Funeral for a Friend
Funeral for a Friend (Jonathan Stride #10)
By: Brian Freeman
[Fulfilled ‘Book by an author you’ve already read’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
I’ve got Freeman’s newest Stride book on my TBR so I had to get caught up. I started reading this series partway through with his book, Marathon, and have enjoyed it from that point on.
Then I went back and read book one— Immoral— and wouldn’t recommend the first few in this series.
Chances are, if you’re reading this review you’ve probably read other books in this series. If that doesn’t describe you, I’d probably just recommend starting at Marathon or a book before.
Brief Summary
This book takes up 6 months after the last one— Alter Ego.
Stride’s good friend for 36 years is on his death bed and confesses to Stride: “Don’t worry. I found the body after you left, and I took care of it. I buried him. You’re safe.”
This sets off an investigation into a murder from years ago and now Stride is the prime suspect.
The victim was a journalist who was digging into rape allegations made against a political figure currently up for election. He was in town to find the anonymous source of the accusation and get the story.
The anonymous source is Stride’s second wife, Andrea, which unfortunately provides Stride with a pretty good motive to silence the man who could have gone public with his discovery.
Meanwhile, Kat is receiving creepy messages from an obsessed stalker— who’s closer than she realizes— and gets ‘burdened’ with cop protection wherever she goes. But her guard is easy on the eyes and she’s not complaining too much.
Stride has his work cut out for him, and faces death himself as he tries to clear his name, protect his ex-wife, and keep Kat safe.
Comments
As with most long series like this, there’s not a whole lot to be said about it. It’s another great book in the series filled with action, suspense, and a ‘mystery’ to figure out.
It had a new element of putting Stride in the hot seat. Did he really murder someone? Will it catch up to him and ruin his career and his family?
The series’ hero is now on the precipice of ruin.
I liked how Freeman wrote it in a certain way that causes the reader to be unsure of Stride’s innocence and what really happened that night all those years ago.
Trigger warning for rape. Considering the investigation partly centers around what happened the night of the alleged rape, there is a lot of dialogue and description about events surrounding it. It’s not graphic but it’s prominence in the story may be reason for you not to read if that is a sensitive thing for you.
One thing I didn’t like about this book was Kat’s character. Granted, I’ve never experienced the trauma she has in her life so I don’t know if her behavior and thought process is in line with that or not, but from my perspective I was annoyed with a lot of her choices and her overall demeanor.
Yes, her innocence was stolen from her. Yes, her relationship with men is damaged. But she’s been with Stride and Serena in a safe and healthy environment. Plus she was almost raped in the last book, so why does she continue to be a seductress? And why is she so dumb to continue to try to shake her protection and go off on her own. She should know by now that that doesn’t end well.
She’s still young and has some maturing to do so I suppose there’s grace for that, but seems like she’s content to be a sulky victim destined for failure. Just got to be annoying for me.
I’ll be looking for her character to develop more in the next book.
Unpopular Opinion Alert. Another thing that annoyed— well maybe that’s not the right word. Perhaps ‘striking’ is better. What is striking is how book after book, movie after movie, story after story, real life and fiction, we see the consequences of drinking and partying and being reckless. And yet it appears irrelevant to the population at large. It seems like history has given us endless examples to realize that to significantly decrease the drama, trauma, and regrets in our lives, is probably avoiding alcohol and sexual promiscuity. It would at least be a great place to start.
[Disclaimer: I’m not referring to the rape. People who are raped are not to be blamed. I’m talking about the other stuff.]
Imagine how much we could avoid or how many crimes we could solve if people weren’t drunk and oblivious all the time. Just a thought.
Recommendation
If you already like this series, you’ll enjoy this book too. It’s the same Freeman writing you’re used to.
Personally, I think I like the Frost Easton series better, but that only has 3 books. I’m not sure why Freeman has advanced this series and not that one because that third book left on a cliffhanger.
But anyway, as long as you don’t read the first few of this series, I would recommend it.
Freeman is one of my favorite authors because he spins such good and surprising stories!
[Content Advisory: A couple handfuls of f- and s-words; talk of rape and sex]
You can purchase a copy of this book via my affiliate link below.
Share this book review to your social media!