I read this one in less than 24 hours. It's definitely hard to put down. I read it in two sittings.

Gen has been married to her lawyer husband for years. Thad isn't around much and always said he was working late. Gen is an author, so she works from home. Things haven't been right in their marriage for awhile. When Gen finds out that Thad has been cheating, she decides on divorce. After months or back and forth, it's almost final. She just needs to sign and send back the papers. But first, she's going on a trip to NYC with her sister, Meghan. Meg is married with a son. She's not super happy in her relationship, but she does love her husband and son. She just wants more. The girls are going to celebrate Gen's divorce.

After a night of heavy drinking, Gen throws her ring off the balcony and then goes for a walk. She never comes back. Meg is freaking out and the police aren't taking it super seriously. At least not at first. They aren't sure if she was taken or if she just went off, still upset about her divorce.

The book goes back and forth in time. The reader starts to see Gen's life. All of it. There are secrets from everyone and they play out slowly throughout the book. It's a fast paced read though. I kept thinking I would put it down and then did the whole "one more chapter" thing many times.

I gave this book 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 on Goodreads. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my review copy.

Warnings for mental illness, infidelity, miscarriage.

Gen is getting a divorce from her cheating husband. When her sister offers her a trip to New York City, Gen hops at the chance. Gen gets drunk and decides to go for a walk and disappears! Her sister Meg is the last one to see her. What happened to Gen? Did Meg or her loser cheating husband Thad have something to do with Gen's disappearance? This was a good thriller a little over the top at times though. I did enjoy all the twists and turns. I recieved an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

The Last to See Her by Courtney Evan Tate was a fast moving thriller! Gen and Meg are sisters. Gen is a famous novelist, and in the process of divorcing her cheating husband, Thad , a lawyer. Meg is a surgeon and is happily married with a little boy. Meg talks Gen into coming to New York with her to celebrate her upcoming divorce. They go out drinking and when they return to the hotel Gen abruptly throws her expensive wedding ring off of the balcony. Gen then goies out for a walk but never returns. Meg is horrified and the police won't take a missing persons report for 24 hours. What follows is a crazy, twisted story. Told in alternating chapters of Gen in the past and Meg in the present we learn all is not what is seems with these sisters. The ending was unexpected and I loved it! I enjoyed the way the story was slowly revealed and the unique plot. You should not miss this book! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review The Last To See Her.

Gen is going through a divorce and is in NYC with her surgeon sister for the weekend when she goes to a walk at night and disappears. Her sister is frantically searching to find her, but is also a suspect in her disappearance as she was the last to see her ( well and the doorman at the hotel )...

I’m so on the fence about this book . Generally speaking, I should have loved it, but something was a bit off for me and I haven’t been able to figure out why. Some of the twists were very predictable and kind of overdone maybe that’s why ? But then the book does take a turn that I didn’t expect and actually picks up a bit. Overall though , if this is a genre you enjoy, definitely worth giving it a try.

3.5 ⭐️

I couldn't get into this book. I really tried, but the story never hooked me. As I read, I kept thinking "I'm just reading words", and that never happens when I'm immersed in a story. I still gave 3 stars because I feel the plotline has potential to become a good book, but it's just not for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was easy to read, even with multiple narrators and multiple timelines. Gen is a romance author who is going through a divorce after she discovers that her husband cheated on her. When her physician sister Meg invites her to come along on a trip to NYC, Gen readily agrees. That is where Gen disappears and that is the central theme of the book. What happened to Gen? The multiple narrators did not bother me, nor did the timeline that kept going back to “then” when Gen was happily married and “now” when she is missing. What really bothered me was that the characters lacked depth and the plot fell flat, too. There needed to be more background given about the characters in order to create more empathy for them. The storyline was good at first, but there seemed to be a lot of repetition and when the author revealed secrets about Thad’s affair and also what actually happened to Gen, way before the end of the novel, I kept waiting for suspense to continue to build but it didn’t. The characters were not particularly likable, except for maybe Joe, Meg’s husband, who was a minor character in the whole scheme of things. And although there was some kind of police procedural included with Detective Hawkins seemed easily led along, not really following clues and not really doing a lot of detecting. Also, part of the story here was totally unbelievable as he seems to befriend Meg in the middle of his investigation and even flies to Chicago with her to check out Gen’s apartment. I would categorize this book as a domestic drama with some suspense thrown in. There were some extra secrets revealed at the end, so that earned the four stars for me. Fans of thrillers and suspense would probably be disappointed with this book, but those who enjoy drama with a little suspense will enjoy it.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Mira via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

I have reviewed this title for New York Journal of Books where it will be posted the evening prior to the release date!

