Title: The Last Party
Author: Clare Mackintosh
Publisher: Sphere
Synopsis:
It’s the party to end all parties….but not everyone is here to celebrate.
On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors.
But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.
On New Year’s Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, friends and family—and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.
With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead…but who finally killed him.
In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning.
My review:
Gripping, captivating… The Last Party draws you in and doesn’t let up!
One of the book’s many draws is its brilliant characters. Police officers Leo and Ffion are investigating the death of a man who owns a group of exclusive holiday homes. They’re both so likeable – I loved reading about them and their interactions.
The other characters – largely those who live at the other holiday chalets – are a real mixed bag. Some of them you love to hate but, regardless of how nice they are, their interactions are entertaining!
The novel is told in two timeframes – one in the present day, as police discover the body, and one in the run-up to the death. I love books that have these different timeframes and this way we get to see different perspectives and characters’ thoughts.
The book has lots of secrets and mystery – every character seems to have one and it’s a real treat to uncover. The plot isn’t hugely fast-paced – it moves along fairly slowly at times – but it never feels too slow. The tension is always there, and the slow reveal of more information about that night keeps the reader hooked.
Clare Mackintosh always writes so engagingly, and it’s so easy to absolutely speed through her novels because they are, for me, the perfect package of a psychological thriller mixed with great character development, offering surprises and twists along the way and a setting that you can really imagine.
I am SO happy to learn that this will be the first in a new series featuring Detective Ffion Morgan. As a police officer she’s not squeaky clean (where’s the fun in that anyway?) but she is a brilliant character who I can’t wait to read more about.
My rating: 4/5
Many thanks to the publisher, Sphere, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.
[…] “Gripping, captivating… The Last Party draws you in and doesn’t let up!” – read my full review […]
[…] an addictive read! I hugely enjoyed the first in this series – The Last Party – and my expectations were high for A Game of Lies, the second in the series. The Last Party […]