Her Last Wish

Rachel Gift #1

by Blake Pierce

FBI Agent Rachel Gift, 33, unparalleled for her ability to enter the minds of serial killers, is a rising star in the Behavioral Crimes Unit—until a routine doctor visit reveals she has but a few months left to live.

Not wishing to burden others with her pain, Rachel decides, agonizing as it is, not to tell anyone—not even her boss, her partner, her husband, or her seven-year-old daughter. She wants to go down fighting, and to take as many serial killers with her as she can.

A serial killer strikes in the Virginia area, targeting women who seek fertility treatments. As Rachel enters his sick and twisted mind, she struggles to understand his motive, or the connection between the victims.

Worse, the case strikes too close to home, bringing up memories of her own fertility treatments, and her failed mission to have a second child. As she seeks insight from a diabolical, jailed serial killer, she immediately realizes it’s a mistake. Can he see right through her?

Can Rachel keep her secret and keep her deteriorating health at bay long enough to finish the job? Can she fulfill her own bucket list before she dies? And can she keep herself from descending down the dark hole of her own traumatic past?

A riveting and chilling crime thriller featuring a brilliant and flailing FBI agent, the RACHEL GIFT series is an unputdownable mystery, packed with suspense, twists and shocking secrets, propelled by a page-turning pace that will keep you bleary-eyed late into the night.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Ebooks

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2021

About the author

Blake Pierce is author of the bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which includes seven books (and counting). Blake Pierce is also the author of the MACKENZIE WHITE mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); of the AVERY BLACK mystery series, comprising four books (and counting); and of the new KERI LOCKE mystery series.

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the Blake Pierce novels, which are the product of a publishing house in the vein of the Doc Savage pulp books. The writing is usually svelte, quick-paced, high on suspense, with a female lead law-enforcement officer. There is usually a characteristic affectation that makes the lead more sympathetic to the reader, and the formula usually nets a series of follow-up books.

Her Last Wish is no different. The established tropes continue to work really well, and Pierce manages to add the pall of a ticking clock to our lead character, Rachel Gift. It's not a spoiler that within the first chapter Rachel learns that she has been diagnosed with cancer and her prognosis is not good. The doctor gives her less than a year to live.

Throughout the book, Rachel struggles with whether she should disclose her diagnosis to the various important individuals in her life, opting to carry on as if nothing, except to redouble her passion for locking up criminals. Here, there appears to be a serial killer targeting women that are patrons of fertility clinics in a Virginia town. Worst for Rachel is that she had been considering fertility treatments before her diagnosis, and so the case hits close psychologically at a time when she also must consider her own imminent death.

The novel is really well-written despite its brevity. These books are always good to jolt the metabolism. The stories are pulse-pounding, anxiety-inducing, and fascinating. Clearly, the Pierce machine is skilled at establishing intriguing story-lines.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

FBI Agent Rachel Gift, age 33, has a husband Pete and daughter Paige. She is running an obstacle course when she felt intense pain in her head. A scan reveals a malignant tumor and she's told by the doctors that she only has a year to live. So she tells her husband, right? And she tells her partner so he will not be put in danger, right? Ohhhh, noooo. I can't equate to this but it made no sense whatsoever.

Rachel and her partner are assigned to a double homicide where 2 women have been stabbed in the stomach.

There were way too many grammatical errors, misspellings, sentences not ending, etc. Many appeared to be typos. I even noticed the daughter's age changed. Putting out a book in this condition would be enough to make a story go south real fast and that's what happened. I kept seeing these errors and couldn't concentrate on the book. I'm not a technological person but how hard could it be to fix this? I'm far from perfect with my writing skills but then I'm not a publishing author either. Proofreading and editing is a must! Ok, I'm finished ranting.

Caution: some grisly scenes in the book. I've read several of the author's books before and I don't remember the editing problem in them.

I won this Kindle copy in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Natasha Niezgoda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Merpppp. 😑😑

I only got 20% thru and was over it. Let’s throw every melodramatic trope into the first 45 pages and see what sticks.

Also, can we please stop with women calling each other bitches within the first 5 minutes of a scene?!

And I ditto what all the other readers said - there’s a lot of typos and editing challenges that were distracting 🙄

[Saimi Vasquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante, mucha intriga, drama y acción

Rachel es una agente del FBI con una bonita familia feliz, que acaba de recibir su sentencia de muerte a manos de un diagnóstico médico. Sin embargo no quiere dejar de trabajar, ahí si cuando le asignan un caso de asesino múltiple, ella y su compañero comienzan a encontrar las conexiones entre sus víctimas. Pero podrán encontrar al asesino antes de que mate a alguien más? Como para seguir trabajando Rachel con esa enfermedad? Le dirá a alguien o lo mantendrá en secreto?

