Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and Mark Edwards for the chance to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Mark Edwards has fast become one of my favourite writers with his chilling psychological thrillers now being a must read for me. So, I was filled with an eager, yet nervous, anticipation before reading this conclusion to his sinister Magpies trilogy.

The gang are all back one last time. Lucy Newton is still missing after her dramatic escape following the terrifying events in Shropshire a year ago. Her victims, Jamie Knight and his ex-wife Kirsty, are still tormented by their experiences and struggling to move on knowing she could strike again at any time. Frustrated that the police appear to be idly sitting by waiting for Lucy to make a mistake, Jamie decides he has to take action. So when his friend suggests talking to true crime podcaster Emma Fox, he agrees in the hope that she’ll be able to do what the police haven’t and Lucy will soon be safely behind bars. Kirsty is taking a different approach. Having seen multiple therapists and tried various ways to try and exorcise herself of the demon of Lucy Newton, she is still haunted by her and decides to sever the small amount of contact she still has with Jamie in the hope that it will help. But the pair are thrown back together into a final showdown with Lucy that they will all be lucky to survive…

Wow! This was a spectacular end to a series I’ve enjoyed. Written from multiple points of view this book spends a lot of time focusing on how Lucy’s nefarious games have affected Jamie and Kirsty, and their struggle to live their lives in the knowledge their tormentor is still out there, biding her time. Lucy’s point of view is for the most part given in the form of the unedited version of her memoir, which is far more damning than what was published. Reading the unfiltered inner-workings of this psychopath’s mind was truly chilling. In Lucy this author has created a villain who if she were real would be up there with the best known psychopathic killers of our age. Those chapters terrified me.

Now let’s discuss the twists (no spoilers I promise). I thought I’d got it sussed but boy was I wrong. The final quarter of the book had me unable to tear myself away as the tension reached its pique and all bets were off on the fates of our main characters. Most of all I loved that as we spent most of the story only knowing about Jamie and Kirsty in the present so that when Lucy’s whereabouts were revealed I had the same jaw-dropping sense of shock that the characters did.

Last of the Magpies ended this trilogy on the high note it deserved. You need to read the previous two books before reading this one for sure as even though it does a great job of catching you up, you’ll be lost without being able to have your memory simply jogged about past events. A quick but brilliant read I would recommend this, and the series, to anyone who loves a well written psychological thriller.

This is the 3rd and final book in the trilogy 'Magpies'. I loved the first book and not so much the second but this one was a fitting climax to a very good series.
Jamie Knight and his ex-wife just about survived when they walked into Lucy Newton's trap. Twelve months on with the police making very little progress on Lucy's, Jamie decides to join forces with a true crime pod-caster to track down his arch enemy. It may be harder to get Kirsty to forgive him for his past errors and join the team to hunt down Lucy.
You will really need to read the previous two books in this series to get a full understanding and satisfaction. This 100 pages climax is a good read and a very decent climax.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Thomas & Mercer for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the Magpies series and was eager to read the finale. I finished it in one sitting.
This is a short but gripping single that wraps up the events from the previous two books and bring us to a satisfying ending.

This is not a stand alone and the books should be read in order to appreciate this unique story; The Magpies / A Murder of Magpies / Last of the Magpies.

Thanks Netgalley, Amazon Publishing, and Mark Edwards for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

The last of the Magpie trilogy, and it easily lived up to the previous 2 stories. When I finished all I could say was OMG OMG OMG!!

It was fantastic to see what was going on in the lives of Jamie and Kirstie. Shocking to see Lucy hasn’t changed in the slightest, and is still the scheming, conniving evil woman she always was. With a few new faces, and an old face returning, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Thank you Mark Edwards.

Mark Edwards' short stories pack just as much of a punch as his full length books and I adore that about them.

Last of the Magpies is the third edition of the Lucy Newton story and it's addictive, fast paced and I stayed up way past my bedtime because I just couldn't stop reading it.

Lucy is one of the best written villains I have ever come across and while I'm sad that this is the last book we will get about her, Last of the Magpies is the perfect conclusion to the story.

It's really hard not to like anything he writes and this was no exception. It amazes me how his books can leave me wanting more.
This doesn't work as a standalone.

First you need to know that it would be better to read The Magpies to fully enjoy this latest by Edwards. This is the conclusion of that book. It was nice to find out what happened to the characters long term. Maybe Mr. Edwards will think about dropping in on them from time to time.

I only have one complaint with this novella, it's the last one in the series! The Magppies was my first foray into Mark Edwards' writing and each book he writes gets better. I enjoyed this final segment and look forward to more of his writing.

