French’s second novel in the Maud O'Connor Detective series, The Last Days of Kira Mullan, focuses more on Nancy North, a young woman who is convinced her down stairs neighbor did not commit suicide. Nancy has suffered serious mental problems in recent months, so her concerns are dismissed by the detective in charge of Kira’s investigation. Nancy is also being gaslighted by her partner and the neighbors who all have reasons to want the investigation wrapped up quickly. This is often a difficult book to read due to the cruel treatment Nancy receives, but this mystery moves at a good clip.
I found it a bit puzzling that Maud really doesn’t make much of an appearance until the last half of the book, but the novel held my interest.

Nicci French can do not wrong. I am working my way through all her back list so when I saw this book I jumped on it! She does not disappoint in this latest thriller!

📚 ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Last Days of Kira Mullen By Nicci French
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Publisher: William Morrow | Willam Morrow Paperbacks

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this #gifted e-ARC of the book in exchange for my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

The Last Days of Kira Mullen was a slow burning mysterious thriller that really seemed to take a while to get going. But once the pace picked up, it finally hooked me and I ferociously turned the pages until the mystery was solved.

As I read the first half of the book, I thought maybe there was a mistake. The first half was focused on the unreliable main character Nancy, her relationship with her partner Felix, and Nancy's significant struggles with her mental health. Nancy recently suffered a psychotic break, causing her to lose her job, her beautiful flat, and many of her friends. After Nancy and Felix move to a new flat in a shared building and their downstairs neighbor Kira is found dead by suicide, everyone around Nancy is convinced she's teetering on the edge of another psychotic break. After all, Nancy seems convinced that Kira didn't commit suicide... Though even the police believe it was suicide and closed their case.

The first half seemed to include very little mentions of Kira, other than her apparent suicide. The book's synopsis talked about how DI Maud O'Connor would stop at nothing to figure out the truth and ensure Nancy's suspicions aren't dismissed. But all I kept thinking was, where's that part of the story?! The first half was painstakingly slow and felt, to me, that I'd been mislead about the book I was reading.

However, after the halfway point in the book, the mystery finally started to deepen. The focus finally began to shift to Kira's death and Maud's investigation into it...but man, it took a long time to get there. It genuinely felt like I was reading two different books! The second half was fantastic and really captured my interest, and it was the second half of the story that pulled my rating up to a 4⭐.

Overall, I enjoyed this read -- primarily because the second half was everything I'd been hoping for. This was my first book from the writing duo of Nicci French, and I'll definitely give their books more chances in the hopes that I'll get more of the second half of The Last Days of Kira Mullen. If you're a fan of slow burn psychological thrillers, this one is definitely one to get on your TBR list!

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"From international bestselling master of suspense Nicci French comes a chilling new psychological thriller about a woman determined to get justice for a murder no one else believes happened.

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she'll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix - who has been a saint through her recent troubles - move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She's doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it's a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren't adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O'Connor has misgivings about her colleagues' investigation of Kira's death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it's like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn't so quick to discount Nancy's claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light."

I mean, sometimes unreliable narrators can be reliable right?

The Last Days of Kira Mullan is another great thriller from Nick French. Nancy and Felix have just moved in to a flat in a not so great building after Nancy started hearing voices and had a complete mental breakdown and lost her restaurant. She begins to wonder if she is having another breakdown after a young tenant in the building is found dead and is ruled a suicide,but Nancy is the only one who thinks it murder. I really enjoyed this book, thanks to Netgalley for this arc.

Book #2 in the Maud O'Connor series. I didn't realize this was part of a series and I read it as a stand alone. I didn't feel lost or like I was missing anything, so I think it is safe to say this can be read without reading the first book. With that being said, I loved it so much that I will go back and read the previous book as well. Full of tension, suspense, and twists I was completely engaged in this story. The author really had me feeling intense emotions while reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow | William Morrow Paperbacks for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was an unputdownable thriller. I simply had to know what happened to Kira Mullan! With lots of detail, the author weaved a clever tale with plenty of suspects. I enjoyed the ride, getting to know each of the characters through the multiple POVs. There was also great mental health representation in this book, with one of the characters returning home after a psychotic break. I always look forward to this author's books and I can't wait to see if there'll be another book in this series.

This twisty psychological thriller packs a punch from the beginning pages. The main character, Nancy North, is a psychiatric patient who has suffered delusions and heard voices; she epitomizes an unreliable narrator, but she also demonstrates an appealing honesty and bravery throughout the story. Kira Mullan, a young woman living in the same block of flats as Nancy and her partner, Felix, apparently commits suicide after a party one night. Nancy is the only one living in the residence who believes that Kira was murdered, and although Nancy is at first treated with sympathy, her partner and her neighbors become increasingly upset and angry with her as she persists in trying to find out what really happened to Kira. The rundown apartment house at number 99 Fielding Street and its odd assortment of neighbors give the novel a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere as Nancy becomes more and more paranoid, wondering whom she can trust. Her frustration and sense of danger increase as she spends weeks trying to work out what really happened on the night of Kira's death, but she finally gains the attention of a female detective, Maud, who is willing to believe that she might have reason for her fears. The characters, especially Nancy and Maud, are excellent, and the story is gripping, each neighbor in turn showing a more sinister side as the investigation continues. This isn't my favorite novel by the writers, but it's a solid mystery with a convoluted plot and great building of suspense as the two women, both dogged in their pursuit of the truth, persevere in solving the mystery in the face of determined and increasingly violent opposition.