"The Last to See Her" by Courtney Evan Tate
MIRA
December 15, 2020
10-077830941X
352 pages
Psychological Thriller


Genevieve Tibault, the author of romantic fiction, and her physician sister Meghan McCready leave their Chicago residences and head to New York City. Megan is due to attend a convention and would like girl time with her sibling. They also plan to shop, and enjoy spa days and time together. Meg considers this trip will be a catharsis for Gen as she is in the process of divorcing her husband Thad.

Though Gen loves Thad, she cannot trust him for she strongly believes he is having an affair. A busy attorney, he is never home, and working on her suspicions, Gen hires an investigator to follow Thad, who confirms that Thad is a philanderer.

The women have adjoining suites at the swanky Aristotle Hotel, in the middle of all the city has to offer. When in their rooms, Gen goes out to the balcony where she proceeds to toss out her wedding ring:

"'I hope that whoever finds this ring will have better luck with it than I have,' she said loudly, kissing the ring and then throwing it into the night as hard as she could."

Meg, incredulous at Gen for pitching the huge and expensive ring away like it is trash, tries to console her, but Gen wants to be left alone and states she's going for a walk. Weary from the long day, Meg falls asleep only to wake up the next morning to find Gen has not returned. Phoning Gen rings right to her voice mail, and after she calls the front desk, she learns the last Gen was seen by the doorman stating she was heading out a walk the previous night.

Afraid she may have been abducted, hurt, or maybe with her overstressed and emotional state, she just snapped, Meg goes searching for her without luck. When Meg finds the pink coat Gen borrowed from her when she left, dirty and lying in the gutter, panic sets in. She dials 9-1-1 to convey Gen has not returned to the hotel, they blow her off stating it's too early to file a missing persons report. Still, several texts and phone calls to Gen only goes to her voice mail.

Meg alerts Thad to explain Gen's disappearance, though he acts unconcerned by the situation. Meg wonders if Thad knows anything about Gen missing and if he could be involved somehow. The day passes and in frustration, Meg heads to the police station where she talks to Detective Nate Hawkins. He begins an intense round of questions stating when someone goes missing it's usually due to someone close to the victim. Meg is annoyed Hawkins doesn't seem too concerned about Gen, but she keeps on him. When later he calls her to come to his office, he pulls out a plastic bag containing Gen's cell, which had been found in a dumpster near the hotel.

Appalled, Meg queries: "'But why would my sister's phone be in a dumpster?’ Meg asked, afraid of the answer.

"'That's what we are trying to find out. Possibly whoever abducted her knew that it would track her,' he replied simply.

"Meg's breath caught in her throat.

"'So, you think she was abducted?'

"'It's a suspicious scenario, and we're treating it as such. Of course, she could have dropped it there intentionally herself.'"

Meg remains in the city trying to do everything possible to locate Gen. Her many meetings with Hawkins seem to create a somewhat mutual attraction between them, though Meg focuses on her sister while she reminds herself of her husband Joe back home and Joey her young son. How can she let herself get distracted by another man when her sister is gone?

Time passes and secrets are revealed causing the detective to become suspicious of more than one individual close to Gen. Also, though he considers himself a good judge of character, he is a bit disheartened when he learns some cold, hard facts that had been withheld from him. He understands people aren't always as they appear, yet he is now too immersed in this case and gives it his full attention. Where is Gen? And what really happened to her?

A few interesting aspects of this novel are that is written from several perspectives. Gen presents her voice with information from the past as well as the current time, allowing the readers to delve into her mind and emotions while offering chilling thoughts of revenge. Meg holds confidences without knowing Gen is aware of any dishonesty, though feeling shame and guilt, she loves and wants Gen located.

With many hair-raising twists and turns, lies, and deceit, this read proves to be a page-turner. Infidelity, emotional illness, and revenge play major roles, concluding with a totally unexpected, yet somehow satisfying, ending.

Gen is divorcing her husband after he cheated on her and is starting afresh. First though, she meets her sister Meg in New York for a much-needed girls weekend away. That’s when things go wrong though. As when Meg wakes up, Gen is missing.

As things start to unravel though and the truth comes out, it seems that no one is innocent. Including both Meg and Gen.

I enjoyed this book. Told in both the present from Meg’s perspective as well as the past from Gen’s, The Last To See Her has twists at every turn. With dramatic themes of family, love and betrayal and a mental health storyline woven throughout, there is a lot in this book to keep you gripped.

There is a lot of originality in the storyline but there were also a lot of holes. Hawk doesn’t seem to be the best detective and the PI Gen hired to gather evidence on her cheating husband seemed to missed something pretty major in the 11 months he worked for her that the Detective picked up in a few days. Also, there are very few actual nice characters in this book. Cheating mean, angry women, bad sisters, annoying parents. It has it all.