Para ser un libro de acción-investigación policial, tiene mucho drama personal de la prota. Me gustó como se desarrolla el caso, como logran encontrar al asesino y como siguieron las pistas. Lo que no me gustó fue el auto drama de la prota, no termino de convencerme y eso me hizo la lectura un poco fastidiosa.
Sin embargo, me gusta el estilo del autor y seguro leeré otros libros de el más adelante.

[Manda Panda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did the audio of this book and the narrator had a lisp and nothing against that, but it sent me every time so I could not finish the book. I only got a few chapters in. It seemed like it was going to be a pretty good story maybe I don’t know unless I physically read it. Made it worse because I had my ear bud in.

[L Cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime thriller

This was a great start to a new series by Blake Pierce!
The extra drama going on in agent Gift’s life adds something extra to emotional connection with the heroine. The serial killer she is after is nothing out of the ordinary as far as serial killer’s go, but she has a connection to a convicted killer that makes things take a dark turn.
I look forward to the next in the series.

[Klare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay start to the series, happy to try another.

[Karlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book 0 stars I would. I hate to DNF books, so the only reason I finished this book was out of spite. I was completely over this book by the end of chapter 2. The plot was absolutely terrible, and there was ZERO point to Rachel having a tumor. The author clearly knows NOTHING about police work or forensics. There was not one thing that was realistic in this book. Classic CSI effect. This book could have been so much better is ANY research had been done, but clearly the author wants quantity over quality when it comes to their writing. I had to stop reading so many times because I was cringing so hard over how Rachel was "thinking" throughout the book. I would never recommend this book, let alone this author.

[Pusplia Pambahyun Cinnotancret · Rating 2 out of 5]

3/10 rounded up for the effort at churning out so many look alike mystery novels.
This is a blatant example of quantity over quality. I don't know if Blake Pierce intends to give James Patterson a run for his money in terms of number of books published in a short time, but either way the results for both are the same, none of their novels stand out anymore. Worse, this book also suffers from various typos and other linguistic errors as others have pointed out.

[Bill Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the character; but, found the internal dabate about reveally the brain tunour to her hasband and her partner tedious. At times I considered that I wouldn't finish the book. I think this carries on for future books in the series. The plat and pacing is good otherwise; but, I found the brain tumour story line too distracting. This is the first of Blake Pierce's series where I have little interest in reading the rest of the series.

[Denise Zendel · Rating 2 out of 5]

FBI Agent Rachel Gift, 33, a rising star in the Behavioral Crimes Unit, is leading the good life. She has a great job, a seven-year old daughter she loves intensely, a fabulous husband, and the sky’s the limit for her. Then one day during physical training, she pops a headache and the next thing she knows, she’s eating dirt. Her boss packs her off to the doctor, who determines she has a brain tumor. Shortly after that she gets handed a case of a serial killer targeting women seeking fertility treatments. The case hits close to home, as she and her husband are considering having another child. The case becomes her island of sanity in the maelstrom that is her life.

I had a like/hate relationship with this book. The case itself is fascinating – why are otherwise healthy, young-ish women being violently dispatched? What’s the link between the victims? What is the killer trying to say? And Rachel is an interesting character. She’s complex, multi-layered, driven, and flawless at her job. The writing is fine, the plot clips along at a good pace, and the story held my interest all the way through.

What I didn’t like – I found her name annoying (like what, she’s supposed to be a “gift” to law enforcement? She has “gifts”?). I’m also irritated with the way she bullies her way into getting information from the doctors involved with the various clinics and how easily they roll over for her. “You know without this information, a woman will likely die tonight?” “Oh, ok, I’ll take your word without even calling my attorney, or verifying that you’re a real agent. Here’s the keys to the store, run wild through all my records. Also, let me give you the pin to my bank account, the combination to my gym locker, and all my computer passwords.” Do these people not know about HIIPA?

And the worst thing of all is that she chooses not to tell anyone about the ticking time bomb in her head. It’s bad enough that she puts her partner at risk, but I pretty much wanted to sock her for not telling the man she loves sooooo much. Or her child, who has to know something is wrong.

I don’t think I’ll read more in this series. I do see the author is a prolific writer and has least a dozen other series. I’ll probably check out a few of them to see if I like the characters better.

