A well done, dark gritty whodunit. The atmosphere was so well done it literally made you feel like you were living among the players. So many twists and turns you had no idea what would pop up and shock you next.
This one kept me guessing till the very end. The plot twists down a dark spiral with so many secrets, lies and terror .. each secret worse than the next.
The characters were eccentric and well written.
A great read

I love her books and though this was a bit confusing initially, I knew I'd like it because of the many twists and turns! The setting is Wales and there's a party thrown by Rhys who is well-known throughout the small village. His family is always front and center and this is no exception...until a body is found during the annual Polar Jump on New Year's Day! So many suspects, so many clues, so many red herrings! But front and center for all of it is Ffion who works in law enforcement and is a superb policewoman. So we'll be on the lookout for her in the next in this series!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Oh, how I loved this book! Clare Mackintosh never disappoints. There were so many "wait, what" moments in this book I couldn't put it down. I just had to know who did it. Definitely add this one to your TBR list.

Cymru am byth - Wales Forever. Rhys Lloyd is a local boy who achieved fame and fortune as a singer. He comes home to Cwm Coed, a small town in Wales, to build a resort for the wealthy on the lake. His wife seems to hate him. Actually, there wasn't a person in this book who didn't hate Rhys and as you read on, you'll see why. His tuxedo clad body floats across the lake on New Years eve during the traditional swim attended by the local Welsh residents.
If he died on the English side of the lake Detective Leo Brady will take over the investigation. If it's the Welsh side D.C. Ffion Morgan handles it. The two end up working together and I loved the dialogue, the Welsh language interspersed and the fantastic twist of events at the end. Every person in this book has a secret, including the detectives.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy of this novel.

The Last Party by Clare Mckintosh will be published November 8, 2022 by Sourcebooks Landmark Publishing. Genre: General Adult Fiction. Mystery as well (in my opinion). I will definitely be reading more by Mackintosh.

I feel t the book started out slow and there were quite a few times I almost stopped reading it-but I struggled on and it did get easier to read. A lot of suspects throughout the book and the ending was a surprise to me. Definitely didn’t expect it. I did find it boring in many places though. Great author- maybe it just wasn’t the right fit for me. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

The Last Party
Clare Mackintosh
Pub. date Nov 8, 2022

Thank you to @minotaur_books
@stmartinspress
@netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of all Clare Mackintosh’s books. She is definitely an auto buy author for me. If you’ve read any of her previous mysteries / psychological thrillers then you know what I’m talking about. I was so excited to be able to read an ARC of The Last Party, which has a November 8 publication date.

The Last Party starts with the discovery of a body during the annual New Year’s Day swim in North Wales. The investigation takes off from there to determine who had the means, motive and opportunity to commit the murder of Rhys Lloyd. It seems several people have a valid reason for wanting to get rid of him. Rhys who grew up in the small village of Cwm Coed was also the owner of a new resort called The Shore. The Shore was a resort built exclusively for the privileged and wealthy which was the antithesis of the people of Cwm Coed. There are more than a few unexpected turns that will keep you reading and trying to figure out what really happened to Rhys.
I loved the main character Detective Constable (DC) Ffion Morgan and am looking forward to reading book #2 which is coming out next year.
Isn’t it great when you know a favorite character is coming back in another book or possibly even more?
Go ahead and preorder this one now!

#minotaurbooks #netgalley #stmartinspress #claremackintosh #juliawoodard #bookreview #bookstagrammer #arcbookreview #amreading

A cast of unlovable characters written to show thier shallow and immoral ways. A story of 2 good cops, who might have to bend the rules at times. While I can't say I loved this book,I can say it was well written and thought out

The icy waters of Mirror Lake (Llyn Drych) separate the English shores from the Welsh village of Cwm Coed. And, the residents of each side of the lake couldn’t be more different.

