The Last Thing I Saw – Alex Sinclair

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

This story revolves around Darren and Emma Turner, along with their son Jayden – in the opening prologue, Emma is holding a gun in trembling hands, and pointing it towards her husband, wondering how things had come to this point.

The novel then segues into life ‘before’ – an idyllic life that the three shared, while Darren runs what appears to be a thriving construction business. They live in an upper middle-class home and appear to be the typical family. Then, a construction worker is hurt on the job – and files a lawsuit. Then strange things begin happening – the family feels as if they’re being stalked, presumably by a member of the injured workers family. The police offer little support.

Then, you learn about things ‘after’. Emma is in a psychiatric facility, with no idea as to why, and what might have happened to place her there. She’s puzzled and hurt by the fact that her family won’t come and visit her. As she receives psychotherapy in attempts to piece together the events that lead to her hospitalization, she struggles with the advances and hatred of a corrupt orderly in the hospital.

The novel continues in this vein, switching between ‘before’ and after in the narrative as you learn about the sequence of events that lead up to the moment described in the prologue, and you see Emma’s slow recovery as she attempts to regain her memory of the events of that horrific night, with the storylines culminating into a showdown you won’t see coming, and with a protagonist that will shock you!!

I very much enjoyed this book! Had work not gotten in the way, I would have read it in one siting, because I did not want to put it down. Each chapter reveals a bit more and pulls you in deeper, and you keep flipping those pages, wanting – no - needing to know what happens next. A great read!! I look forward to reading more from this author!!

The Last Thing I Saw by Alex Sinclair is a psychological thriller that is told in the before and after format. It begins with Emma in the hospital of no memory of what brought her there so as you follow her in the present it flashes back to what had happened.

Things were going well for Emma, her husband and their son until one day Emma gets a threatening mail and that is when things start falling apart for the family. Emma’s husband admits his company has been having problems and he thinks the threats are due to an accident with a long time employee.

Emma does what anyone would think she should and calls in the police but with no concrete evidence the police aren’t much help with only filing a report and writing the events off. Things continue to escalate for the family until it all finally spirals out of control.

Now with this psychological thriller I am clearly in the minority with my rating and I should say upfront that it has nothing to do with the author’s style or writing. I would actually still pick up another book by Alex Sinclair since his writing flowed well with this format and my issues were my own personal tastes with the story.

To start the first thing I found was the setting is not a hospital as the synopsis suggested really but a mental facility which is not a favorite setting of mine. I actually thought this one was going to go better than most reads with this setting but in walked the character Tom and it spiraled for me. And this section really had nothing to do with the story and didn’t need to be included which didn’t help at all.

Also, I was not really a fan of how this story ended. The writing had been solid, I’d made it through a setting I hadn’t enjoyed a lot and I was hoping for one bang up ending but didn’t find it. While the final twist did seem a bit obvious to me that wasn’t really what put me off but just that I didn’t find how it was revealed to be believable at all and more the cause of some eye rolling for me. So while I didn’t end up a fan of this one it was definitely a case of not my cup of tea so give it a shot if it does sound like one for you.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. This is a very well written, fast-paced, page turner with a shocking ending that I did not see coming. Emma is married to Darren and they have a son Jayden. Darren has a construction company and one of his employees gets hurt on the job and is in the process of suing him. All sorts of things begin to happen to this family that leads to a very climatic shocking ending. If you are looking for a gripping thriller, I highly recommend this book.

Wowee, what a reveal right near the end! Phew, that was an OMG moment for sure!

Emma is in a mental hospital, but she doesn't know why. She did something so terrible that she's blocked it from her mind and throughout the story, as she talks to her doctor, the truth starts to be revealed. I had guessed part of the truth, but not all of it. No, the real truth was truly chilling.

It's hard to say much without giving the story away, but this is such a good book, the writing style so easy to read and the pace just right. The sense of fear and panic grows throughout the book as Emma's family are terrorised until we come to the final showdown. Which I have to say, is a cracker. Loved it!

Thanks to Net galley, Bookouture and the author for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was my first time to read Alex Sinclair, it certainly didn't disappoint, the author reels you in straight away. The story is told from Emma Turner's perspective who finds herself waking up in a psychiatric hospital but has no reason as to why, the story jumps from "before" the hospital and "after" the hospital. I loved the build up and just wanted to keep reading to find out what happened to her on that night that caused her to have a mental breakdown and completely block those memories!! Would definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good psychological thriller.
Thank you to Netgalley & Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really had trouble getting into this novel. I couldn't remember the characters and just didn't see a lot that kept my attention.

While saying that I see promise with this book and author. I can see a strong ability to build a story and a character that is believable

Thanks to Bookoutre and Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this book.

It's an interesting one for me to review, as, although I found it absorbing and at times claustrophobic, as you follow the lead character who is going through her own personal hell. Overall, I found it a little too much like a 'made for TV movie' for me. It's not a bad read and there is a good twist in the tale, it's just 'ok' from my perspective. A solid 3 stars.

The synopsis of The Last Thing I Saw drew me in like a moth to a flame. Billed as a psychological thriller where you will be checking your door is locked and looking over your shoulder lured me in and I was expecting great things.

