I am a big fan of Mary Burton and I can't think of a book she has written that I haven't loved. Unfortunately till I read this one. The book started out with so much intrigue ..who kidnapped Gina , why did the kidnapper tell Kaitlin to run? SO many questions that needed to be answered BUT the book in the middle fell flat for me. I started skipping thru the book so I can get past the middle to get the answers I needed so basically started great ,ended great . Most authors have a book that just isn't great.. good but not great and this is the one for Mary Burton.

Her Last Word is a great suspenseful thriller. A woman starts investigating a cold case involving her cousin's death. More murders begin to happen and they all seem to be connected to her cousin's death. This is the first book I've read of Burton's and I look forward to more of her work.

Kaitlin has set something off by interviewing people about the abduction of her cousin Gina 14 years ago. How much you like this will depend on how you feel about non-linear novels which use a blend of styles to tell the story. Kaitlin's planning a pod cast so there are interviews with people who might know something-or not-about the case and then one of them is murdered. John Adler, the detective assigned to the case, becomes, as you might guess, a love interest but there's more to him than that. This has twists and turns and the identity of the malefactor might surprise you. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

The story is about a school girl called Gina that was attacked and never found whilst out drinking in a remote spot with her cousin and a few other girls from school. Her cousin Kaitlin is told to run which she does but can't forgive herself for leaving her with the attacker.
Years later she decides to interview all those conected with that night and this has desire consequences both to her and those involved. People start turning up dead and it all revolves around her. With the help of a detective who believes in her they eventually find those responsible. This book was riveting from start to finish and the twist at the end was unexpected.

Suspenseful, sinister, and exceptionally gripping!

Her Last Word is a fast-paced, intense police procedural that not only delves into a 14-year-old cold case involving a missing teen but takes you on a hunt for an obsessed serial killer consumed with revenge.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are flawed, scarred, and tenacious. And the complex plot told through a mixture of narration and interview-style musings interweaves into a compelling story with lots of twists, turns, red herrings, violence, sexual attraction, mayhem, and murder.

Once again with Her Last Word, Burton has written a highly entertaining, intricately woven mystery with a touch of romance that is satisfying, enthralling, and doesn't disappoint.

I received this book for free from the publisher through Netgalley for an honest review. Mary Burton is one of my go to authors and this book didn't disappoint. I always enjoy getting to read a story by her, they are comfort reads for me, and though they may have a somewhat predictable sequence of events I will always look forward to her new books and will buy them the day they come out. Kaitlin Roe was a witness to her cousin's abduction when they were teenagers and after years of addiction and self-punishment for her perceived lack of action to help her cousin she has decided to go back to where the crime took place to reopen the investigation through a cold case podcast. Not everyone is happy about Kaitlin being back in the area, many people blame her for what happened to her cousin, and deaths start occurring surrounding her investigation. Kaitlin ends up teaming up with a local law enforcement agent to try to solve her cousins abduction regardless of their growing attraction to each other. I enjoyed the multiple storylines that were occurring through out the story and liked how they all ended up tying in together in the end. I thought the romance was believable between the two main characters, liked that it took a somewhat backseat to the actual solving of the crime, and also thought the podcast angle was interesting. Though I know its a romantic suspense and there has to be some element of romance during the book I always like that this author continues to have an emphasis on them investigating/solving the case instead of just letting that become the background to the romance. I look forward to her next book and will always recommend this author to others

Excellent book! I am privileged to be part of this Author's Reviewer Circle. This book is so good I read it in 24 hours. When Kaitlin Roe was a teenager, her cousin Gina was abducted on a lonely country road. The girls are drunk. The abductor tells Kaitlin to run and she does. Still haunted by this event, 14 years later, Kaitlin returns to make a podcast in an attempt to bring Gina''s abduction to everyone's attention once more. She also attracts the killer's attention. Two of the girls who are interviewed are murdered and Kaitlin is attacked. Detective John Adler becomes involved in the homicides and in Kaitlin's life. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I await Ms. Burton's next book.

