The Last Party is a compelling analysis of human relationships and the weight of secrets wrapped up in a gripping whodunnit with several different characters to place your suspicions on. This book will keep you guessing while also having you fall in love with the many different players. A perfect blend of suspense and emotional depth, Mackintosh delivers a novel that is as thought-provoking as it is thrilling. You WILL be up reading way longer than you should be, so have that alarm clock handy and loud!

The story unfolds in the beautiful, idyllic village our Detective Constable, Ffion, has lived her entire life. She and the partner she was begrudgingly assigned, due to jurisdiction issues, are quickly drawn into a web of whispers and lies following a tragic accident that took place during a New Year’s party. As Ffion dives into the timeline of that night, the more the web spins and the further she gets tangled inside it. Ffion quickly realizes everyone in this tiny village had a reason to want Rhys Lloyd dead. They are the creators of betrayal, hidden agendas, and long-buried resentments forcing Ffion to confront the uncomfortable truths about the people she thought she knew. NO neighbor is innocent.

I will say, that it took me quite a while to become invested in this book. It is set in a different country than the US so it took me some time to learn the different phrases, how to pronounce certain names, and how to picture the different locations within the book, but what started to stand out for me, were the richly fleshed-out characters. The author took her time on each one and I appreciated the depths in which she went. From the powerhouse that is DC Ffion Morgan, to the secretive neighbors, troubled Rhys Lloys, and the swoon-worthy Leo Brady, each character is brought to life and given true personalities enabling you to easily distinguish the plethora of villagers. Their flaws and vulnerabilities, their trauma and stories are all laid bare for us readers to see and pick apart. As each relationship unravels and alliances shift, Mackintosh expertly writes of friendship, love, loyalty, and the harm you can so easily do to those around you, including your own family.

The Last Party is a riveting read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The plot is compelling, the characters are well-drawn, and the theme makes you think. My only reason for giving this story four stars instead of five (at first), was simply because I felt the ending was a little rushed BUT I just found out that book two of the series is on its way so definitely worth changing this to five stars in my opinion! Read this before book two arrives, it will leave you wanting more and you're soon to get just that!

Special thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, for providing this digital ARC with me in exchange for my honest opinion.

THE LAST PARTY
Clare Mackintosh

New Years Eve
Sparkling views of the stars on the lake
Champagne for all

Does that sound like your kind of party?

What if I told you, it was THE LAST PARTY someone would ever attend?

Rhys wants to throw a big party. A nice, luxurious, big party. He has invited the entire neighborhood, the entire village. By the end of the night, secrets will be revealed, promises broken, and Rhys will be dead in the water, literally.

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I wanted to. I didn’t enjoy this one at all. I put it down a few times while reading, I contemplated putting it down forever. It was difficult to stay in the story and I was very disconnected from the characters.

There are too many characters to keep track of and enjoy reading at the same time. A lot of the characters were unnecessary and did not contribute to the story in a meaningful way. Most of the characters feel one-dimensional, including Ffion, the main character. I do not see that Ffion is a strong enough character to make it through many more books in this series.

The writing is jerky, and it was very difficult to get on a reading rhythm. This did not make for a pleasurable reading experience. I have read Mackintosh before. I am familiar with her writing and this material feels and reads differently.

Thanks to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark | Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy!

THE LAST PARTY…⭐⭐

3 stars
book review

slow burn, mystery addictive, but overall the story I felt dragged on too much, if it had been written to be more fast paced romantic suspense I felt this would have been a 4 star.

I've been a fan of Clare Mackintosh for quite awhile. Unfortunately, this novel moved very slowly for me and I had a hard time slogging through it. I think it might have been a wrong time for me, and would be willing to pick it up and give it another go another time.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. I have seen this author recommended previously but have never read her work, so I was excited for this one.

Unfortunately this novel did not work for me on several levels. The pace was extremely slow and I considered not finishing it. The Welsh atmosphere impacted the writing and there were some phrases/wording that seemed out of place. This was likely due to the author's background, and this is not a criticism but rather just different from what I typically read.