This book had me totally off balance and I couldn’t put it down! This is the second book in a series (Has Anyone seen Charlotte Saulter is the first and is very good!) featuring Maud, a London detective. Nancy lives in London with her partner, Felix. They have just downsized their apartment. Nancy suffered an emotional breakdown and is gradually recovering, continuing to have issues. Then one of their new neighbors, Kira Mullen, is found hanging. Although this is the second book of a series, it is not necessary to read the first book to thoroughly enjoy this book. Recommend this book and all of Nicci French’s books!

Nancy just can’t catch a break. Between being thrown into a mental health asylum and believing that a neighbor’s suicide was in actuality a murder, she is not taken seriously by her partner or anyone around her. When finally she gets someone to listen, things start to turn around! This was a fast-paced whirl of a mystery! I enjoyed Nancy and her determination!

Wow! What a great read! I could not put this down and finished it in one day! I didn't know that this was second in a series but it took nothing away from story; the plot mostly centered on Nancy, who after suffering a mental breakdown moves into a new place with her boyfriend Felix. Here they have a slew of new neighbors. One of them commits suicide but Nancy isn't convinced it wasn't a murder. This was a fast paced, thrilling read and I loved every minute of it! Highly recommend.

“The last days of Kira Mullen” is the newest psychological thriller from Nico French and the second book in the Maud O’Connor series. Nancy North is being gaslit about the death of a woman in her apartment building and Maud is sent to investigate. Altogether, a good mystery and thriller.

I received a free copy of, The Last Days of Kira Mullan, by Nicci French, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Nancy North has experienced a psychotic episode, she is on medicine and feeling better, until she starts hearing things again. This book was a little to intense for me.

This book has a slightly different setup from what I was expecting--Detective Maud O'Connor has a modest role, and the bulk of the book focuses instead on Nancy North, a former psychiatric patient who is trying to get someone to believe that her neighbor died by murder, not suicide. Nancy's struggles dominate the novel, and unfortunately, those were the parts I enjoyed the least. I would've liked for the mystery itself to have been more developed; the solution was fairly anticlimactic, and the ending was not quite what I expected. I would definitely like to see more of Maud O'Connor in coming books, just perhaps in a more central role.

This was a really engaging book! I was almost immediately invested in Nancy’s story and was absolutely FULL of anxiety with some of the things she experienced during the course of this book. There were some really terrible people in Nancy’s orbit, but thank goodness she was able to stand up for herself and for what’s right! The story was well written and full of tension, with some unexpected surprises thrown in there as well.

WOW! What a roller coaster ride! I enjoy when an author grabs me by my emotions and twists how I feel about people this way and that!

The characterization was top of the line. Through actions, words and even facial expressions Nicci French completely made the characters come to life. The main character had mental illness and the author dumped us head first into the world as she experienced it.

The guilty party was revealed near the end, and it wasn't who I thought it was, but the story was neatly wrapped up by the last page.

.I want to read more by this author.

Nancy has a psychotic break, and after being released from the hospital, she and her boyfriend move to a new building. Shortly after, a young woman in another flat in the building is found after having hanged herself, but Nancy is convinced there is more to it. Because of her recent mental health struggles, no one believes her. This was good in a dark-ish Nicci French sort of way, a bit reminiscent of the Freda Klein books. I actually did not expect the ending of this one and really enjoyed it. 4 stars.

The Last Days of Kira Mullen was a solid mystery with a twist of not understanding the reliability of the main character. At times slow, the suspense made up for the pace as the drama unfolded. A good read by Nicci French.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I love anything by Nicci French and The Last Days of Kira Mullen is one of their best.
Nancy North is recovering from a recent breakdown. She's lost her restaurant, friends and is barely hanging on. Only her overprotective boyfriend Felix is there to help. Felix moves the couple from west to east London, from nice to crummy. A hovel of a duplex complete with screaming baby, prying neighbors and the cute girl Kira who seems to live life to the fullest.
Nancy isn't adjusting well. And then the title character winds up dead. Everyone's convinced it's suicide, even the police. Nancy believes its murder.
Everyone thinks Nancy's having another breakdown, especially Felix. Only one cop, Maud O'Conner, will listen to Nancy.
Get set for some fine sleuthing where everyone is a suspect., even crazy Nancy. The finale will surprise and please the reader with a second ending waiting in the wings.
Nancy North is a wonderful character, fighting her way back to sanity from a stalker boyfriend and a killer in plain sight. The return of Maud O'Conner is the cherry on top of a stellar whodunit.

Well, this is the second book that I read of this writer(s), and the second about Dectective Inspector Maud O'Connor and all I can say is that it was such a pleasure to read it. The story itself has so many ingredients: too many suspects, an unrealiable narrator, so many twists, and a badass female detective whose skills and the way she pulls everything together are just mind-blowing. It was a treat to read about Maud again, and I hope I can read more about her and her cases in the (very near) future. Congratulations to Nicci and Sean for another amazing book. And a big Thank You to NetGalley and William Morrow for sending me this wonderful ARC, which I consider an early Christmas Present.