[Emma Dreher · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that was marked as free in Apple Books. I had never really read many books via my phone, but I decided to give it a shot. Especially since I am such a true crime addict.

The book was riveting. I was immediately drawn into the characters and what would happen. I think the book does a great job in story telling. However, when it comes to dialogue and plot advancements, it felt cliche. There were a few pieces of conversation that were a bit one sided and cringe.

However, the book did a great job on developing the main character. The plot was simple and cut to the chase. Basic plot twist at the end.

I’m giving this book 2 stars for quality. Is this book a great thriller and mystery? Yes. But does this book offer anything new to the table? No.

It’s simple yet cliche and stereotypical. I enjoyed it, because I like easy and cheesy readings. But as far as concepts, the book was basic. Would love to read more from this author.

[Cindy Acosta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Rachel Gift is a highly skilled FBI agent who visits a doctor and receives a terrible diagnosis, one so devastating she can't really find a way to bring it up with her family. On top of that, someone is killing women who are tied to fertility clinics.

This was a decent crime novel. Unfortunately, the number of errors and conflicts in the story almost made me give it a 3 but the plot leads me to a 3.5 star rating. I looked up the author after I finished this and he has written an impressive amount of books and built up quite a few series. So I will continue with this series and see how I like it and we’ll see if I’ll proceed with his other series.

The ending, I feel like it should have been more spaced out since I felt like Rachel got the murderer by just guessing who it was. But overall the book was pretty okay.

[Georgia Linkeviciene · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 38%, too many typos no suspense seeing as the killer has been revealed 10 chapters in

[Debbie Joyner · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very good. Could not put it down!

[Infosleuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense, riveting storyline kept me glued to the page. We are given a close look inside the killer’s mind but don’t know who she is until the end of the book. The stakes keep getting higher as the victims increase and Rachel, the protagonist, faces a difficult personal challenge on top of it. She chooses to keep it to herself so the secrets and lies build throughout the entire book. It was an edge-of-your-seat read practically from start to finish.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jennifer Peer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Blake Pierce and have read many of her series. In fact, I am a huge fan of her Adele Sharp series. I am always looking forward to the start of a new series. In book 1, Her Last Wish, of the newest FBI Thriller series, we meet Rachel Gift. In the beginning, I enjoyed the dialogue between Rachel and her husband, finding it fun while giving us a glimpse into her everyday life. We learn she has a husband and six-year-old daughter whom she loves, and she works for the FBI out of Virginia. We also learn she is competitive and is very athletic.
We are provided with a very quick snapshot of her life before everything changes. While I appreciate the speed at which Pierce pulls us in, I found the speed of such a drastic and life changing diagnosis to be a little too abrupt to be believable. Following Gift’s diagnosis, the character stopped evolving for me and I found it difficult to connect with her at all.
As the story progressed, I was pulled in briefly a time or two. The pace plodded along in a methodical way but wasn’t what I’ve come to expect. Once I learned the motivation for the killings, I was again disappointed. I found it to be contrived and not quite believable.
Overall, I found the difficulties facing Rachel Gift with her diagnosis to be unimaginable. I didn't find her response to her diagnosis or her actions following it to be relatable and that changed my opinion of her character.
Even given the above, I may have given this book a higher rating if it didn’t have other issues. The deciding factor for my rating was that there were numerous spelling errors, typos, and grammatical errors in this book which distracted me while reading. They pulled me right out of what I was reading, and I had to go back to re-read passages to ensure I understood what was being said. As Pierce seems to be releasing a new book every month or so, I am hoping this is because she was rushing to finish this book rather than this becoming a new standard. I have noticed more and more problems with editing over the last few books though it will not keep me from reading more from her.
I will be interested to see where Pierce takes this series and will read the next simply because I really want to like it.

[Sarah Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook narrator was painful. British narrator for an American setting didn’t mix well - she pronounced “Quantico” like the name of a Mexican restaurant instead of an FBI training facility. Her resume says she’s classically trained but adding “th” to so many words was painful and she was too breathy & soap-opera-y tone for the content. Didn’t enjoy the book as much as her others because I was so distracted by the narrator.

[Leona · Rating 2 out of 5]

How do you not tell your husband you have a brain tumor and have one year to live? And continue to work? If and when the author has Rachel die, her gravestone should say, "I wish I had spent more time at work."

[Gayl T. Jurek]

Great story! BUT it doesn't end!!

