscrossed with farmland, bordered by the beauty of the Australian bush, and where, at the end of the day, she can spend time with family, friends, a good Irish whiskey and a copy of her next favourite book.
Endgame did not disappoint! Being the fourth and final book in the Lexi Winter series, the tension is at an all-time high. I loved every single page. Barrie does a tremendous job at setting the scene, giving Lexi multiple murders to solve. It’s a heart pounding experience. Each murder takes both Lexi and the reader down various unique pathways, which I could not see coming. The amount of times I gasped and said, ‘No way!’ was in the hundreds.
Like with the previous instalments, Barrie gives us the likeable and deep character of Lexi. But, as I read through the book, I found myself gravitating towards the book’s antagonist, Vaughn. What a character! Creepy. Twisted. Downright insane. There’s an addictive quality between his back and forth with Lexi, and behind his heinous actions, there is a great ‘chess game’, which slowly unravels as the story progresses. I wanted justice to be served! But, also, admittedly, I wanted to see how far the characters were willing to go to win their game.
The pressure in this book is formidable. Lexi is going through a lot and this impacts her journey. Barrie expertly explores each of Lexi’s problems: her PTSD, her pesky detective exams, and the murders, of course! My heart ached for her. She just needed a break, but things had to escalate, and now lives were on the line. As a result, the book feels fast, clean and powerful. I could not get enough! Now that I’ve finished #4, it’s time to go back and reread #1.
I love to read and find that a structured routine helps me stay focused and productive. Starting the day with a clear mind and an outlined plan makes a huge difference. Do you have a certain part of your day where you feel most creative or energized? I’d love to hear how you organize your workflow!