What a great pleasure to black in the company of DS Lucas Walker in this fourth book in the series. Lucas is finally certain he knows where his nemesis Markovich is hiding and he heads off to Berlin to capture this violent thug. Of course, also in Berlin is fellow detective Barbara, who Lucas is very keen to see again, having worked with her on. a previous case. It's good to get to know Barbara better, and the narrative has an almost equal focus on the two characters as their relationship develops. This book has it all - police procedure, crime, romance, a very fine sense of place and a continuing story that can happily be read on its own. However, if you haven’t read the first three books in the series, you're missing out on some exceptional writing and stories, so read those first!

loved the fourth book DS Walker 4 there is a body is found poisoning and drug crime in berlin were there trying to find the people who did it and finding the drug dealers
exciting good pace
loved the book
thanks

If you like Jane Harper, then Patricia Wolf should be on your reading list too. A couple of police procedural here woven together and taking place in Berlin. Unusual to find an author who writes so vividly when setting the scenes in regional, rural and outback Australia, is equally at home when transplanting her central protagonists to Europe. A quick Google reveals that the Author now lives part time in the Eu. Excellent characters, plotting and more than a couple of well hidden twists. Highly recommended.

DI Lucas Walker is in Berlin for his latest case, tracking down the leader of the Vandals biker gang featured in previous books. It also gives a chance to meet Barbara again, who works for the German police and is investigating a murder by poisoning.

Patricia Wolf is a talented author crafting two plots together, with the ongoing will they, won't they possible romance between the two lead characters. Fear not though fellow crime fiction fans as this is no Mills & Boon romantic twaddle!

Loving this series and looking forward to reading more of Lucas Walker's cases.

This eARC was received from Netgalley.com, and I am providing an unbiased review.

This is the fourth book in the DS Walker series, and there is a bit of a twist. Walker is working on doing a transfer within the force, but before he can work it all out, he receives information on the Vandals leader he has been searching for. Turns out he is in Germany, and whilst working out a deal between his current boss, and the new one, Walker manages to get a trip to Germany to assist with the capture of the Vandals leader. This brings in to play the lady Barbara, whom he had happened to help locate her sister in a previous book.

Though the romance seems to go no where throughout the story, it moves along. The German police don't seem to want to assist, Barbara (also an officer) is working her own murder case, and somehow it gets to where they are sharing the details with each other as if with only Walker's help could she solve it.

Truthfully, I enjoyed there being another DS Walker book, but this one seemed pretty boring. I felt it just stagnated and the ending was not as impressive as it may have been. Still would like to see if this series could go farther, now that Walker has transferred depts.

Having devoured the previous four books in Patricia Wolf’s DS Walker series, I was absolutely delighted to receive an ARC of Nemesis from NetGalley—and it delivered on every level.

In this fifth instalment, DS Luke Walker heads to Berlin in pursuit of the elusive Stefan Markovich, whose ability to slip through the net has haunted the series from the start. The shift in location brings a fresh energy to the series, and Walker’s reunion with Barbara adds both depth and intrigue—not just professionally, but perhaps personally too.

Barbara, meanwhile, is faced with a chilling poisoning case involving someone with an unnerving grasp of botanical toxins. As a biologist, I particularly enjoyed the forensic and scientific elements woven through the plot—they were sharp, well-researched, and added a layer of realism that elevated the narrative.

What impressed me most was how seamlessly the dual plotlines wove together. Both threads were compelling in their own right, and when they finally collided, the payoff was excellent. The pacing was spot on, the twists believable, and the characters—especially Walker and Barbara—continue to feel authentic and evolving.

I finished Nemesis in a single weekend, completely hooked from start to finish. Patricia Wolf has once again crafted a smart, gripping thriller that keeps you guessing—and I can’t wait to see where she takes DS Walker next.

I absolutely adored this book and devoured it over a couple of days! It has easily been one of my favourite books of the year and I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future.

Nemesis by Patricia Wolf is the fourth instalment in the DS Lucas Walker series. Walker is a detective in the Australian Federal Police and is still on a mission to bring Vandals biker gang leader Stefan Markovich to justice. Markovich has been sighted in Germany and Walker travels to Berlin to arrest him.

As with the other books in the series, Nemesis is a pacy read. I particularly enjoyed this book as Markovich is in Berlin and he’s trying to work undercover, but he’s in a city and country that he’s unfamiliar with. I enjoyed the element of him being slightly on the back foot and being a fish out of water.

Whilst in Berlin, he catches up with Barbara, who is a German police officer. They met in book one when Walker investigated Barbara’s sisters disappearance in the Australian Outback. Barbara travelled to Caloodie in the Outback and assisted in investigating her disappearance. It was interesting to read and see whether the connection they both felt in book one was still there.