That being said, it’s really well written and I liked that the concept was new. The ending was really good and all in all it was a really solid thriller. As long as you don’t expect too much from it, then readers of this genre will enjoy this latest release from Tate.

The Last to See Her by Courtney Evan Tate is a standalone mystery thriller. The story begins with Gen, a romance novelist, who is planning to move back to her home town, since she wants to get away from a bad divorce. Her sister, Meg, who is a doctor, convinces her to meet in New York (she is at a convention) and celebrate her new freedom. They enjoy each other’s company, having dinner and even to the point of both getting drunk, with Gen saying she needs to take a walk and get some air, and Meg telling her to be careful. But Gen never comes back. Meg is desperate to find her sister, and the police will do nothing, until a day or two passes.

What follows are flashbacks through the POV’s of Gen, Meg and Thad (Gen’s husband), which is also in past and current formats. The police intereview Meg and then Thad to try to discover what happened to Gen, which does make both of them suspects separately. During these investigations, many secrets, lies and truths will be revealed, opening up a different light to Gen’s disappearance.
In Gen’s past Pov, we learn how she discovered her sister betrayed her trust by sleeping with Thad. Gen hires an investigator to spy on Thad, learning he was spending a lot of time with another women. In Gen’s current time, we find out that she was attacked, and saved, but now being imprisoned by Thad’s mentally challenged sister. According to the sister, Gen stands in the way to having her brother stay and take care of her. She just needs to decide what to do with Gen.

During Meg’s POV, she learns that Gen discovered her tryst with Thad, and feels guilty, even though she says it was a mistake that only happened once. The cop investigating the case learns about an investigator hired by Gen, and they also find a journal, which is the start of a new novel, with the story line covering a cheating husband, bad sister, and her plot to kill them. Did Gen plan her own disappearance? Was there any truth to the novel?

The Last to See Her was very well written by Tate, which kept us glued to the page, as there were so many twists and surprises, especially when the truths are discovered. I will say that I thought the constant changing of POV’s past and present could have been less, as at times it was a bit confusing. I also do not want to give more information, as it would be major spoilers. Overall, The Last to See Her was a great thriller.

I thought this book was a total mess.

The two main character's names, Gen and Meg, were switched constantly. The cop investigating Gen's disappearance was inept (i.e. he never went through Gen's belongings, he left evidence -- the note and ring -- with Meghan, he never found Gen's diary...the shitty detective work goes on and on and on). Jenkins, the private investigator was just as bad...how did he not find out a key point in the story after all the months he worked for Gen?

I honestly don't think Gen's mental illness was portrayed well. And how the hell wasn't Gen diagnosed when she was younger? Her family just said she was "different."

I was also annoyed that our main character was called Gen and her mom was called Gin. Ummmm...we ran out of names I guess?

Mostly, this just felt choppy and uninspired. It seemed like the author couldn't figure out where to go with the story, so she'd randomly add characters and/or events to further things, but it wasn't cohesive. And there was TONS of repetition...to the point exact, entire pages were included multiple times throughout the book.

I won't be recommending this one.

1.5 stars
Available December 15, 2020.

Despite my less than favorite review, my sincere thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for my review copy.

Brief Synopsis:

Our story begins with Gen, who is about to divorce her cheating husband. Her sister Meg, invites her to New York during one of her conventions to have a night out and have a little 'divorce party'. Gen and Meg have a tipsy heart to heart which results in Gen throwing her wedding room off the hotel balcony. However, when she goes to retrieve it shortly after...she never comes back. Meg is on the hunt to find out what happened to her sister and it turns out, everyone in Gen's life has a few little secrets to hide, including Meg.

My Thoughts/Opinions:

This book was a relatively quick thriller read with a lot of twists and turns! The chapters were typically a different character and it was told in a then and now style, which I like with thrillers as it leaves you wanting to get to the end and figure it out. It honestly had a lot of potential and had a sense of originality to it, but it didn't cut it for me for some reason. There was almost too much going on. It was a collision of plot twists (some totally unexpected and some predictable) and it was just too much going on for the length of the book. You would get to one plot twist and then it would turn to something else and it left me with so many questions. I also enjoyed Gen's character in the beginning and then she went off the deep end fast, which I know was possibly the point, but it was almost confusing with the quick switch. I'm also a little over the whole cheating them in thrillers. I know that is a popular choice for them as it adds drama but still...I'm tired of it being 'normal'.

I'm giving this book 2.5...or maybe 3. I don't know! I hate being harsh on a book and it was an okay read...but it didn't stand out for me. A little too rushed. Also, I don't know if it matters at this stage but there were also a couple grammar errors that I noticed that would throw the paragraph off!

