‼️Warning! Outlier review!‼️

A.R. Torre is an absolute favorite author of mine. Any book she writes (under any of her pseudonyms) is automatically added to the top of my tbr list. This book was no different...

That is until I started reading…😫

Perla is living a quiet, unassuming life with her husband and daughter. But Perla has big plans! She’s about to put into motion something people will be talking about for years!

Leewood is serving a sentence for multiple murders. Over the years no one has ever come to visit.
Until a graduate student begins making frequent trips to the prison, hoping to hear from Leewood himself. What exactly happened all those years ago?

That’s it for the premise. Any more and it’s a slippery slope into spoilers.
I can say, this is one of her darker themed thrillers.

Ok… so what went wrong for me?
🫤I found the format a bit confusing. The transition of who was narrating was a bit choppy and I’d had to hit reverse and reread pages to make sure I had the right perspective.
🫤Unfortunately I guessed most of the twists, so nothing came as a huge surprise for me.

There are loads of fabulous five star reviews for this book (virtually every review) so I can confidently say it's a case of...

It’s me🙋🏻‍♀️ not the book!

Make sure to read all the rave reviews and I hope you love it as much as everyone else did.

Will this stop me or make me hesitate before picking up her next? Not a chance! I can’t wait to see what she working on!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer

I was approved to read this book by NetGalley and Hachette Book Group - and my oh my am I SO glad that I was. Hands down, this is my favorite book I’ve read by Torre so far. Her plot was just so smart and well executed. I absolutely loved the different POVs as well as the flashbacks. The character development with the main character, Perla, was done SO well. There were parts in the book where quite a few of Perla’s thoughts really just gave me chills. Torre has a talent for writing about sociopaths, that’s a fact. The ending was perfect and didn’t feel rushed for me. I only knocked off half a star because there were parts that were predictable, but the ride through the book was still an amazing one. Pick this chill worthy thriller up when it releases on 8/20/2024.

There was a ton of early buzz for The Last Party at @thrillerbookloversthepulse, and I couldn’t wait to get into it. This book was complex, dark and insanely twisted, and I loved every single minute of it. I’m not sure how the author managed to dream up the plot for this one, but I’m glad that she did. The twists and turns were phenomenal, but there was one in particular that completely floored me. This is definitely a book worth adding to your TBR!

Read if you like:

✨ Unreliable main characters
✨ Explosive twists
✨ Binge-worthy reads

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book ahead of time in exchange for a review. You should read it!

I love a psycho main character 😂reading their train of thought is almost humorous and it hooked me from the beginning with Perla’s thoughts and reading her daughter’s journal entries (I wish there was more of this maybe?) I started getting kinda bored with all the planning though and felt like there were a couple things I have read in other books (like the mentioning of laying pins on the floor for someone to step on, soooo baby teeth?!)
I’ve loved books by this author in the past but this wasn’t one of them sadly

Since I’ve hooked up with @thrillerbookloversthepulse I’ve handed out more five star ratings than I can count. But after reading The Last Party by @alessandratorre4, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have to adjust my rating system. I’d those other books were five star reads (and they were!), then this one is not. Instead, I shall bestow upon it an official six stars.

Also, it’s super unhinged, and people who actually have souls and are not dead inside like me might want to use caution

A.R. Torre, you took me on a wild ride with this one, I simply could not get enough of it!!! I can’t stop thinking about this one and I promise you’ll feel the same way! Please do yourself a favor and pre-order today! This is something you do NOT want to miss out on..

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In the running for my favorite book of 2024!

You know the last couple chapters of a book where everything is explained and the devious plan is quickly exposed to tie up loose ends? Well, instead of a quick blurb at the end, this was the premise of the whole book. We walk hand in hand with Perla as she plots her dark disturbing crime. Murders take a lot of planning! Everything needs to be set up just right to ensure the blame falls on the right person.

The Last Party has very short chapters told from Perla and Inmate Leewood’s POV. Also sprinkled in are journal entries from Perla’s daughter and quotes from people in the community regarding their thoughts on the family. I found my heart literally pounding when I got to “the night”. I felt like I was there in the dark house unsure of what was going to unfold.

Simply, this was AMAZING! Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC opportunity!

Pub Date Aug 20 2024

Perla Wultz lives in a high-class gated community with her husband Grant and daughter Sophie. She appears to live a picture-perfect life, if not for the fact that she's hiding some dark secrets from 23 years ago. In another perspective, we follow an inmate named Leewood Folcrum, who was convicted of killing two young girls at his daughter's birthday party 23 years ago. He confessed to these murders and does not deny guilt, nor is he trying to appeal his conviction. As we follow along from the different POVs (Perla, Grant, Sophie, and Leewood), we start to see how the past and present are connected.

I really wanted to like this book. I've heard great things about A.R. Torre in the thriller book community, and I was excited to get my hands on this ARC. However, this book fell short in a lot of ways for me. I predicted the plot twist at 25% into the book. I struggled to connect with any of the characters.

**SPOILER ALERT**
I was struggling to understand why Grant would have wanted to even marry the friend of his little sister, who was murdered. It didn't seem like something he would want to do. It didn't make any sense that he didn't see any warning signs with her, with all the weird stuff she would lie about.
**END SPOILER**

I don't know. I don't mind suspending belief for the sake of enjoying a book, but this just seemed super far-fetched. I wasn't shocked by anything that happened; I predicted everything, and I really didn't care about any of the characters enough to care what happened. The last 20% of the book felt super dragged out and unnecessary. It only needed a final chapter to wrap up the last 20%. It wasn't enjoyable for me. It felt stale and lacked depth. I will say, though, that it was well written, and I would check out other books from this author. This one just wasn't for me.

