The Last Stand Books In Order

Publication Order of The Last Stand Books

“The Last Stand” is a romantic suspense series of novels by Brenda Novak the popular American author from Utah. The series follows the members of a victim’s charity organization named the Last Stand, that was established to help victims of crime after their ordeal. Novak wrote “Trust Me” the first novel of the Last Stand series of novels in 2008. She finished the series with “The Perfect Murder” that was published in 2009. Brenda Novak the author of the series also writes romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and historical romance. Over the years, she has authored more than 50 novels which have gone on to sell more than four million copies. She has been on many bestseller lists that include USA Today and the New York Times. She has also won several awards including the Booksellers Best Award, the Book Buyers Best, the National Readers Choice, and Four nominations for a RITA.

Brenda Novak was born the youngest of five siblings in Utah where her father a Bureau of Reclamation employee for the best part of three decades. The family moved to Arizona when Novak was ten and this is where she spent much of her late childhood and teenage years. During her childhood, Novak was not one of the creative types as she loved the sciences and mathematics. After excelling in her high school studies, she got a scholarship to Brigham Young University where she was studied business, as writing was the last thing on her mind. She never did finish her studies as she quit to become a wife and start a family. Her path to becoming an author came through a shocking experience she never thought she would ever witness. She came home to find the day care provider drugging the children with Tylenol and cough syrup. She immediately quit her job as a loan officer to look after her children. While she chose to become an author almost immediately, it was not until five years later that she learned the craft well enough to finish her first novel “Of Noble Birth” that was published in 1998. Brenda lives with Ted her husband and their five children in Sacramento. When she is not writing she loves to run carpools, go on field trips, attend her children’s soccer and softball games, watch sports events and ride her bike. She is also an active fundraiser for diabetes research, a disease that her youngest son suffers from.

“The Last Stand” is a series of small town romantic suspense novels that provide the ultimate thrill that only Brenda Novak knows how to so eloquently put forth. The small town settings in which the novels are set, are places in which the people have deep secrets and everybody is known to everybody and their business is never kept secret for long. The towns are full of general wackos, interesting folks, and the very rare ordinary person. Many of the characters are stuck in the past with events that happened years ago still stuck in their memories. The novels typically have a huge overarching mystery that are entwined with the smaller mysteries, all of which develop over the course of the narrative. From murder to kidnapping, rape, and robbery the novels are driven by the activities of the members of the Last Stand who are determined to resolve these crimes and help the victims cope and get justice. “The Last Stand” victims organization came about because the local police are too stumped by the mysteries of the cases, which will become cold cases were it not for the Last Stand. Novak does a great job at throwing the red herring and obscuring the identity of the villain right until the very end. There are many bizarre persons in the narratives that makes it almost impossible to pin the crime down on any one person with certainty. With more murders happening over the course of the novels the past mystery murders, which are somehow connected to present mysteries become even harder to decipher.

“The Last Stand” series of novels being romantic suspense also incorporate a lot of romance between the lead characters. The main characters of the series are drawn to each other as they have an intense chemistry right from the time they set eyes on each other. With so much danger in the narrative the heroine often finds herself in danger with the swoon worthy hero swooping in to save her. What makes the romantic aspect really intriguing is the tug and pull between the leads as they have messed up lives which makes it hard for them to even contemplate complicating it further with romance. However, the real spice is in the culmination of the novel that provides the big reveal of the mystery, and has the protagonists proclaim their love for each other.

“Watch Me” is the enthralling first novel of “The Last Stand” series of novels. The novel is about a mysterious attack on Skye Kellerman. Kellerman had been the target of a knife wielding attacker but had managed to run off the man that had gotten into her home. Though she had not been physically injured, she was left so traumatized that she set up an organization to assist crime victims called The Last Stand. But the man is getting out of jail and Kellerman is sure that he holds a grudge for her testimony that had earned him four years in jail and cost him his medical practice. David Willis the detective that was in charge of the case believes the man is a present and clear danger to her, and may also have been responsible for two other mysterious killings. Unless Skye fights back or David stops him, he is likely to terrorize Skye as he has asserted that he will finish what he had started four years ago.

“Stop Me” the second novel is an emotional mystery of a man named Romain who lives a dejected life after the kidnap and murder of his daughter. He had stolen a police officer’s gun and killed the man and was subsequently sent to jail for a few years. He is now out and has come back to Cajun, Louisiana where he thinks that he may have killed an innocent man. A psychological profiler named Jasmine Stratford believes the real killer is still at large. She also believes that the same man may have been responsible for kidnapping her sister that had gone missing sixteen years past. With Jasmine determined to track him down, the man gets cocky and sends her a package containing a bracelet that she had gifted to her sister shortly before she went missing. She goes to Romain believing that he can help her find the killer. But the quest for justice for the man that had entered both their lives altering them forever means they put themselves in great danger.