Endgame – Fawkes and Baxter Series Book #3

Author: Daniel Cole
Genre: Thriller, Crime Fiction
330 pages
Publisher: Trapeze, 2020

Synopsis
A locked room. A dead body. A secret that went to the grave.

When retired police officer Finlay Shaw is found dead in a locked room, everyone thinks it’s suicide. But disgraced detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes isn’t so sure.

Together with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter and private detective Edmunds, Wolf’s team begin to dig into Shaw’s early days on the beat. Was Shaw as innocent as he seemed? Or is there more to his past than he’d ever let on?

But not everyone wants Wolf back – and as his investigation draws him ever deeper into police corruption, it will not only be his career on the line – but the lives of those he holds closest as well…

My review
Endgame by Daniel Cole is the third book in the series and the conclusion to the Fawkes and Baxter trilogy. This novel is a departure from Cole’s gritty, dark, and brutal style of the previous installments and focuses more on the relationships between the characters. This is an enjoyable read; however, it was no where near as good as Ragdoll and Hangman.

Wolf is back and with him comes more humor than the previous installments. While I appreciate dark humor in thrillers, I found the humor in Endgame somewhat excessive and it detracted from the chilling and gritty atmosphere established in the first two novels. The standout aspect of the story is undoubtedly the character development and the intricacies of their relationships. I learned a lot more about Wolf and Baxter’s history which explained a lot of their interactions in Ragdoll. And, of course, Edmunds remained charming and likable and became my favorite character in the trilogy.

Where this book fell short for me was the locked room murder and subsequent storyline. The murder itself lacked intensity, and the perpetrator became apparent quite early in the story. While the earlier timeline added an interesting layer, it often dragged, and detracted from the typical thriller tension. Also, the Epilogue felt like an awkward conclusion. Without revealing too much, it lacked believability and honestly, for me provided an unsatisfying end to the trilogy.

Cole is a fantastic writer and I was engrossed in the first two novels in the series. Endgame, however, diverges from the dark and complex storyline and chilling atmosphere of Ragdoll and Hangman. While this installment does resolve loose ends from the earlier books, I didn’t find its storyline particularly engaging or intricate. I would still recommend it to readers who enjoyed the first two novels, though it might not fully satisfy those seeking a dark and gritty thriller.

My recommendation: read it but keep your expectations realistic. For me, it didn’t quite live up to the first two novels in the trilogy.