Whilst this book was good, I read it in a few days and did enjoy it. I did feel that it didn’t quite live up to its prediction.

I would give this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

'The Last Thing I Saw' concerns Emma, who wakes up in a psychiatric unit with no memory of the past 24 hours and how or why she has ended up there. All she knows is that her husband and son refuse to visit her, and what follows is the journey Emma takes, along with her daily appointments with her psychiatrist, to try and work out what has happened.

The story is told from the perspective of Emma, and I found that there were simply far too many unnecessary details, and the plot was very slow-moving. Some of the details were obivously necessary in order to build up to the plot twist, but I felt there were too many things about people that weren't concerned with the main plot. For a psychological thriller there wasn't nearly enough tension to keep me hooked. Although I read this book in two days, it was through desperation to get to the climax as opposed to thoroughly enjoying the book I was ready.

The chapters alternate between 'before' the incident, and 'after' the incident. Going back and reading the 'before's allows the reader to build up a picture of what they think might have happened during that forgotten incident, and as the chapters progress you are drip-fed more and more information. I'll admit the plot was fairly predictable and so when the 'twist' came I wasn't surprised, and I did find it was a little over the top.

This was a fairly easy-to-read book, but it lacked the excitement and tension I usually look for in psychological thrillers.

From the description, I discovered that this book had been previously published before as Don’t let me Die. This edition has gone through significant editorial revisions.

First, I’d like to say that I know many people don’t like the use of the f word and swearing using Jesus and God in the books they read. This book contains both. There are so many wonderful writers out there with best selling books that don’t resort to this, and readers appreciate that they can read a book without cringing at the language. The mom, on several occasions corrected her son for his bad language which is truly baffling because if a parent talks like that, how can they expect their kids not to? So many of the phrases people pick up are learned from others. (Which is another reason to stay away from books with all this bad language.)

The story consists mainly of the stream of consciousness of the main character, Emma. While the book can be considered to be a thriller, although not the best I’ve ever read, the plot is a bit over the top. The husband was too wishy washy not able to make a reasonable decision and stick to it. The wife was more than a little self centered. There was also too much repetition in the after chapters. The ending was difficult to believe if you think back to what you learned earlier in the book, and certain parts just don't add up.

Overall, this is an ok book.

I love to find myself totally captivated by a storyline so much so that everyday life becomes an inconvenience.

Sadly this didn’t happen on this occasion. Without giving the plot away the first 2/3 of the book held my attention but the ending disappointed. Perhaps as it was too far fetched & unrealistic?

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Bookouture for this review copy given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Noelle from Bookouture for organising the Blog Tour.

Please note, this book has previously been titled Don’t Let Me Die. This edition, The Last Thing I Saw, contains significant editorial revisions.

Emma is in a psychiatric hospital. She has no idea why she is there, but whatever the reason is her husband and son refuse to visit her. She receives help from one of the psychiatrists to try and remember what happened on the night she can’t remember. The story takes you through Emma’s story from before that night and after and Emma’s attempt to regain her forgotten memory.

My first book by this author. For information, this book is based in America. The story begins with Emma in a psychiatric hospital. The first few chapters of Emma describing her existence in this hospital reminded me so much of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’. Obviously, psychiatric facilities aren’t meant to be four star hotels, but this one sounded frightening, particularly when, like Emma, you are unable to remember why you are there. Emma’s mind has obviously chosen to ‘forget’ what has happened to result in Emma being in there and her case has been taken over by a more sympathetic psychiatrist who begins working to unlock what is going on in Emma’s mind.

I loved the way the book kept me questioning what was going on and what had actually happened on that night. The issue of her husband and son not wanting to visit her was also a mystery which doesn’t get revealed until the very end. The switching between the two times, before and after, was great and kept the story interesting. I thought I had worked out what was going on half way through the book, but I was wrong! This book needs to be read to the very end to really understand the story!

I won’t delve into the storyline any more as I don’t want to ruin it for future readers. The actual plot of the story is difficult to talk about without giving too much away. All in all, it was a seriously creepy read, setting my teeth on end and giving me goose bumps throughout. The ‘after’ scenes of Emma’s time in the hospital was described perfectly and gave me images of what it must have been like. It was also a reasonably short book and didn’t take long to get through, so was great to get to the end quicker to find out what the hell had happened!!

Creepy, spine-tingling and hypnotic!! A very much recommended read!!

Oh my gosh, this book was amazing. You start with Emma waking up, not knowing why she is there, in a mental hospital. She has no memories of why she is there or what she has done to cause the mental break and memory lapse that she has. The author does a wonderful job at keeping the full story from you and leading you down the wrong path as to what happened and why Emma is there. I don't want to give it away, but I did not figure it out until about three chapters before you found out who and what happened.

With what Emma had to do, the choice she had to make it is no wonder she had a mental break. Under those conditions I think I would have had a break long before she did, but then I have a history of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. When Emma remembers what happened and who caused it I am surprised she did not have another break instead of powering through it.

