Although “Endgame” is a strong crime novel, it’s one that’s really for continuing readers. If you’ve never read a Lexie Winter book before, you’ll be able to follow this, but it will likely feel rather shallow. On the other hand, ongoing readers will likely think it’s excellent.

Lexie Winter survived a childhood of sexual abuse and poverty and moved on to activities like computer hacking and prostitution. She’s now reformed (well, mostly) and a police officer. She’s so good at this that she’s already in training for Detective, despite a very short career with the police force.

Of course not all her work colleagues appreciate this rapid promotion, and not all of them are accepting of her background, either.

But the person with the greatest objection to Lexie’s success is Vaughn, the pedophile who destroyed her childhood and who is now intent on destroying Lexie before she can find and arrest him.

The majority of this novel is an exciting crime story, as Lexie and Vaughn face off, with plenty of bystanders caught between them. Innocent bystanders? Maybe not so much. Lexie and her team have to determine that as well. Is this secondary investigation a distraction or a vital part of the primary investigation?

The plot was well worked out, and the pacing engaging. I found this a quick read in part because it was absorbing and tended to keep me reading for a long time. It’s also an easy style of writing which most readers will find a smooth and unobtrusive read.

As with the earlier books, I had some problems with the procedural accuracy of many of the police’s actions. More than a few would make a prosecution difficult. However, a majority of these hiccups were probably to keep the story moving. It fitted in fairly well with the style of the book overall, so I expect most readers will be able to overlook this.

The characters have been one of the ongoing strengths of the series, and that’s true again here. The characters are strong and generally engaging (even the ones you won’t like much feel real). The character arcs have run across the four books, and come to a climax here.

This fourth instalment in the Lexie Winter series is the end of the series, and Barrie leaves each character in a place that is – if not always satisfying – certainly acceptable as an end to our time with them.

This is a strong and readable crime novel which serves as a fitting end point to the Lexie Winter series. Readers who’ve read the earlier novels will find this one excellent. New readers may struggle a little but are still likely to find it enjoyable – just a little shallow.

The former victim of a paedophile, Lexi Winter has grown up a lot since her days seeking revenge for other victims as a vigilante tracking down child abusers on the dark web. These days she’s a respected police constable at Gosford police station, studying for her detective’s exams and putting her computer skills to good use. No longer smoking weed, she does still rely on her old friend Jack Daniels in moderation to keep her calm during stressful times. She is also doing a sterling job of parenting Cait, a teenager she befriended while undercover in a bikie gang who is now living with her while she finishes her schooling.

When her old adversary Damon Vaughn resurfaces and challenges her to a game, she has no choice but to accept. Before the end of the month, he plans to kill five people, who he says deserves to die, but if Lexi can stop him before he kills the fifth victim, he will turn himself in.

As well as hunting for Vaughan and trying to figure out who his victims are, Lexi is also concerned about Cait’s group of new friends from the football club. One of them died recently in an apparent suicide and she is worried for Cait’s safety particularly as they are using drugs and there is a dangerous new drug on the streets

This is a dark and gripping thriller as Lexi is pitted against a clever psychopath who is relentless in getting what he wants. Instead of hiding in the shadows he sets himself up on social media as a misjudged victim of the police and raises a sympathetic band of followers to hamper the police as much as possible. Lexi is as much of a maverick as always and will fight tooth and nail to beat his game. However, she is not alone and is ably backed by the homicide team including her DI, Rachael Langley, detectives Finn, Cass and Linc, as well as her bikie friend Zander and then there is Julian, a long-suffering protection officer assigned to her from the Federal police.

Billed as the last in the series, this is the best yet. An excellent page turner and gripping read with plenty of good twists, characters we’ve grown to love and a dynamite ending.

I loved that all the characters from previous books make an appearance in this - even Zander the outlaw Bikie!!! But I didn't love that this is the last book in the series 😭 I was really hoping that we'd get a few more Lexi Winters stories

Overall, Endgame was yet another well written, wild ride!!! Sarah Barrie has a real knack of weaving twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat and each character is once again so well written that you really care about what is happening to them. And that end 🫣 What a way to finish the series!!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.