4.5 Stars!!

Secrets, lies and Murder!!

I read " I Let You Go " by Clare Mackintosh about six years ago and thought it was terrific. Though I haven't read all of the author's books since then, the ones I have read, I've enjoyed. After reading the description for The Last Party, I was looking forward to getting my hands on it.

I have to say I'm very glad I read this book. I thought it was a thrilling psychological suspense novel with many great complicated and flawed characters. It held my attention from beginning to end with its engaging plot and excellent twists and turns.

A gripping story about a New Year's Eve party that goes very very wrong.

And it looks like there will be another book with DC Ffion Morgan.
Sounds good to me!

I enjoyed every Clare Mackintosh novel I've read, so when I saw she had a new book out in 2022, I jumped at the chance to obtain a review copy. The Last Party has all the hallmarks of Ms. Mackintosh's previous thrillers, which is excellent. What is not great is that it is not a standalone novel. You would not think it to be a big deal because most of Ms. Mackintosh's books do not have clean, happy endings anyway, so not knowing more about Ffion Morgan's past or getting any resolution regarding her self-sabotaging tendencies should not be that big of a deal. For me, it was, which makes me sad because The Last Party is a good mystery/thriller. With plenty of twists and turns, successful red herrings, and enough secrets that you need a chart to keep them all straight, the story captured my attention and didn't let it go. My guesses were always wrong, and I had no idea what would happen next. Yet, even as I felt drawn towards Ffion, all I could envision was another J.D. Robb-like series with sixty-three books or Louise Penny with eighteen in her series. I love series, but I love when they end even more. While I loved The Last Party, I'm not sure I have the desire or energy to commit myself to yet another series that may or may not have a finite number of books.

3.5 stars as I struggled with the language, had to look up a lot of words, and there seemed to be too many characters. The mystery was intriguing and the ending will have you going what just happened. Fans of Mackintosh will not be disappointed.

This was my first Mackintosh book, & I picked it up mostly because I was in the mood for a thriller, and this one involves a murder in an idyllic lake town on New Year's Eve - which is perfect for this time of year! It took me a little time to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked! I loved Ffion's character, and learning more about Welsh culture in general was interesting - plus the relationships between the British "outsiders" who come to holiday in their small Welsh town. I liked how each chapter was told from a different perspective of someone at the party. There were some unexpected twists & turns, which I loved, but the ending was a bit vague and left me with a lot of questions!! All in all, a solid thriller, and I will definitely be checking out more Mackintosh books.

My first book by this author, I loved the twists and turns in this book and it kept me guessing until the end. I’ll be back for #2 in the series!

On New Year’s Day, the body of Rhys Lloyd is found floating in Mirror Lake. Mirror Lake covers the border between Wales and England so there are two police precincts having jurisdiction over this mystery. DC Ffion Morgan is investigating from the Welsh side and has been forced into working with DC Leo Brady, who is investigating from the English side. The victim had hosted a New Year’s Eve party at his lodge located in The Shore, the development he was building. Just about everyone at the party and in the town are suspects.
Since this took place in a Welsh town, there are a lot of Welsh names in the book, which can be difficult to read/understand. The story shifts from past to present and you are able to get another character’s perspective of an event or sequence of events.

I have enjoyed Clare Mackintosh's brand of creepy suspense for years and this was no exception. I appreciated that this was more of a straightforward police procedural than some of her others and I'm already looking forward to more stories from Ffion and Leo.

Thank you for letting me read this wonderful book as an ARC. At this point, I cannot wait until the next one comes out!!
It took me a little bit to get into this book due to the different names and language thrown in. But once I kept reading,.it became clear that this had to be parr of the story. And what a story it was. Kept me glued to keep on reading. So many twists and turns that were totally unpredictable. I totally loved how each character gets a 'word' and get to see things from their point of view. It made the story even better to understand their background and how they fit into the story.
Not to give anything away but the ending was so unexpected and surprising it made me love the book even more. Books like this keep the reader engaged and guessing and wanting to keep on reading.
Awesome job, Clare Mackintosh. I cannot wait to read the 2nd book in the series!!
And when your read The Last Party, please also read the acknowledgments and readers bookclub guide to understand the background of the story.

