Unfortunately I am unable to review this as I do not have the book. Perhaps this is an error or maybe I didn't read and review in time and it has disappeared

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I quite liked this novel. The plot was intriguing and suspenseful enough to keep my interested in it. It's well written and the plot doesnt feel overdone. The twists kept coming. Great book!

This is a roller coaster ride of twists and turns! It is a fast paced read that keeps you turning the pages as quickly as possible. Highly recommend!

If you love psychological thrillers you will love this book. Once I started reading I did not want to stop.

Kelsey has just moved to a new town and hasn't quite gotten everything.figured out yet. She drops her daughter off at her new day care so she can take a bit of time to herself in hopes of feeling more at ease about this new venture. When Kelsey goes back to the day care to pick up her daughter she is not there. Not only isn't she there they have no record of the young child ever being there.
Things go from bad to worse when she can reach her husband, he isn't answering his phone and his new job says he never showed up to take the job. The police are called in and they aren't sure what is going on., Is this woman crazy or is what she saying true? If what she is saying is the truth that means they could be dealing with a parental abduction. Detective Paul Ryan is on the case but if he is truthful he doesn't know what to think of Kelsey and her tale. Detective Ryan tries to uncover the truth and separates fact from fiction. Is Kelsey being honest? If so will he be able to help her find her child before it's to late.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.

This book had promise. I was a struggle to follow the story because each chapter changed narrators but didn’t tell you who the new narrator was. It was also hard to like any of the characters. Kelsey goes from worried mother to crazy in just a few chapters and Detective Ryan is more worried about getting into Kelsey’s pants that actually doing detective work. Overall I was a little disappointed.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. I loved it! It was a fast paced and exciting thriller. I couldn’t put it down and turned the pages fast enough. It had many twists and turns snd was so entertaining. I have recommended it to my many book clubs and friends. I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future. Thanks again to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher as well as the author, JM. Windchester. This book was just okay for me at the start as it follows a lost child trope which I kind of like. I do not want to bash the book because it may be the fact that I read so many thrillers that I find similar things a bit lazy but the book has great twists and was very thrilling.

Thank you!

I read this book in 2 days. So good! At times I felt the sexual parts were too forced, but other than that I liked the story.

What a wild ride!

Kelsey heads to pick-up her daughter at day care, only to find they have no record of her daughter ever being there. Panicked, she calls her husband, but he's not picking up. Detective Paul Ryan is tasked with solving the mystery only to be pulled into a web he doesn't realize he's caught in. Did the father take their little girl and disappear without a trace? Is Kelsey who she says she is?

Don't read too much about the plot in advance. Go in a blind as possible and enjoy this dark and twisty read. The writing is sharp and quick and draws you in. There are twists galore and all the plot pieces come together in such clever way at the end. Highly recommend this to thriller lovers who like the unconventional. I can't wait to read more by the author!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Wow! My head is still spinning from this book! Kelsey goes to pick up her daughter at daycare, they've never heard of her. She calls her husband, no answer. Even worse, he never accepted the job offer of where she thought he was working. So begins a crazy and twisty story with a terrific ending! Thank you so much for letting me read this!

So this was an interesting read. The tale of twins and switched identities was nothing new but this book did have you wondering what was going on. I guess you are supposed to guess early on that the woman who is narrating was not Kelsey but at first I didn't put two and two together. Of course when the big reveal happened I was like duh, I should have noticed that a long time ago. The cop's story thrown in there was... A good connection at the end but I don't know if it truly added greatness to the story. The twins were definitely messed up and honestly I think Holly was even more messed up. She watched that man kill all those teenagers and I don't get the sense that she felt that bad about it. Maybe she did. But while Kelsey was messed up, her's was more apparent. Holly was messed up while it being hidden and well managed. Overall this was an okay book. The title definitely goes well with what happens at the end.

Whoa! This was definitely a good psychological thriller! I was so unsure what was going on for most of the book. I was off base on one main logical explanation I had, but that one was wrong. LOL

Kelsey is a woman whose daughter goes missing, and when she checks with her husband he never answers his phone. She ends up calling the police and when Detective Ryan comes to investigate he begins to realize that maybe Kelsey isn't being completely honest with him; however, he has lustful thoughts about her and that taints his ability to focus on the case. He's also been investigating his missing sister who'd been missing for many years.

I really don't want to spoil this one but there are so many things about this one that make it so good: mystery, suspense, violence, murder, romance (or at least sex), abuse, deceit, and psychological and mental factors.

I highly recommend this one! It has a different twist, but pay close attention as you read.