That's one reason I gave it a 3....the other is all the misspellings, to many to count. That's the first time I complained about spelling in all the years I been reading. Mr. Pierce I really did like and truly enjoyed the story though.

[Courtney✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Chalei Hayward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the start of this book but hiding her diagnosis with her husband and daughter didn’t sit right with me, especially when the plot changed to a double homicide

[Trey Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

We went traveling during the holidays and I knew I needed something on my phone to read on the flight. This practically jumped at me as soon as I logged on to browse for books and it sounded right up my alley. My first—but probably not last —Blake Pierce book!

Rachel Gift is a highly skilled FBI agent – who during an attempt to set a new personal (and all time) record on a Bureau training course, experiences pains and blurred vision that make her fall to the ground. Record attempt ruined.

She visits a doctor and received a terrible diagnosis, one so devastating she can’t really find a way to bring it up with her family. And before she even finds time to, her and her partner Ryan are thrown into a murder investigation.

Two women at opposite sides of town have been found stabbed to death – and it looks like the killer isn’t done with just the two of them.

Honestly, this the kind of crime thriller mystery that hooks me every time. It’s like watching a good episode of Law and Order or Criminal Minds. On the surface it’s so simple, there’s a crime happening and we have to find the one who’s responsible, but it just works, every, single, time!

Pierce writes with a pace and rhythm that won’t leave you hanging, yet he finds time to elaborate on the finer points and build enough of a backstory that you feel like you’ve lived this universe your whole life. I looked up Pierce after I finished this and he’s written an impressive amount of books and built up quite a few series. If you’re looking for mystery thrillers that will keep you entertained for months on end, Blake Pierce might be your guy!

I like books like these as a kind of palette cleanser between other reads. Sure, it is its own unique story, but it’s familiar and recognizable, and you know what you’re getting into. Right now I’m also reading Ken Follett’s Pillars Of The Earth, as well as Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire, and this is a nice little breather. There’s no massive character gallery or a convoluted conspiracy, it’s just a good ol’ crime mystery.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has read hundreds of books, I have specific tastes, but I thought I’d dip my toes into some thriller/romantic thriller books. Now, to me, the first victim, Lucinda’s, chapter should’ve been the first chapter. It’s a great build up to what was to come of the person, Rachel Gift, an FBI agent who will investigate her death. I feel like putting it as the fourth chapter, it didn’t really do it justice. As for the third victim, Hannah’s, chapter, I liked the place of it and how it showed the different age between the victims and circumstances to how she was killed to the others. Now, I was slightly confused, because there is no chapter names or the person’s name, so I know who’s POV it was, and I had to restart the chapter to see what I missed since I was listening to it on audio. Same thing goes for the chapters with the killers POV. As I listened, I was confused because I had obviously missed the first sentence in the chapter indicating that it wasn’t the main FMC who’s POV I was listening to and was wondering what the heck was going on. I had thought our FMC was an FBI agent, so why the heck are we talking about a school teacher?? If there was like an “unknown” so the killer's identity wouldn’t be revealed, stating it was someone that was not our FMC, I’d probably give this audiobook a higher rating. Don’t get me wrong, I like the killers POV and enjoyed hearing her thinking of her life, present and past, it’s just, if you’re going to have more than one person have a POV it needs to be labeled as such. Also, did the tumor give her these abilities to enter the minds of serial killers?? Did I miss something?

After all of that, I was intrigued by the plot, and I liked the suspense. I got to 32 % and had to stop, then went back to it the next day and basically forced myself to finish listening to the audiobook. I’ve never DNF’d a book before and I kind of wanted to know who the killer was…I probably would’ve liked this book more if I had read the e-book instead of audio.

[Merry Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling, edge of your seat first book in a very exciting series! Rachel Gift is a very talented FBI agent in the Behavior Crimes Unit whose instincts led to the capture of a serial killer who went about killing his victims horrifically. Now, there seems to be another serial killer on the loose that Rachel and her partner have to find and capture to stop the horrible killings of women. But she has to take the obstacle course certification which she normally breezes through. Just near the finish, she collapses. When a visit to her doctor gives her some grim news, she has to make some decisions. While she and her husband were trying to have another baby, she has a very precocious 6 year old, this all has to stop and she has to tell her husband and break it to her daughter that her time with them is limited. But with a serial killer on the loose, she puts that as precedent and keeps her health a secret from her supervisor, her partner, who feels there is something up with her and her husband and child. Now she and her partner are in Baltimore where the murders are happening helping the locals with the case. But there are so many twists, turns and red-herrings Rachel and her partner feel like they are chasing their tails. When you get to the end of the book, you want more! I can't wait to see what happens next. I received an ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

[Janie Peery · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wrote this review of the second book but will place it here because I feel the same way about both books.