Gosh, this was a tough ride for me. The only reason I decided to keep reading this was that I was intrigued enough by the mystery to find out who did it. All the rest just did NOT work for me. The beginning was extremely rough. It was just very slow moving. There were A LOT of characters and it was hard to keep track of things. I also just did not like the two main characters. They were just so annoying, in my opinion. I rolled my eyes at their inner monologues SEVERAL times throughout this book. The second half of this book did pick up quite a lot though and it made it way less rough to read. I mean, I still wasn't liking it much but at least it did not feel like a completely slog. I just think the twists and reveals were kind of lame. They didn't shock me at all. I mean, there was one I completely didn't see coming but I hated it, so you know that wasn't a good one either. I feel like there was way too much going on in this book as well. It made it feel like the actually interesting mystery was paused at several points to do something way less interesting. This also caused for there to be a lot of threads left open that do have relevance to this mystery so it doesn't even have the excuse of being left open for the next book in this series (which I'll definitely won't check out). So yeah, I pushed through this for no reason. I didn't hate this. It just didn't work for me in any way. I can see why others might like this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC. This was a fun mystery/thriller set in a small working class lake town in northern Wales. Rhys Lloyd, a local turned successful musician, returns home and uses his family's land to build upscale vacation homes on the lake shore for the wealthy. Rhys, however, is discovered dead in the lake during the traditional New Years day plunge after a New Year's Eve party gone wrong at one of the posh homes on the lake.
The book alternates between two timelines, before and after the murder. The murder is investigated by local Welsh detective Ffion Morgan and Leo, an English detective who is involved because the lake borders England. Ffion is a plucky young woman who you can't help but root for and I'm happy to see this will become the first in a trilogy involving this character. Tensions run high between the two detectives. Tensions additionally run high between the locals and the wealthy shore owners. Just about everyone, locals and outsiders alike, had a reason to murder Rhys creating a large suspect pool, which made it super enjoyable.

If you love a BBC police procedural, this will be right up your alley. Set on a lake town bordering England and Wales, 30-year old DC Ffion Morgan is teamed up with an investigator from England to investigate the death of a has-been singer after he dies at his vacation community's NYE party.

Rife with cultural and class conflict, this is "small town everyone knows everyone", and everyone's got a motive at it's best.. Although Ffion didn't always read millennial to me, I loved the dynamic between Ffion and Leo (and Ffion's give no f's attitude). MacIntosh keeps the action moving with the secrets revealed, and how the small town on the Welsh side comes together in the face of these new money interlopers.

A great first book in the series, I'll be back for more.

CW: Murder, predatory behavior, child out of wedlock, contentious divorced couple

#TheLastParty is a slow burn 'whodunnit" and also the start of a new crime fiction series. I first read author Clare Mackintosh when I devoured her 2019 novel #AfterTheEnd. I read this one on my kindle and enjoyed unraveling this mystery so much and it was a solid 4 star read. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my review copies.

At first I thought I wasn’t going to finish the book but then it completely captured my attention and I had to know what would happen. Since finishing I have recommended it to all of my friends. Wish I can read it again for the first time.

Full review & instagram post linked now


I loved this book!!! The way the plot played out was fantastic. I loved the atmosphere that was set with the descriptions and I loved the relationships between all of the characters. The multi pov multi timeline was excellent

I’m a huge fan of this author as I’ve read everything she has written. The best part of the book is the setting at a lake community in Wales. Absolute stunning. Unfortunately, I did not find any of the characters likable and barely redeemable.
The mystery had many twists and turns which kept me on edge. On New Years Eve there had been a murder of an home town celebrity singer. There is much tension between the rich residents who just moved into an high end development. The main character is a detective in wales on the border of England. She teams up with a down on his luck English Police Detective. Apparently, her story is continued in a forthcoming book. Thanks to Net Galley and Sourcebooks for ARC for an honest review.

Solid 4 stars for me on The Last Party. I felt it was a *little* slower paced than I normally prefer but I liked it! It also felt a bit long but there were enough twists and turns to keep me reading. Big fan of Clare Mackintosh's books and I love the Welsh setting!