I really enjoyed this read due to the mystery and suspense. I was interested in what happened to Gina and who was killing all who associated with her on the day of her disappearance. I have to say that the killer of Kaitlyn's old acquaintances was not someone that I predicted...The reason for the star deduction is that this is more of a mystery with a splash of romance. I like my romance to have a splash of mystery. Nothing significantly romantic really happens until almost 90% of the book is over. If you're looking for a good mystery, this is a great read.

4.5 Stars!

Her Last Word was an exciting and fast-paced read with a gripping suspense plot and an interesting mix of characters.

Fourteen years ago Kaitlin Roe's cousin Gina was abducted in front of her eyes and Kaitlin was unable to stop it. After the police were unable to find a suspect, they turned their sights on Kaitlin and blamed her for Gina's disappearance. Kaitlin fled town and tried to put the entire ordeal behind her, but she's never been able to forgive herself for running away when Gina needed her most. In the hopes of putting her guilt to rest and to shine new light on Gina's case, Kaitlin decides to create a podcast about the case and begins interviewing everyone involved. When a woman Kailtin interviewed turns up dead, Kaitlin realizes she's started poking into things someone wants left alone.

Kaitlin was quite wild in her youth and was heavily into the party scene, drugs, and alcohol. Her wild ways didn't earn her any points after Gina's abduction and she was guilty in the eyes of the public. It took Kaitlin years to realize she was just numbing her pain with alcohol and that she'd never truly be over everything until she found out the truth about that night. I admired Kaitlin's willingness to push for the truth even when everyone tried to stop her. Kaitlin can be quite tenacious and it was fun watching her steamroll over people.

Detective John Adler catches the homicide case of the woman Kaitlin interviewed who was later murdered. He connects the murder with Kaitlin's podcast and Gina's case fairly quickly leading him down the rabbit hole. Adler is great at his job and I liked that he didn't let his attraction to Kaitlin get in the way of his job. I ended up really enjoying his relationship with Kaitlin and was happy with the way everything developed between them.

This book is told in an interesting format with Kaitlin's podcast appearing as mini chapters between the main story. I really liked how this worked out as it foreshadowed things to come in the story and we learned about some of the information Kaitlin dug up before the story began. Gina's case is an interesting one and I was curious about what happened to her the night she was taken. It was interesting seeing Kaitlin and Adler come at the case from opposing sides. I felt the author realistically showed how each of them would hold back information as they wouldn't want to compromise their own investigations. Overall I was satisfied with how everything turned out and there were several things that surprised me which is always a plus.

Her Last Word is only the second Mary Burton book I've read after reading The Last Move last year and I can say without a doubt she has become one of my favorite romantic suspense authors. I plan to read more of her books in the future and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a good romantic suspense author.

I really enjoy the duel story line between the past and present day. It ratcheted up the suspense and made for an exciting read. Great stand alone novel but with familiar characters from one of my favorite authors other novels. Mary Burton one of my favorite go to authors when I want romantic suspense and a murder mystery

This was such a gripping psychological thriller. There was many moving parts to the storyline. There was multiple things going one. It was told in a concise way that I didn’t get lost. This was a very enjoyable read. I was constantly thinking about who could be the killers. I received an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Her Last Word by Mary Burton that I read and reviewed.
Mary Burton hit it out of the park with Her Last Word. This book was an excellent read from the start. The only thing that I must caution readers to do is to be sure to look at the dates at the start of each chapter so that they they know if they are dealing with what is going on during the current time and not the memories that people are going over with Kaitlin for podcast.
I thought the matchup of Kaitlin and Adler was brilliant. They went together so well and you could feel the chemistry coming off the pages. As for they mystery of what happened to Gina and who was her killing people now who was there the night she disappeared it was well written and played out very well. This book truly was an great book and I hope to see some of the secondary characters in upcoming books as well.
Her Last Word gets nothing but five out of five stars.

Mary Burton has become one of those authors that when I see a new title by her I just have to read it so of course I was excited to pick up Her Last Word. When finished though this wasn’t one of my favorites simply due to the style of this romantic suspense novel.

