Blog Tour Review: The Things That Last Forever

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The Things That Last Forever

by Peter W. J. Hayes

On Tour: January 1 – February 28, 2021

Synopsis:

The Things That Last Forever by Peter W. J. Hayes

After a house fire hospitalizes his partner and forces him onto medical leave, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detective Vic Lenoski starts a desperate search for the woman who set the blaze. She is the one person who knows what happened to his missing teenage daughter, but as a fugitive, she’s disappeared so thoroughly no one can find her.

Risking his job and the wrath of the district attorney, Vic resorts to bargaining with criminal suspects for new leads, many of which point to North Dakota. He flies there, only to discover he is far from everything he knows, and his long-cherished definitions of good and bad are fading as quickly as his leads. His only chance is one last audacious roll of the dice. Can he stay alive long enough to discover the whereabouts of his daughter and rebuild his life? Or is everything from his past lost forever?

“The mystery plot itself is riveting…a captivating and emotionally intelligent crime drama.” — Kirkus Reviews

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery: Police Procedural Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: August 1, 2020 Number of Pages: 294  ISBN: 978-1-947915-56-5 Series: A Vic Lenoski Mystery; Pittsburgh Trilogy #3 || Each is a Stand Alone Mystery Purchase Links: Amazon | |

My Review:

I jumped right into this book and quickly realized it was the third in the trilogy! After a few chapters I was able to gather the premise of what our character had gone through and feel caught up on the story. From the first chapter it is action packed with a fast moving plot which immediately drew me in. I’d say you could read this one as a standalone but personally would suggestion reading the first two since it was so good. 

Vic is determined to do anything to find his missing teenage daughter, during this book he appears to be at the end of his patience and is growing more and more desperate to do whatever it takes to find the truth. While he is in North Dakota he appears to be a rogue cop no longer caring about the consequences of his actions which inevitably leads him down some interesting and dangerous paths. One of the things I didn’t get over while reading this book was our main characters name. Vic. I read and watch quite a bit of true crime and cop shows and often the victim is referred to as the vic so my mind went there when I was reading but other than this unfortunate name choice I really enjoyed this book and the characters found within in. 

While Vic is on the hunt he has some flashes back to his marriage, wading through memories to see where it really went wrong, this adds depth to our character and shows him to be more than just a cop on the hunt for a bad guy, there’s really a lot of emotion behind the writing. Vic has felt some losses before but nothing like losing his daughter. Can he solve the case closest to him or has he become to unhinged? 

This is a captivating, twisting ride. Just when I thought I had things sorted out there would be another twist or road introduced.

 

Read an excerpt:

Chapter 1

Sometimes you walk into a room and what’s inside changes your life forever. That sense stopped Vic just inside the doorway. A woman with skin the color of dark amber lay on the only bed, her bandaged arms shockingly white among the shadows. She was reflected in a large window in the far wall, the outside sky as black and still as the inside of a tomb. He smelled disinfectant and blood. Numbers and graph lines flared on grey-eyed medical monitors. Somewhere in the vast empty spaces of the hospital a voice echoed. He’d never visited a burn ward. Never had a partner so close to death. Never thought a room could seem as hollow as he felt inside. The feeling was so disembodying that when he reached the bed and looked into the woman’s face, he half expected to see himself. But it was Liz, her forehead and knobby cheekbones smeared with ointment, eyebrows and eyelashes burned away. A bandage covered her left earlobe where her favorite earring, a small gold star, usually sat. It seemed like every breath she took pained her. He wanted to take her hand but the bandages made it impossible. “Liz,” he said softly, her name almost lost among the beeps and clicks of the monitors. Liquid dripped into a tangle of IV tubes at the back of her fist. Her eyelids fluttered. “Liz. Doctor told me I could talk to you.” Her eyes opened. He watched her pupils widen and narrow as they absorbed the distance to the ceiling and distinguished shadows from feeble light. “Vic?” A hoarse whisper. “I’m here.” She turned her face to him. “You got me out.” Relief rose in Vic’s throat. “Yeah. But the house didn’t make it.” “Cora Stills?” Vic squeezed his eyelids shut and rocked on his heels. He didn’t know where to start. Cora Stills. The one person who knew something—anything—about his missing teenage daughter. Liz on her way to arrest her. Instead, Liz, handcuffed to a radiator pipe as flames lathered and stormed through Cora’s house. Cora’s burned-out car found two days later on a crumbling stone dock next to a deserted warehouse, the Allegheny River emptying westward. Cora, alive and moving through that tomb of darkness outside the window. Free. “Vic…” Liz said something more but he couldn’t make it out. He bent closer. She forced her words from somewhere deep inside, and as she spoke, he knew this was what she saved through all the fear and pain to tell him. “Someone told Cora I was coming.” *** Excerpt from The Things That Last Forever by Peter W. J. Hayes. Copyright 2020 by Peter W. J. Hayes. Reproduced with permission from Peter W. J. Hayes. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Peter W. J. Hayes

Peter W. J. Hayes worked as a journalist, advertising copywriter and marketing executive before turning to mystery and crime writing. He is the author of the Silver Falchion-nominated Pittsburgh trilogy, a police procedural series, and is a Derringer-nominated author of more than a dozen short stories. His work has appeared in Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Modern and various anthologies, including two Malice Domestic collections and The Best New England Crime Stories. He is also a past nominee for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) Debut Dagger Award.

Peter can be found at:  

 

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

 

 

Giveaway!!:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Peter W.J. Hayes. There will be 4 winners for this giveaway. Two (2) winners will each receive one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card and two (2) winners will each receive one (1) physical copy of The Things That Last Forever by Peter W.J. Hayes (US Only). The giveaway begins on January 1, 2021 and runs through March 2, 2021. Void where prohibited.

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  1. Cheryl

    WOW!!! I have been seeing a lot of great reviews for this book, which means I need to get my hands on a copy!

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