I absolutely love thrillers that have aspects of law enforcement. This book was a great thriller with tons of twists and turns throughout the book.   
  
The book focuses on the small town of Cwm Coed in Wales that intertwines with The Shore, an exclusive resort on the English side. There is a lot of us vs. them in the book. Rhys Lloyd the owner of The Shore washes up dead on the shores of Mirror Lake during the communities annual swim in the freezing cold water. In the book, two detectives Ffion (from Wales) and Leo (from English side) are trying to figure out who killed Rhys while dealing with their personal problems. The list of could be killers is long because Rhys was not a good person. Rhys is a famous singer who happened to be from Cwm Coed. He inherited the land that The Shore is on from his Dad.   
  
The author really ties in all of the stories throughout the book. The writing is fantastic, so descriptive that I felt like I was there! The characters had real depth and personalities, although most are unlikable. I am excited to hear that Clare Mackintosh is already working on a second book with Ffion and Leo! Can't wait to read it.

**4.5-stars rounded up**

On New Year's Day, the remote Welsh village of Cwm Coed has an annual tradition of taking a community swim in the pristine waters of Llyn Drych, or Mirror Lake. A bit of a polar plunge, if you will. It makes sense as the lake is so much a part of life for the village.

It gets the blood flowing, the community spirit popping and overall, is a solid way to start the first day of a new year. When a dead body is found floating in the lake in the early moments of this tradition however, it's clear, this will be a very memorable year indeed.

On the opposite side of the lake, a new, luxury living community, The Shores, has been built. The instigator of this travesty, according to the locals, is Rhys Lloyd, an opera singer, who also happens to be a local boy himself. In fact, he inherited the land from his father.

The previous evening, on New Year's Eve, Rhys, along with the other owners at The Shores had thrown a lavish party, to which all were invited. It appears this body may have floated over from that side, but is he, or she the victim of foul play, or just a terrible accident?

When it's discovered the body is actually Rhys himself, this draws attention from both sides of the lake. Jurisdiction could get tricky, so a partnership is proposed. DC Ffion Morgan, from Cwn Coed, will team up with a DC from the English-side of the lake, Leo Brady. A match made in heaven, IMO. The snark and chemistry between these two characters gripped me from the very start, which made for a super fun investigatory aspect.

This story is told through the use of many different perspectives, both from The Shores and from the village. It's clear the stars are Ffion and Leo, but in order to get the full scope of this mystery, additional insights were required.

The residents of The Shores were all terrible people. It was captivating getting to know them and all of their various dramas. If you're a fan of the 'rich people behaving badly' set-up, you will most likely end up enjoying this one as well.

We also learn a bit about both Ffion and Leo's personal lives. I liked that. It helped to build them out and I felt like by the end, I was quite attached to the two of them. They were both sympathetic characters, who it was easy to root for.

The mystery of this was very well plotted. There were some huge reveals and twists. One in particular had my literal jaw drop to the floor. I was gobsmacked. I did not see it coming. Overall, I would say this was fabulously fun, packed with unlikable characters, twists and OMG-moments. I had a blast trying to figure out whodunit. With a victim as despicable as Rhys, it could have been anyone!

I loved Ffion so much. She definitely stole my heart. She's such a complex, yet likable character. I am really looking forward to more books in this series. Of course, I am keeping my fingers crossed that the rumors are true and this actually is this first book in a series. I would definitely be down for going on more investigations with Ffion and Leo.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I've enjoyed Mackintosh books before, but this one is definitely a new fave!

Loved, loved, loved this book! So excited it’s the 1st in a series! I cannot wait to read more. At first, it started off slow for me, but it picked up and I felt wrapped up in the atmosphere, very descriptive storytelling and the characters were all so interesting. It was twisty and had me guessing until the very end, unlike so many other books.

Gosh, I tried with this one, and I tried really hard. I wanted to love this so much, but I didn’t. I found this novel to continuously drag. The only thing I really enjoyed was in the first couple of chapters between the two main detectives, and their sarcasm. I also found a lot of the foreign lingo in here very annoying, and difficult to understand. I’m sorry to say that this one was not for me.