I can’t wait for the fifth instalment of this series!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Embla Books, for making the e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Nemesis is the fourth installment in the DS Walker thriller series. I’ve enjoyed all the books so far in this series but I liked this one the least. This book is set in Berlin Germany and all the previous books in this series take place in Australia. A character from the first book, Barbara, is back in this book as the main character. There are two mysterious going on. Barbara is working on a murder that happed in a suburb of Berlin and DS Walker is in Berlin working on catching a drug ring leader from Australia who is hiding in Berlin. This book wasn’t as gripping to me and felt slow. Still, I feel the writing is good and maybe my expectations were too high against the authors other books that I couldn’t put down.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I love the writing style and love this series. So happy to see Lucas and Barbara back together - the simmering romance along with the mysteries kept this moving at a fast pace. I didn't particularly like the setting of Berlin in this one, although the author does a fantastic job of making you feel like you're there. I hope the next one will be back in Australia. The Lucas/Markovich part of the story came together a little too easily, and some aspects of that case were a bit unresolved, but perhaps that will continue in book 5. I'm already looking forward to it. Highly recommend this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½ –
Nemesis, the fourth book in Patricia Wolf’s DS Lucas Walker series, delivers another high-stakes pursuit with emotional weight, but doesn’t quite reach the same atmospheric heights as the earlier instalments.

Lucas is on assignment with the AFP in Berlin, chasing down his longtime enemy Stefan Markovich—the drug kingpin who nearly had him killed. It's personal, and it's possibly Lucas’s last chance to bring him to justice. Meanwhile, Barbara is drawn into a chilling murder investigation at a lakeside colony, where victims suffer a slow, torturous death. As their cases collide, so do their unresolved feelings for each other, in a story that’s equal parts procedural and emotional reckoning.

I’ve loved this series since the beginning, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC—Nemesis is absolutely one I would’ve bought myself. We finally get a long-awaited reunion between Lucas and Barbara (since the end of Book 1!), but it didn’t quite deliver the closure I’d hoped for. There’s undeniable romantic longing—some of it breathtaking—but the “will they/won’t they” dynamic is still frustratingly unresolved.

One of my favourite aspects of the series has always been the vivid settings. That felt missing here. I struggled to visualise the lakeside colony, and the German setting as a whole lacked the immersive detail we saw in previous books. A bit of context around the German legal system (like formal accusations, the prosecutor’s role, etc.) would’ve helped deepen the narrative.

The Stasi angle was a fascinating touch—but only briefly explored—and I really wish it had been given more weight. A refresher on the Lucas/Markovich backstory would’ve been useful too. It’s been a while since Book 1, and the details felt a little fuzzy.

Also, things fell a bit too neatly into place: Markovich just happens to be in Berlin, just happens to be connected to Barbara’s case, and Lucas conveniently gets the green light to go investigate. That said, I’m always happy to read about Lucas—though I missed Ginger’s presence! I’m also intrigued to see where the new counterterrorism angle leads in future books.

📚 Thank you to Patricia Wolf, Embla Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was excited to read this fresh instalment of Patricia Wolf’s exquisitely written Lucas Walker series. I particularly like the social conscience that infuses her writing, her world-building and the overarching storyline of the series. In Nemesis, Lucas is in Berlin, once again trying to track down his nemesis, Markovich. Of course, this means a welcome reconnection with Barbara. We readers are following two cases as alongside Lucas's investigation, Barbara is investigating a spate of poisonings at a schrebergarten outside of Berlin. Patricia Wolf is fabulous with setting - her descriptions of Berlin's inner suburbs are vividly rendered. There’s so much romantic longing too. It takes your breath away at moments in the book. For all that Lucas and Barbara are risk takers in their professional lives, they find romantic courage more difficult .

I am so sad I have already finished this book and hope Patricia is writing another one.

Australian gang leader Stefan Markovich is still being followed by DS Lucas Walker. Now, undercover as a forger, Lucas has pursued him to Berlin where he hopes to finally arrest him.
Coincidentally, Detective Barbara Guerra lives and works in Berlin. Lucas and Barbara have been fighting a strong attraction to each other since they met in Australia when Lucas worked on a case that was personal to Barbara. The attraction is still there but both are immersed in police work. Lucas is trying to set up an appointment with Markovich while Barbara is handling a complicated case in a small lakeside colony outside Berlin. One deadly poisoning is quickly followed by another and Barbara is frustrated by the lack of support from her department. Their stories alternate until a near tragedy brings them together. Will distance will separate them again?

The sixth in a series by Patricia Wolf, Nemesis features strong characters, and a carefully constructed plot. Berlin provides a new, gritty location for the series and a chance for Barbara to show Lucas her hometown, so far away from his. The title Nemesis links both cases in a clever, understated way. I cant wait for the next in this series. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Embla Books and Patricia Wolf for this ARC.

I really enjoy this series.
Walker is a detective I'd put all my faith in if he crossed my path.
Good to have him back, out of Australia AND back with Barbara.
Some great fast paced action, especially towards the end, and crimes that anyone could have committed.
Very very enjoyable.
Hope we see more of these guys, soon.