The story is one that brings a cold case from fourteen years before to the forefront with crimes happening in the present. Kaitlin Roe had been a witness all those years ago when her cousin Gina had been abducted and with Gina never being found Kaitlin’s life had spun out of control for a while.

Now however Kaitlin’s gotten herself straightened out and decided to look into Gina’s case herself. After one of the people Kaitlin had just interviewed about Gina turns up dead Detective John Adler is concerned that Gina’s disappearance may be tied to the case and that Kaitlin may be in danger.

The way the book is written is by squeezing in Kaitlin’s interviews about Gina’s disappearance in between each chapter of the current story giving an alternating timeline. I’m one that is a bit hit or miss with enjoying alternating stories and unfortunately this one was a miss. To me Gina’s case could have easily been discussed in a prologue or the opening chapters instead of between the current story. The back and forth was a bit distracting and left me a bit disconnected with the book unfortunately. Still a solid plot within the book though and I will still keep coming back to this author in the future for sure.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This thriller fell totally flat for me. I was so excited for it, but it just didn't deliver.

The dialogue is completely flat. The characters voices aren't distinct, and there's also a fair bit of info-dumping. The writing overall is good, but it isn't amazing.

The story is boring. There's no major action, and the characters don't drive the plot. The plot isn't well structured and the time jumps and interviews interspersed throughout the current story situation make it hard to follow. I think they could've been arranged better.

The characters are so dull. No one comes alive and no one is vivid. Personalities are weak and one-dimensional, and the romance between Adler and Kaitlen is predictable and dry.


The book isn't a total miss, because it is rather relaxing. But it's not memorable, and the characters need serious fleshing out.

On August 15th, 2004 Kaitlin Roe, her 18 year old cousin Gina as well as two other 18 year old girls were hanging by the river. On Kaitlin and Gina's walk home, Gina was attacked by a person wearing a mask. The attacker tells Kaitlin to run and Gina is never seen again. While the investigation occurs , everyone in the town, as well as the police treat her as a suspect because she ran and they feel like she knows more than she is letting on. She moves away and changes her name so she can get on with her life.
14 years later, Kaitlin comes back and decides that Gina needs closure and she wants to interview anybody who closely knew Gina and the police for her podcast. Including the other 2 girls who were with them.
Throughout the book , it goes from past, present and future, so you really have to be paying attention to the dates. Also, it doesn't always say who the POV is from and it does get confusing at times. Since Kaitlin is doing a podcast there are times the story drags with a lot of her second guessing herself. Detective John Adler comes in the picture because people Kaitlin starts interviewing wind up dead. He is coming off medical leave, from being hurt on the job. They have chemistry and there's this flirtation that Kaitlin doesn't want to cross, because she doesn't trust cops. The story has good suspense and a little romance. When everything is reviled I feel like the guilty get off without punishment that, that person deserves and the end has too many unanswered questions.

I have to say I was not thrilled with this book. The way in which it was written and presented was distracting. It jumped from past to present to in-between ... the story lost it's flow as I had to go back and read the chapter title again to see where in the timeline I was in the story. I did not like this style of writing at all and feel that it did a disservice to the story line and the characters.

Thank you #NetGalley and #Montlakeromance for the eARC. This is my honest review.

This book kept my interest from the beginning page until the ending word. Well written!! I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed reading it. Mystery, thriller and suspense all rolled up together, this book will not disappoint.

A unsolved disappearance of young woman 14 years ago has one person finally seeking answers and another seeking revenge on those that were with her in her final moments.