It all ends up good in the end, but you are left wondering if it ever will be good. I do not know if Emma and the survivor (trying not to give away the story) will ever be able to put the pieces of their life back together again. I know for one thing Emma has a lot of work to do to get back to a semblance of her normal self.

Enjoyed the book immensely. Very suspenseful. It kept my interest throughout the entire novel. I would read more by this author.

I wish I hadn’t read the reviews for The Last Thing I Saw Before I started reading it because a few of them give away a quite major plot twist in the story that ruined my enjoyment of this book. Perhaps the previous title before Bookouture bought and changed it had a blurb that gave more of the story away, but still, to give away major plot twists in a review is infuriating. That said, I did mostly enjoy the book but given that the aforementioned twist didn’t get revealed until after the 90% mark, it meant that I spent 90% of the book waiting for something I knew was coming. I am rating the book on the basis of what I would have rated it had the ending had the shock value it will for those than don’t get spoiled and so this is a high 4 star rating for me.

The Last Thing I Saw tells the story of Emma Turner who awakens in a mental hospital with no idea of how she got there and she also can’t understand why her husband and son refuse to visit her. The story is told in the present and we also have chapters taking us back in time before the catastrophic event that changed Emma’s life forever. I loved this style of storytelling and found that it kept my interest up, and the mystery and intrigue was strong throughout. The reader is piecing together Emma’s memories at the same time as she is and it was an atmospheric read at times particularly inside the hospital which was more like a prison. We see Emma go from having a loving family life with her husband and teenage son, to something happening at her husband’s business that sets in motion the downfall of this happy couple’s life as they knew it up until this point. She’s an easy character to root for, and I wanted to see her find answers and closure in the face of the adversities she faced inside the hospital.

I liked the pacing of this book. It is a little bit of a slow-burner and isn’t an action-packed read in the sense that every other page will leave you breathless, but it’s very character-driven as we start to see what happened that led to Emma finding herself in a mental hospital. There’s one final twist in the tale that I did work out before it came but that I still very much enjoyed because I felt it was believable. This story is a good exploration of families and what makes them tick, and the jealousies that can often be found lurking within them. I very much enjoyed The Last Thing I Saw however I would have enjoyed it more without reading those spoiler-filled reviews beforehand and so I recommend reading this book without looking at reviews beforehand (apart from of course this one if you’re reading this now!) It is an enjoyable read from an author with great potential and I will certainly be reading whatever Alex Sinclair writes for us next.

On the cover we see the blue eye of Emma. One sentence sums up the book: "You thought your family was safe, you were wrong".

It all starts when Emma wakes up in the hospital without remembering what happened in the last 24 hours, her husband and son refuse to see her. She will do everything to remember and know her family safe reassures her. She just remembers seeing a pair of cold, dark eyes before falling asleep.

A good psychological thriller well written with the character of Emma tying with lots of twists.

This was an excellent physiological thriller that will keep you guessing through the whole book. I enjoyed it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

After reading so many positive reviews for this book, I was thrilled that I received an advanced copy as I couldn’t wait to read it. However, I think my expectations were a bit too high. While the book had promise, I just found the story to “made for tv”. It was almost too scripted and unbelievable. Emma (the main character) annoyed me and the decisions her and her family made were very spur of the moment and not thought through. I also found parts of the story to be unnecessary. For example, the plot with Tom the orderly. I don’t know how that worked with the framework of the story. For a story labeled as a Thriller, I feel it lacked that excitement most books in the same genre have. I even guessed the ending about halfway through. I hate giving out negative reviews because everyone puts in so much time and effort into developing the story but I was not overly satisfied. I hope Sinclair’s other books can redeem this one because there’s potential in his writing.

Emma wakes up in a psychiatric hospital with no memory of why she is there. She can remember everything up to the evening before she was placed in the hospital. She meets with a Dr. daily to try to recover her memory about the night that changed her life. She knows that she and her family were being harassed and threatened from someone who works for her husband. Someone had been watching her home, taking pictures of her family, and breaking into their house. The police don't believe them because there is no real evidence and Emma's family is forced to take matters into their own hands. The consequences of those actions will land Emma in the hospital, waiting for her husband and son to come and visit her.

After reading so many positive reviews I was expecting to like this book a lot more than I did. The chapters alternate between "before" and "after" and it just didn't hold my interest enough. Emma irritated me and I found the characters bland and not very interesting. Minor plot problems irritated me too. They knew they were being watched but it took them while to set their house alarm? Something was stolen from their house and then returned one day when they were out but the alarm didn't go off? Emma gets pictures sent to her and she doesn't think to screenshot them on her phone or forward them as evidence before they're deleted? Nothing really "thrilling" happened. The whole family was very quick to act on their own without really giving the police a chance to gather evidence and attempt to help them. The "main event" that she keeps trying to remember irritated me too. How did Jayden get in the car when he was at his friend's house. He didn't know his uncle enough to trust him. Why would the family ever in a million years think it was ok to meet someone in a park at midnight? Dumb and naive.

This one just didn't do it for me!

Truly compellingly read! Read in one sitting, the author kept me guessing as to what Emma had done, I definitely wasn’t expecting that twist as the end either! 5 stars! Thankyou to netgalley and Alex Sinclair for the arc