The locals on the Welsh side, celebrate New Year’s Eve by plunging into the always cold waters of the lake. Their new, affluent English neighbors will have a party with champagne and canapés.

But, it will be the last party, for local celebrity Rhys Lloyd, an opera singer who grew up on the Welsh side, but now lives on the English side, in the fancy new development called “The Shores” which he helped to develop along with his business partner, Jonty Charlton.

Who would want him dead?

Well, apparently everyone.
And, for good reason.

And, there are A LOT of characters so that means there are A LOT of suspects.

DC Ffion Morgan from the Welsh side will need to partner with DC Leo Brady, from the English side to sort out who ACTUALLY killed Rhys-as initially the jurisdiction is as murky as the lake.

But, fortunately the two have chemistry, which will serve them well in the future since apparently this is the start of a series.

And, I liked both of them as well.
They are characters that I enjoyed spending time with.

You never know what kind of book you will get from the talented Claire Mackintosh!

She has penned what was a 5 star psychological thriller for me-“I Let You Go”, thought provoking fiction that dealt with a couple’s difficult medical decision for their child with “After the End”, and last year’s high adrenaline hijacking thriller, “Hostage”.

This book almost read like Nordic Noir or Scandi Noir to me. Though not set in Scandinavia or a Nordic country, it is crime fiction told mostly from the Police POV, with a small village, and an icy lake which seems to separate everyone and everything.

Told in two parts, this was definitely a SLOW burn, which maybe read slower because the Welsh names and settings were so unfamiliar to me that it required concentration and some flipping back and forth to keep the many characters and their connections straight in part one.

There was also some repetition in part two as we revisit the same scenes from the party that we read about earlier, now seen through a second or third character’s perspective.

At 432 pages, I did enjoy the story for the most part, but became a bit restless toward the end-and found myself wishing the editing had been tighter and some of the redundancy eliminated so we could reach the resolution quicker.

3.75 rounded up!

A buddy read with DeAnn and NZLisaM-be sure to check out their amazing reviews for additional thoughts!

Available November 8, 2022 from Sourcebooks Landmark.
Thank you for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for a candid review!

In the small Welsh town of Cwn Coed it's time for the New Year's Eve swim but instead of a quick sip they find a body. Accident? Murder? The body is that of a local boy who became a star, now on his way down. Timelines bounce between past and present and suspects abound as Ffin Morgan and Leo Brady investigate. Beautiful descriptions, characters who build on each other and of course suspense make this a book you hate to put down. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Rhys Lloyd has made a name for himself professionally, but most recently with "The Shore," a collection of vacation homes he's had built on the land his father left him. And yet, he's still floating dead in the lake by midnight at the start of the New Year.

Ffion Morgan, detective constable and local, now has the task of finding out who among them not just wanted Rhys dead, but actually made it happen. Not an easy task when these are your friends, family members, and neighbors, and you have your own secrets to protect. Throw in a detective from another area to work on the case with you after sharing a "one night only" nighttime encounter, and solving the case gets a bit more awkward.

This is the kind of book where you have to suspect everyone, even though you know it can't be whoever feels the most obvious.

In the end, I appreciated who it was/wasn't. I enjoyed the twists, but the ending was still clean enough that there was no jaw-dropping cliffhanger. Also, everyone hates Rhys.

CW: physical violence, death, murder, infidelity

This was a great story: a murder mystery whodunit that was full of characters who were all so well developed and interesting. On the edge of a small Welsh town, where everyone knows everyone's business and history, Rhys Lloyd a local boy turned famous opera singer has developed lakeside land into exclusive vacation properties for only the wealthy. On New Year's Day, the locals go for their traditional cold swim and the body of Rhys Lloyd is discovered in the water. Since the lake sits on the border of Wales and England, Ffion Morgan and Leo Brady, detectives from both sides of the lake, work together to find the killer. Secrets are uncovered along the way. More than just a murder mystery, the story explores relationships between characters and how past hurts, grudges, and kindness affect how we behave and interact with one another. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy!