MacIntosh's book had so many suspects that it was extremely difficult to guess the ending. Several novels have mysteries that are easy to predict but this was not one of them, and that part of this book was successful.

I absolutely loved this police procedural. The multiple perspectives and shifting timelines were the perfect combintation to tell the story and let the mystery unfold. Ffion Morgan is a wonderfully real, flawed, character and I loved getting to know her through the pages of this book, and I'm looking forward to reading more in this series.

I spent some time trying to figure out what to write for this review, because I dont know where to start it:(
Soo hmm lemme see firstly it took me more than a YEAR to finish itt because it was so slow paced and it wasnt intresting enough to keep my attention, secondly there were so many povs and it was harder to distinguish some of them from each other because they sounded so similar, thirdly the ending....im not sure what to make of ittt.

The book started off strong, was very meh in the middle, thenn it picked up and i was intrested in wanting to know what happened next but I was so underwhelmed by the ending:(

Love Clare Mackintosh and this thriller/police procedural was great…once it really got started. It was slow to get into and there were a whole lot of characters to keep track of for the whole book. Once I was at least 50-75 pages in, I finally got more bought in but Ffion was hard to like for awhile. Overall though, it was good and I’m looking forward to her next installment of this series.

I love this character and setting and this book kept me guessing. Main character is so fun to read about. Just loved it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

This was my first book by this author and won’t be my last! It was a very well written mystery. I enjoyed all of the reveals by the end of the book and the multiple POVs

The Last Party's murder victim is such a horrible person that every character in the book is a suspect in his murder. I had no idea who the killer was going to be. The ending was satisfactory and came together. There were no extreme moments, but The Last Party was still a book that held my interest until the end.

The Last Party was one of the most chilling thrillers, I have read in quite some time. There were so many layers of lies, of dysfunction to work through to find out who did it, why they did it and what would come next. I look forward to reading the second in this series once it is released in April.

Thank you to NetGalley and sourcebook landmark for the advanced copy and exchange for my honest review.

This book was given to me from my book club. I have not yet had the chance to read it, but I am excited to read it soon!

My first read by this author and while “The Last Party” truly had potential- it was way too slow for me. I needed much more momentum to care a bit more about the WHY.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The ending was good but I feel like the book was mostly boring. It looks like others really liked it, though. Thanks for the review copy.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I honestly cannot believe this sat on my shelf for as long as it did! This is such an excellently crafted whodunnit mystery, with a dead man that many, many people had a reason to kill, and a New Years Eve timeline of which he was mysteriously murdered. Everything about this story was fabulous to sink into - the moving timelines and perspectives, chapter after chapter revealing yet another possible motive, a perfect mix of likeable and not so likeable characters......and two lead detectives with so much attraction between them you are dying to see if they will or will not end up together.

Honestly, this book is just really good fun, and would make for absolutely perfect NYE reading this year!

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

DNF @ 30%
This makes me so sad :(

I've had this on my shelf for almost a year and have been waiting to read it. I tried reading & tried the audio book, but unfortunately this was SO HARD for me to read or listen to.... the Welsh accents, words, language, etc was just a huge dialect misconnection for me.

I usually LOVE Mackintosh books, but I just couldn't make this one work.

Short Synopsis: New Year's Eve, and a party at a vacation home near a late. Someone is left dead, and everyone suddenly becomes a suspect of this small community.

My thoughts: The setting of a small town in Wales was so enjoyable and atmospheric. I am always a fan of a small community, especially when there is murder and jealousy at play. This police procedural kept me guessing until the very end, and the Red Herrings kept me switching who I thought the culprit was.

I did get somewhat confused with all the different points of view, and would have preferred less just so the story flowed a little better. But overall, the suspense at the end kept me flipping through.

I was also a huge fan of Detective Morgan, A strong female protagonist is always a win in my opinion.

Read if you love:
-Police procedurals
- Atmospheric settings
- Everyone is suspect
- Small town murder mystery
- Series

Since this was from an author I typically love I was really let down by this one. Not much to keep my interest.