A thank you to NetGalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

And, honestly, this was just what a was in the mood for. A dark little soap opera of a psychological thriller...What's the worst betrayal? Forget the husband - it's by your very own sister (and best friend?) Whatever the kind it kept me turning the pages into the wee hours of the night. Loved the characters who I couldn't help to love to hate, yet could weirdly empathize with at the same time. Also appreciated how the story was seamlessly sewn together in a nice little ball. Plain good fun if your a fan of mind-game kind of reads - and highly recommended if you do. Would be great on audio - and probably a movie too!

This is a book about jerks. Husbands who cheat. Angry wives. Tense sisters. Everyone is a jerk!

Still - it's fun for a quick thriller read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

This book definitely held my interest. Unfortunately i have read a lot of this genre during quarantine so i feel extra critical of it. While it had all the makings of a good thriller, it just fell flat for me. It felt rushed and fairly predictable. With such an oversaturation of thrillers out there, it is definitely hard to stand out. It did hold my interest and was a quick read, just wasn't one i'd necessarily rave about.

Since Gen was days away from being divorced and her sister had a conference to attend in New York City, they decided to celebrate there.

The celebration got carried away with both of them becoming very drunk and with Gen throwing her expensive wedding band over the balcony.

Gen then decided to take a walk to clear her head. That definitely was not a good idea because her sister and the doorman were the last to see her.

We follow the lives of both sisters before this incident and in present time. Gen is missing, and Meg has to stay in New York since she is a suspect.

We learn of their childhood, their domestic lives, and their working lives. Gen is currently an author and Meg is a surgeon.

Gen was married to an attorney, and Meg is married to a contractor.

As I read the back story of Gen, that husband was too good to be true. It seemed like he was a fake, and it appears he had been.

Would that make him a suspect in her disappearance even though he still hadn't arrived in New York City yet?

Meg's husband seemed sweet.

Something was going on in all of their lives, but what was it, and did it have anything to do with Gen's disappearance?

THE LAST TO SEE HER has pull-you-in writing and a great story line with big surprises.

When all the truths come out and as things start to get tense, you won't be able to stop reading. You HAVE to find out the answers and the secrets.

It seems like everyone has one, and no one is as they appear to be.

There are good twists.

This book is different and just SO good. Don't pass it up.

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gen is a successful romance writer who resides in Chicago with her lawyer husband. And life is good. Until she catches him with another woman. And although she never sees the other women’s face, and he never gives a name, she’s been betrayed and it’s over.

Fast forward to the night she is supposed to sign the divorce papers. For some reason, she is dragging her heels. But in the meantime has decided to tag along to NYC with her sister who is in town for a doctor’s conference. The two sisters do it up right the first night – steak and too many drinks. And why not?

But later that evening, Gen borrows Megan’s coat, goes out for a walk and vanishes into thin air. What happened? Was she the target or was Meg? And where has she gone?

The Last to See Her is a wild ride that is part mystery, part thriller, part romance, part story of betrayal and part sister story. Which sounds like it could be too much. But it’s actually just the perfect amount. It’s a page turner to get lost in during the long, boring COVID winter.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Mira for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out December 15, 2020.

Overall, I liked the story itself. I also enjoyed the characters. It had some good suspense and a few good twists. However, I think the narrative would have been much more effective written in present tense with some more complex sentences. At times, it seemed really choppy and ultimately took away from the plot.

I will start by saying I stayed up real late to read this, like 2 am! I have read other books by this author, the Nocte Series blew my mind so I knew I had to get my hands on this. This story starts with Gen the author leaving her husband and going to spend the weekend with her sister in New York. What happens next can only be described as a rabbit hole of twists and turns that you will be stuck in until you finish! I enjoyed this story a lot BUT I was disappointed in the ending, more specifically the epilogue. I wanted more. The twists were so good and insane that the ending needed to be epic! It’s a fun thriller that has a tidy finish!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

A super quick read about sisters, a marriage gone bad, and revenge. Though the writing was simple and I found some elements of the plot quite unbelievable, I still enjoyed reading this. Not a likable character in the bunch (except for the private investigator), but a fun book full of twists and turns.

I think the psychological approach to this story is what saved it for me. Gen is probably one of the most intriguing characters I have ever read. Her character arc is one I don't think I'll soon forget. And that ending, wow!! The epilogue was just what I needed to end this story on a high note.

For the most part I think if you can get past some of the unbelievable parts (at least to me) of this one along with some of the deplorable characters (again IMO) it's a story that will leave you on the edge of your seat. I found once I really got into this one I didn't want to put it down.

I really enjoy this author and I love she has ventured out into these kinds of books. I always know that I will be entertained when I pick up one of her books.