A little slow to start but I eventually got into it. Good descriptions in this book & I felt I could picture the areas really well. This was a good multilayer crime story & I really liked Leo & Ffion’s characters!

Although at times a bit complicated, zigzagging between Welsh and English references - The Last Party was terrific and I would definitely recommend it. Replete with a rather stodgy young English detective and a feisty Welsh Ffion Morgan, also a detective, the demise and solving of the Rhys Morgan mystery had all the elements needed. It had great scenery, interesting characters and an ending that was never really obvious.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Clare Mackintosh for the advanced copy of The Last Party in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved every Clare Mackintosh book I've ever read, she's definitely solidified herself as an auto buy author for me. I unfortunately have to say this is my least favorite book of hers to date.

One thing I actually thought was pretty cool was the inclusion of Welsh language throughout the book, I just wish there was a pronunciation guide to help with the dialogue and names sprinkled in. (In no way is this a criticism of the inclusion of the language, just something I personally would've found helpful).

The pacing in this book is far slower than her other novels, and I felt it could've been quite a bit shorter. Additionally, while I love alternating timelines and POV chapters, the timelines in this one almost alternated too much to keep track of what happened and when. I did enjoy the glimpse into the minds of each of the big characters, however.

Nevertheless, I will always pick up a new Mackintosh book when it hits shelves, and while I didn't *love* this one, it still had a couple twists in the end that I did enjoy.

This was a decent, solid thriller but I often lost interest or found myself distracted. I believe the names and some words that were different didn't sit easily with me.

It's New Year's Day, and almost everyone in the Welsh town of Cwm Coed is out for the traditional lake plunge. There was a massive New Year's Eve party the night before at the exclusive lake community called The Shore, and some people are hungover while others are still drunk. But the annual event is abruptly cancelled with a body is found floating offshore. Since the border of England and Wales runs right down the middle of the lake, a detective from each side is assigned to the case. It soon develops that everyone in the community has something to hide or someone to protect, as well as a reason for wanting the victim dead.

Very good mystery that kept me guessing. There is a good twist in the middle that I didn't see coming. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys contemporary mystery fiction.

A cast full of dislikable characters in a fascinating police procedural when even the investigating detective constable can't be trusted. On New Year's Eve, Rhys Lloyd, a local bad boy who grew up to be a successful singer, hosts a party for the wealthy residents of the lakeside lodges at The Shores as well as the neighbors from Cwm Coed, the Welsh village. When the villagers take their New Year's Day swim, Rhys' body turns up. Welsh Detective Constable Ffion Morgan teams up with English DC Leo Brady. They both have troubled personal lives, but it's Ffion's secrets that could destroy their investigation.

An excellent launch of the new DC Morgan series as the police try to uncover all the secrets surrounding Lloyd's death.

Another great novel by Clare Mackintosh!

There were a lot of characters! It took a while to build the background needed but then once we were going, I could not put the book down! I loved how all the of secrets unfolded and we got to hear all the gossip and rumors.

Ffion and Leo have great chemistry and depth of character that we got to see come out as they were trying to solve the murder.

Highly recommend this book!

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This author is mixing it up after many years of writing straightforward thrillers - man cop/lady cop team up after a “meet cute” from hell, the local color, the stifling bureaucracy, but she makes it fresh and it works! Excited to see that she has the next one in the series in the works for 2023! Easy five stars.

When a local celebrity is found floating in the lake on New Year's Day, the small community are mostly all suspects as so many feel good riddance to him. As DC Ffion Morgan begins the investigation, the hardest part is trying to decide who DIDN'T want to kill him. With new secrets and lies uncovered at every turn, and her own past haunting her, every time she feels like she's closer to the truth another twist leaves her further behind than she was before. As the investigation begins to wrap up, she's not sure if she really wants to know who killed Rhys.