Wow what a book.
This book really brought all of the Magpies series together. It gave the reasons, the past of Lucy what drove her to do the things she did. Shocked about Paul but understood why he just disappeared.
I started this book at 7pm was working behind a bar at the time and finished by 10pm kept me gripped to the end.
Loved the way Kirsty and Jamie handled Lucy at the end and how they finally got back together

"Last of the magpies" is the third and last instalment in The Magpies series, bringing a satisfying conclusion to the story. Some things felt a little bit rushed, but that's understandable being this a novella. All in all, I've enjoyed this series pretty much.

Thanks to Netgalley, Amazon Publishing UK and Thomas & Mercer for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the final instalment of a trilogy by the hugely popular Mark Edwards which began with The Magpies and continued with A Murder of Magpies. (I wasn’t actually aware of the latter till now, so thought I’d better read it before reading this one. It’s pretty short - a novella, really, as is this - so didn’t take long.)

There’s no doubt that Mark Edwards’ books are a light, easy read and a page turner (or Kindle swiper?), and seem to be adored by large numbers of people. I enjoyed The Magpies well enough when I read it, though didn’t really find it stood up well to re-reading a few years later. In that book, young couple Jamie and Kirsty are terrorised by their neighbour, Lucy, who turns out to be... well, spoilers, I guess. A Murder of Magpies continues the story and was OK, though predictable and very slight (and with a completely gratuitous sex scene which seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever), and Last of the Magpies rounds things off, with Jamie and Kirsty going up against the evil Lucy one more time. Again, the story feels very slight, and the “podcast” angle feels like it’s just been thrown in to sound current, with no real bearing on the story.

We do get a bit of Lucy’s back story here, via an unpublished manuscript, but it really tells us nothing, other than that she was basically born evil. Nothing happened to make her that way; she’s just a bad ‘un and really a bit of a cartoon villain.

It’s an unpopular viewpoint, probably, but I just don’t feel there’s enough in this story to spin it out to a trilogy (borne out perhaps by the fact that the second and third instalments are both novellas rather than full length novels). Nasty Lucy just
isn’t that interesting and neither are Jamie and Kirsty. I couldn’t bring myself to care about their relationship. Other characters felt under used.

In summary, The Magpies was a good enough read but I feel Mark Edwards should probably have left it there. Nevertheless, I read all three and will no doubt continue to read whatever he produces next - his books are just such an easy read that there’s something hard to resist about them.

I've followed the author Mark Edwards closely for a while now. In fact the first book if his I read was The Magpies. Where we first meet Lucy Newton, what a fantastically chilling character she is. 
In this book we finally see what happens in the end to the three main characters of these books. At the end of the first two I was left wondering what had happened to them and how their lives will be after what they'd been through. 
This book was relatively short, as was the middle book (A Murder of Magpies) but that doesn't mean it was short of any action. From the get go the book focuses solely around what happened to Lucy and where she is now. Of course I knew at some point during the book she would appear again but I wasn't expecting her to appear under the circumstances she did. After already spending two books finding out about Lucy and learning about how sick and twisted she is there was still a few little surprises thrown at me. She is definitely one of the most intricate and fleshed out characters I've ever met. I finished this book in a matter of hours because (as with all Mard Edwards books) I was dying to know what happened in the end. 
When the book finished I was sad to realise this is the last I would see of the amazing characters in the book but I'm also looking forward to what's coming next. 


Overall a quick and thrilling read with a great conclusion. 

Would give this books 5 stars of course

Jamie and Kirsty were in a relationship when Lucym a psychopath almost destroyed them both. Lucy had done her research and knew that Kirsty was an arachnophobe, something she used to torture her. Lucy has escaped from police custody twice and is now in hiding. Now apart, Jamie can’t settle until Lucy has been caught. The police operation has been scaled down however a journalist who has a reputation for finding people would like to do a series of podcasts on the case. when Emma goes to chase up a lead she gets more than she bargained for. Oooh!! As ever Mark quickly and carefully draws the reader in and gives a sense of tension and urgency between the pages. This is a novella dn the last in the magpie series (it will stand alone but why miss out on the others?). Brilliantly written as ever from the master of words and psychological thrillers. I very much look forward to the next Mark Edwards book.
(links when published)

Mark Edwards is one of my favourite British authors, so I was delighted to get a copy of this book which is a conclusion to The Magpies.
This is a fast paced, short book that follows up on his first bestseller. It was an enjoyable and quick read that is a must for anyone who has read the original book.