Although this book was readable I found it very frustrating to read. The plot line was so improbable it was almost funny. Detective Paul Ryan is an unlikeable character with no respect for other men in his department (Rooky Cop), and apparently no self control! He is far from thorough and extremely annoying. Spends more time having sex than looking for a missing child! There are some glaring errors in the book from the beginning and by the end I was very frustrated that a simple examination of a woman would indicate if she had ever had a baby which would have solved a mystery for sure.
Many thanks to Netgalley/J.M. Winchester/Thomas & Mercer for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was bizarre and twisted! I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down and had to know what was going to happen.

None of the characters were really likeable, which was probably the intention. Every time I thought I had figured something out there was another twist.

Totally recommended for a quick, suspenseful read.

Kelsey and her family move to a new area for a fresh start until one frightful day. Kelsey arrives at daycare to pick up her daughter, but she’s not there and there has been no record. Her husband is also missing. What is going here, it sounds predictable that the husband left with their daughter right? This is so suspenseful, twisty, and fast paced. Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, NetGalley, and J.M. Winchester for an ebook copy. This is my honest review.

Last One to Lie is the 2nd book I have read by J.M. Winchester and I liked this one much better than her first book. This is a twisty thriller which deals with a pair of twins, switched identities, a missing child & husband and a 15 year old cold case about more than a dozen missing teenage girls.

The book chapters are written in an alternative POV of Kelsey Jennings whose 2 year old daughter and husband have gone missing and detective Paul Ryan who is assigned to solve this missing case. The chapters do not mention directly whose POV we are reading but it becomes very clear early on so there isn't much confusion... that is until a third voice enters the scene; it was around this point that I really had to start paying more attention.

Overall, it is a fast paced thriller with a good amount of twist and turns. Like detective Paul Ryan, we initially think this will be a straight forward case of abduction until it isn't!

My thanks to NetGalley, the publishers Thomas and Mercer and the author J.M. Winchester for an e-Arc of the book.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
The story begins with Kelsey leaving yoga class and going to daycare to pick up her daughter she'd dropped off that morning. But when she gets there, nobody has any idea who she is or who her daughter is. As a mother, I can only image the horror Kelsey is going through but it became clear fairly quickly that something was not right with Kelsey and the whole situation.

Detective Paul Ryan is tasked with finding Kelsey's missing daughter and it turns out missing husband too. We learn early on Paul is haunted by the disappearance of his sister when they were teenagers and that she wasn't the only one that went missing. He doesn't trust Kelsey, but he is drawn to her.

This was one of those books I didn't want to put down once I started reading. The mystery of the missing child was so compelling. But emotionally I felt removed from the characters. There is a coldness to the story. I never connected with Kelsey. Her behavior is not what you would expect for someone in her position and Detective Ryan wasn't much better. This isn't book with the kind of characters that you fall in love with, but they are still interesting characters and they had me turning the pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed Last One to Lie and all its twists and turns. It was a great ride and I loved the ending. Even when the story was finished, I was still mulling it over in my head and I even dreamed about it. Last One to Lie gets a solid 4 stars from me.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I haven't read a lot of psychological thrillers recently, but change is good every now and again. This certainly worked as its title suggests – leaving the reader questioning just who did lie the most, when, and was anything we read not a lie!

We are misdirected from the very beginning, and it only gets crazier, as it mixes a current day missing child with a slew of related cold cases of teenage girls. One in particular hits home, as it is the sister of Paul, the current investigating officer. It is difficult to put into words how on edge this book leaves you – and yet, at the same time there really aren't many characters for one to associate with, or care about; which is odd given the topic. I think probably only Faith came over as normal!

If you want a book which pulls you away from real life, and gives you respite from your own crazy, then this will definitely fulfil the brief!


Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars
M/F Mystery

Twisted and Dark. That's how I would describe this story. At times, I found that the voice of who was thinking or talking was sometimes jumbled and hard to discern. But as psychological thrillers go, this one has it all.

Murder, intrigue, family issues, and a train wreck that you simply can't look away from. It's like when you're on the road, see a horrible accident and slow down to see if there are casualties.

I thought that Detective Ryan was the most relatable character. He is trying to figure this mystery out. Kelsey and Holly are both hot messes. But once the dust settles, you'll still be scratching your head a little – is this what it truly comes down to?

I enjoyed watching this come to a head, but it was predictable. Nonetheless, I found the story fascinating.

Triggers: Murder, Foster Care, stalking, child abuse

JM Winchester has given us a complex tale of a police detective investigating the report of a missing child and the child's father. Character driven stories will leave you questioning which story is the truth and why there are so many gaps in the mother's story. Told by different perspectives, there are many story lines that seem to double back to each other but are they connected? LAST ONE TO LIE is an origin spin on an old thriller, but it is definitely a reader's thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this story as much as I had hoped I would, but it is definitely a dysfunctional and twisty read.