I like Blake Pierce, although I have no idea how he can write so many different series of books. This series is not well written, which is unusual for author Pierce. We find out very clearly about the brain tumor (this is not a spoiler because it comes out in the first chapter). But all she does is attempt to keep it a secret from her husband and partner and she wants to tell her 6 year old child that she is dying -- bad bad idea.

About the rest of the story. Both book 1 and 2 have very complicated story lines. In my opinion there are too many rabbit holes. The author has a great mind to think of so many different ways a murder could go but two, maybe three scenarios would have been much better than five or six.

I will probably continue to read the series because I want to see if a cure if found for her but I'm skipping much of the repeating and in this book I even skipped several paragraphs about a suspect because I knew it couldn't be that person as we were at 60% of the book.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty simple book. It wasn’t too much of a mystery. We knew (kinda) who the killer was from the beginning bc the story was told from their point of view when we were following them.

Let’s talk about the narrator. (I wish there were some site where I could just rate the narrator)
OMG! I hated listening to this narrator, Mary Sarah. I think she thought she was reading a children’s fairy tail. Her light and airy voice was difficult to hear at times bc she trailed off. She also had a weird accent where she pronounced the last “T” or “D” in a sentence as “th”. She whistled too much on her “Cs” and “S’s” which was a sharp contrast to the quiet, light, Princess voice.
OMG! I have never heard a more ridiculous accent than when she voiced the grandmother from Virginia. She didn’t change her natural foreign accent in any way but she added some sort of a twang and it was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life! I thought I was listening to some sort of SNL skit!
Oh man, and when the characters got angry, you better watch out! Mary Sarah’s angry voice sounded like a Disney princess 🙄

[Cathy Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, Disconcerting, Wow I Want More

This is the story of FBI Agent Rachel Gift, who has been given some of the worst news a person can get in life 🧬. She is given News about her immortality. She's told she has a brain tumor and it's basically inoperable, but miracles do happen and maybe they got something wrong. Rachel has a loving husband Peter and a beautiful daughter, Paige, who is in kindergarten and is the love of her parents life 🧬. Rachel is 33 years old and her husband is a blonde hair, gorgeous 36 years old. Rachel's partner at the FBI is Agent Jack Rivers and boss Director Chief Anderson, he put them on the case of the person who is stabbing ladies who are trying to have children, they have been going to fertility clinics. The story gives me hope that maybe there will be a miracle somewhere along the way as Blake Pierce writes the Rachel Gift Suspense thriller. Get this wonderful story I hope you love it as much as I do. It's definitely not just a Good Read but an excellent one as only Blake Pierce can do.

[Nesta Van · Rating 1 out of 5]

Her last wish

I think this author has the ability to write excellent books. In the class of Karin Slaughter etc. However, I have read two books, which were passable, but this one was decidedly bad. The heroine is playing the martyr and throwing a pity party of note. Her emotions are all over the place. Disappointing for a supposedly strong but womanly FBI agent that went through rigourous physical training and psychological testing. The so called detective work is what id pitiable. Not at all convincing and haphazardly done. Is the story the main focus or just providing a background for her mulling over her condtion and blaming a God she does not believe in to start with, does not know or have a relationship with.
Bringing religion (any) into a book is poor choice and not necessary unless it is the axis on which the story turns.
The only thing I like about this author is the strong name under which she writes. But it is not enough to let me read and waste time on another of her books.

[Jodi Pomerleau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deja Vu...I thought at first I was reading another book by an author I had read a few weeks ago where an FBI agent has a debilitating headache all through the novel but won't tell anyone. Switch headache for tumour and prostitutes for fertility patients, and not much about the story is different. The tumour distraction was much of the story, and it puts both Rachel and her partner in danger. The other distraction was the myriad of spelling, sentence structure, grammatical errors and just plain typos riddled throughout. Some sentences I had to read several times to figure out what the heck the author was trying to say! Considering this was an ebook, you'd think that would be an easy fix. The story was run of the mill police procedural, with a dash of a Hannibal Lector and Clarice relationship. Pretty lame. I've noticed that there are 10 books in the series, so either the tumour is cured or she is a superwoman who can muscle through. Except to see what grandma has to say, I'm not really interested in reading anything else in this series.