Thank you A.R. Torre, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

📖Book Review 📚

Title: The Last Party
By: A.R. Torre
Pub Date: August 20, 2024

A huge thank you to author @alessandratorre4 for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of The Last Party. As a thriller lover and reviewer with the team @thrillerbookloversthepulse I can tell you this book is one you’ll be talking about for a long time.

Perla Wultz is a loving mother and devoted wife living an upscale life in a gated Pasadena community. Perla is also obsessed with the decades old murder by the infamous Leewood Fulcrum. Twenty-three years ago, Leewood confessed to murdering two girls during a 12-year olds birthday party. While Leewood is serving his sentence, Perla can’t let go of the story, especially as her own daughter’s 12th birthday quickly approaches. While Perla plans the perfect party, an inquisitive doctoral student is searching for answers from Leewood. Why did he commit these horrible crimes and why can’t Perla let Leewood go?

This was a dark, captivating page-turner about the lengths a parent will go to protect their child. I would definitely recommend checking out the Last Party.

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Perla Wultz maintains a seemingly perfect life, living in a wealthy community with her husband, Grant, and daughter, Sophie. But she harbors a dark obsession with a decades-old crime.

Convicted murderer Leewood Folcrum is living out a life sentence for a murder committed 23 years ago. His is a crime not forgotten… not by Perla, nor by the doctoral student interviewing him. He is getting Folcrum to open up about the truth of what really happened that night.

As past secrets resurface and new deceptions emerge, a twisted plan unfolds, leaving questions of who will be the next victim and who is pulling the strings.

This book was definitely dark, but sooo good! It’s fast paced, easy to read, and addictive. One of the characters is so totally unlikeable but you’ll be on the edge of your seat waiting to see what he/she does next. And once you figure out the connection? And the ending? A+

Definitely move this one to the top of your TBR!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Torre may have just delivered her BEST book yet! We follow a mother who becomes obsessed with recreating a murder and that’s really all you should know going into it - the reveals start early into the book and the way the pieces connect is so well done.

There’s nothing I love more than being able to give a book five stars and this book SLAYED! I was hooked from page one and couldn’t put this one down. This was dark and twisty (just how I like it!), the writing was incredible and the characters were perfectly depicted. This was my first read by this author and I’ve now added quite a few to my TBR. I loved the multiple POV and when everything came together I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. There were so many reveals and there was no way to predict what was coming next. HIGHLY recommend for my thriller loving friends!

Thank you to the author and publisher (Thomas & Mercer) for this incredible read!

An unusual book, inventive, original, humorous, insightful about a sociopath and her obsession with murders that happened when she was younger. While it might not be appropriate for my younger students, I think the older ones will really like it.

This was deliciously dark and twisty. I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley & Thomas & Mercer for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book has been getting the best hype from other thriller readers. I had to drop everything that I was doing to get my hands on this book, and I do not regret it. The novel hooks you in immediately. There is not a chapter, page, or word wasted when it comes to encaptivating the reader. Each chapter starts with a testimony from someone related to the story and each statement just kept elevating the stakes and making you want to turn the page quicker than the last. The storyline was constantly moving, and never felt stagnant. It had a great flow, and all of the details tied together beautifully. The characters are dynamic with a hint of unreliability that makes you question every single one of their motives. And let me say….some of these motives are WICKED. My only critique was that I predicted the main climax, but in a way that made the journey even more fun to read.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and A.R. Torre for an advanced ebook with the promise of a honest review.

AHHHHH I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you ever start a book and less than a page in you're saying to yourself, "yup, this is going to be good". Well that was me with The Last Party. From page 1 Torre had me hook, line, and sinker.

Such a unique plot, the multiple narrators, interjections of bystander opinions, a podcast, and the general sense of "wtf is going on here?!" that permeated every page was absolute perfection.

Perla's character was remarkable and Torre gave me the best mental images. I could see this woman so vividly scrutinizing her every move, manipulating and controlling every detail in her environment, and just being so darned pleased with herself! She absolutely captivated me and as the pages unfolded, her character became more and more intriguing to me.

This book was so layered. Between the podcast coverage, visits to the prison, and such strong and dynamic characters, it really had everything for me.

This was a very easy five stars and the best introduction to A. R. Torre. I'm super excited to check out more of her work and it's very obvious to me why everyone at THE PULSE has been talking about this one non-stop for weeks. This is a book for your shelves so definitely pre-order now!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer for sharing this stellar novel with me.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had a great overall story to it and worked in the genre. I enjoyed how well the story had a dark feel to it and it was suspenseful that I wanted. The characters were what I wanted and glad it worked overall. I enjoyed the writing style of A. R. Torre and glad I read this.

Thank you so much to the publisher for this e-arc! This was a surprisingly dark, witty thriller about an old murder of 3 girls at a birthday, someone possibly wrongfully convicted, and a super twisted mother. Highly recommend!!

This twisty book kept me hooked from the first page to the last page. I loved the fast paced action and how many twists the author fit in. This book will have you thinking twice about sending your kids to a sleepover!