Kaitlin Roe made many mistakes in her youth. After losing her brother to suicide at a young age to ease the pain she turned to drugs. Her mom in a desperate plea to save her daughter sent to her live with her Aunt and cousin in Virginia. She was only there for a year but that year forever changed her life. After a night of partying with her cousin and 2 friends, Gina is kidnapped in front of Kaitlin in a gruesome way. Gina is never seen from again and after the police not believing Kaitlin's story due to her past history with drugs she runs back to Texas. The guilt over not being able to help her cousin Gina that night and not being able to identify the man who took her finally reaches a boiling point for Kaitlin and she returns to Virginia to interview everyone that was involved that night – from the other women that were parting with them, their boyfriends at the time and also those in law enforcement that were assigned the case. What she didn't know would happen is her returning to town and reopening old wounds would lead to triggering a killer to start his vengeance against those remaining three girls from that night that he feels are responsible for her death.

This story was writing in an unique way. Some of the chapters are the interviews Kaitlin has done giving us all the different perspectives the people who were either directly or indirectly involved along with also giving us short chapters from inside the killers mind and his rationale for what he was doing.

After the first murder homicide detective John Adler and his partner Monica Quinn are assigned the case. The identity of the first victim has them realizing the death it tied to the missing person's case of Gina from 14 years ago. He and his team simultaneously reopening the old case while also trying to solve the current case which eventually leads to more victims and an also fatal attempt on Kaitlin's life.

I felt sorry for Kailin throughout the book. Other than using alcohol and drugs and having poor taste in boyfriends when she was younger she didn't deserve to be as ostracized as she was current day. She had cleaned up her life, got a college education and was a taught classes at college. Thank goodness after a rocky first meeting John realizes she is so much more than her past and knows she needs protecting from the killer.

Even though this isn't labeled as being part of the Forgotten Files series is has a couple of the characters from that series play big roles in this book. Dr. Tessa McGowan from The Doll Maker is the ME that deals with the bodies and Tobias Novak from The Hang Man is John's Captain. Always love getting to revisit past characters.

This was a page turning psychological suspense that had me speedreading to get to the end to find out how it was going to end.

I received an arc from Netgalley. This book was one of the best books of 2018 that I have read so far.

Kaitlin returns to the scene of the crime after years of being away. Her cousin Gina was grabbed and injured in front of Kaitlin but the intruder convinced Kaitlin to run. Kaitlin can’t live with the unknown of where Gina is after all this time. Where is her body? Who took her that night?

John Adler is the detective investigating Gina and all the other murders that start occurring to the women who were together that night so long ago. As he starts to investigate and learn more about Kaitlin their feelings for each other can’t be denied.

I felt at times I should have a whiteboard out keeping track of clues and suspects. I love a book like this that not only offers romance but keeps you on your toes with clues.

5 stars for this one and definitely will recommend this book to others.

4.5 Stars

Kaitlin Roe's cousin, Gina, was abducted 14 years ago ... Kaitlin was the only witness. She still feels guilt every day of her life .... the abductor told her to run ... and she did. At the time, police suspected she knew more than she was telling but she was scared to death .. and drunk. She doesn't remember much.

After all these years, she decides that she will put together a podcast and re-interviewing everyone who knew Gina at that time. Gina's abduction has never been solved and Kaitlin is hoping this will open a new line for the detectives to look into.

Detective John Adler is called to investigate the murder of a young woman .. a woman who Kaitlin has interviewed. And then someone else close to the investigation is killed.

Has Kaitlin's interviews attracted the interest of someone who doesn't want this case re-opened? It's up to Adler to catch the bad guy and protect the woman who has also captured his personal interest.

Book Blurb - As a bond between Kaitlin and Adler builds, the past closes in just as fast—and it’s darker than Kaitlin remembers. Soon, her wish will come true. She’s going to find out exactly what happened to Gina. Someone has been dying to tell her.

I have read several of this author's book and have never been disappointed. I have found all her books to be well-written with characters that don't disappear from memory overnight.

I really enjoyed how this one was written. The chapters are divided by all of Kaitlin's interviews ... each person's story is there for the reader to decide if they are telling the truth ... or do they know more than they're telling. Some chapters are Kaitlin's memories of the night that Gina disappeared. The suspense starts building from the very page and builds to an explosive ending.

Many thanks to the author / Montlake Romance / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of HER LAST WORD. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.