This is the third and final part to the Magpies.
You will need to read the two previous books as it won’t make sense as a standalone.
I enjoyed this book more than the last one, it really tidied up what happened to Lucy, Jamie and Kirsty and ended the series well.
If you haven’t read The Magpies go and read it so you can read this book too. Loved it.
Defiantly recommend the series

Twelve months ago Jamie and Lucy walked straight into Lucy Newton’s trap, they barely survived. Now, with the police investigation into Lucy’s disappearance going nowhere, Jamie teams up with a true crime podcaster to track down his nemesis.

This is the the third and final part of The Magpies. It is a short novella so is very quick and easy to read. You will need to read the first two parts before this as it won’t work as a standalone read.

I enjoyed reading the final instalment of The Magpies. Thank you to Amazon Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Talented writer of psychological thrillers Mark Edwards has always thought fondly of his first novel ‘The Magpies’, published in 2013, as the novel that launched his career as an author, enabling him to give up his day job and commit his time to building up his catalogue, popularity and fan base full time. So much so that in 2018 he wrote short a story called ‘A Murder of Magpies’ continuing the story of Lucy Newton, the infamous serial killer. This novella, to be published later on this month and entitled ‘Last of the Magpies’, completes the trilogy with a spectacular and thrilling finale.
A year after evil and amoral Lucy Newton miraculously escapes through the woods, leaving Jamie and Kirsty Knight to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Jamie is approached by True Life Crime Podcaster Emma who wants to tell the story from his point of view. The police investigation and indeed the hunt for Lucy Newton has frustratingly virtually come to a standstill. Jamie, now split from his wife, has been unable to return to Freemantle whilst Lucy is still running free. Instinctively he feels that he doesn’t want to help Emma, but with Lucy’s book release recounting her warped version of the events freely available, he eventually agrees to be involved with the Podcast so that at least Lucy’s version is challenged by the truthful account of what happened at Mount Pleasant.
Paul, left in a coma after Lucy’s duplicitous actions, is recovering but has chosen to leave the country, travelling and getting as far away from the place as he can. Emma hopes to track him down for her Podcast, keen to talk to any of the witnesses who knew Lucy well. She visits Kirsty who wants nothing to do with it. She is living with her daughter and building a new life after her marriage split with Jamie. They don’t see each other, both getting on with their lives, but not quite truthful about how they feel after their divorce. Emma asks Jamie to try to persuade Kirsty to come on board, feeling that it is in her interest to cooperate. Emma is driven to find out where Lucy is hiding and ensure that justice is done at last.
What happens next is at the heart of this short novella, filled with twists and turns, thrills and spills and blind alleyways. All is not as it seems to be at first, and the novella is action packed and absorbing. Mark Edwards is a fantastic storyteller and his characters are relatable and true to life. This is the ending that Mark’s fans have all been waiting for and I’m sure they will enjoy it. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Amazon Publishing through my membership of NetGalley. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences.

I am going to assume you have read the first two books. If not, please don't read on as this book follows on from them and this review might spoil things. Also, it's not really a book that can be read stand-alone so... off you pop!
If you're still with me, you know what you are getting into with Lucy Newton. She's on the run after escaping the authorities but Jamie just can't let her go and get on with his life. As long as she is out there he can't relax. Even if she's not tormenting him, someone else is probably in danger. After all, leopards don't change their spots. In this, the last instalment of the story, Jamie teams up with a true crime investigative podcaster to try and find her and end thing once and for all. But he needs Kirsty's help... will she be there for him? And will they finally triumph over the evil that is Lucy Newton?
This book brings the story to the right end. And that's all I'm going to say. You've read the first two books, you know what you're in for. I will however mention that throughout this relatively short book, there are chapters from Lucy's own "unedited" memoir. The contents of which are rather shocking and illuminating and go a long way to explaining some stuff.
Once you've got to the end of the book and had a bit of a lie down, please do read the afterward where the author explains a few things about the original Magpies book. It's worth a read in itself!
All in all, a sad day as this journey is finally over but a happy one too as it's a cracking book and closes things out for all involved.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I loved the first two books in The Magpies series and was so glad when I heard there was another to finish off the series. Lucy is still at large and Jamie can't rest or move on until he knows where she is and gets justice, He would love to have Kirsty by his side to face this but is it too late!!
Loved the ending a very fitting ending to this trilogy

I have read the first of the Magpies books but didn’t realise there was a second and this one is the third. I would definitely recommend reading them in order because I was a little confused as times which I suppose means this wouldn’t really work as a stand-alone. A neighbour terrorised Jamie And Kirsty And this Book is about them hunting her down to get revenge. It’s a short story so it’s a really easy read but does feel a bit rushed in places. It’s enjoyable enough and there’s some suspense but it almost feels like there’s not enough time to get into it before it’s finished.