New Book Review: Mary Burton's The Hangman

 

The Hangman by Mary Burton

Series: The Forgotten Files Book 3

Suspense/Romantic Thriller, Contemporary, Fiction

Release Date: June 25th, 2024

Available at Amazon

My Rating for The Hangman: 4 Stars and Series recommendation

My Review of The Hangman

For Julia Vargas, she is a cop on a mission to clear her father’s name and solve a case that has stymied the police and public alike. Even as she takes down the bad guys in her job, she is determined to get to the bottom of the Hangman Serial killer case that caused her father to kill himself three decades before. But the truth she is hunting down is elusive and can be deadly if she gets close enough to it. But when women’s bones show up in an empty house with a picture of Julia and her father when she was younger cause Julia to team up with homicide detective Tobias Novak, a man she has a complicated yet passionate history with. But as danger looms, Julia will have to confront her past in order to see where the truth is because the Hangman is determined to silence her once and for all.

 
Wow is all I can say after finishing the third book in the Forgotten Files series by author Mary Burton. I love this series so much. It’s a fast paced, police procedural series that has intriguing characters, captivating storylines and a few twists that you do not see coming. This author does an amazing job keeping the reader on the edge of their seat till the very last page is read with THE HANGMAN. I loved the first two books in the series (book 1-The Shark & book 2- The Dollmaker) and was eager to delve into this next book. I was not disappointed at all. The author delivers some pulse pounding, edge of the seat twists in the story that left me reeling, gave some former characters from past two books some time to shine in this third book and introduced a killer that chilled me to the bones.
 
Meet Julia Vargas. A cop like her father before her, she is determined to get to the truth of his suicide thirty years before as she delves into the one unsolved case from her father’s time, The Hangman serial killer. Entrusting the Shield Security to use their advance technology to help in getting her answers, Julia finds herself racing against the clock with detective Tobias Novak as the hangman comes back to play…this time Julia is in his crosshairs and the killer won’t settle until she is dead. I loved Julia. She was tough, independent and willing to ask for help from others. She was a strong woman in a male dominated job that had me rooting for her right from the beginning. She is paired with Tobias and man you can feel the sparks fly between these two. Past history between them comes into play and I loved how gentle he is with her even as she races head long into danger. All the characters are well written and engaging, the secondary characters from the past two books appear and help move the story along nicely and the author does a top notch job in keeping the suspense at high flame until the climatic ending.

If you enjoy suspense/thriller story that leaves you gasping for air, flipping the pages until the end page is read then you will definitely want to grab Ms. Burton’s The Forgotten Files series. Each book is stand alone story but loosely interconnect with some of the characters. I would definitely start with The Shark and read the books in order to get the best handle on the series.  I am eager to see where this author goes next in this series and hope she continues in the future with more interesting cases and characters for her readers to enjoy and fall in love with.

 
This is an objective review and not an endorsement.