Is Marian dating the love of her life or a serial killer? After his death she finds more and more clues that make it look as though he may be a twisted serial killer. But was he? This psychological thriller isn't narrated by a woman who is unreliable, drunk or on medication. This one speaks for the women victimized who want to take their own power back.

#TheLastWomanInTheForest# by: Diane LesBesquets.
Review by: I Love To Read:Librarian
Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this thriller in exchange for an honest review.
Marian Edgnstrom lives close to nature in her pursuit of becoming a dog handler in the wild. These well trained dogs work hard helping document the number of wild animals in any given area.
It's a highly skilled occupation as well as a lonely one. Few people populate the various camps the dog handlers occupy. Marion meets Tate, a handsome dog handler. She's attracted to him and so pleased when he takes her under his wing to share his expertise with her. It isn't long before she's head-over-heels for Tate.
During the past four women have been brutally murdered in the surrounding wilderness. These deaths worry Marion. So much so she seeks the help of a retired profiler. She and this profiler become friends as they compare facts. With the profilers' help, the murderers' possible identity emerges, placing Marion in jeopardy because others in the camps know she's snooping.
She comes face-to-face with the killer. The author takes us to a harrowing finale. A real nail-biter. Will Marion survive or will she become victim no. five?

Thank you to Netgalley for this book. I really enjoyed it. I loved the MC Marian and the villain was really good too (not going to say who - spoilers!). I also loved the description of the various wildlife and locations they visited. Great ending too!

This is the first book I have read by Diane Le Becquest and I am not sure what to say other than I am going to pick up all of her mystery books from now on. The book isn't perfect and I found things that had me wondering if it was the story or the authors writing style but I will admit readers will not be disappointed as they follow Marian Edgnstom as discover the man she loved wasn't the man she thought he was. The story moves though different time tables which is difficult for any author who is telling a story. Which is way I said the story isn't perfect and story might not be for every readers.

The author is very descriptive and details the scenes and animals in the story.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Diane Les Becquets The Last Woman in the Forest

A fully fleshed out idea, where characters always come first, helps this mystery’s biggest twists land with resounding knock-out power. I cannot see what’s next from Diane Les Becquets. She’s managed to land on my must-read list.

Marian Engstrom works with a group that uses rescue dogs to detect scat that indicates species abundance and distribution. The process allows for monitoring threatened or endangered species around the world.

On an assignment to northern Alberta, Marian falls in love with Tate. When they are on separate assignments, word arrives of Tate's death. Marian is devastated, but as she becomes aware of inconsistencies in Tate's life, she finds herself with questions concerning the unsolved murders of several women.

Needing to have her questions answered and put to rest, she contacts a retired forensic profiler to clear her unwanted suspicions. The pov shifts between Marian and Nick Sheppard, the profiler hired to resolve Marian's doubts.

The information about training and working with dogs used for conservation purposes is fascinating. Marian's innate connection with dogs and Nick's deep relationship with his wife add to the depictions of the two main characters. The suspense is a slow burn, and although you may suspect some of the twists, the novel is compelling.

This is the second novel I've read recently concerning dogs trained to detect scat for conservation purposes. Christine Carbo's A Sharp Solitude also has a scat detection dog as an important plot element.

I intend to look for Les Becquets first novel Breaking Wild.

Read in September, 2018; review scheduled for February 25, 2019.

NetGalley/Berkeley Publishing
Suspense. March 5, 2019. Print length: 352 pages.

I am so excited to read The Last Woman in the Forest by Diane Les Becquets. From the cover alone I was instantly intrigued. Its a book about nature and murder and for someone who loves nature and loves murder/thriller/suspense, what could be better? And it features a dog lover!

Here is what you need to know:



Marian Engström has found her true calling: working with rescue dogs to help protect endangered wildlife. Her first assignment takes her to northern Alberta, where she falls in love with her mentor, the daring and brilliant Tate. After they’re separated from each other on another assignment, Marian is shattered to learn of Tate’s tragic death. Worse still is the aftermath in which Marian discovers disturbing inconsistencies about Tate’s life, and begins to wonder if the man she loved could have been responsible for the unsolved murders of at least four women.

Hoping to clear Tate’s name, Marian reaches out to a retired forensic profiler who’s haunted by the open cases. But as Marian relives her relationship with Tate and circles ever closer to the truth, evil stalks her every move.



I am so curious just reading this short synopsis! This book has been getting rave reviews and I look forward to snuggling up with my dogs and reading it.

really liked it

I picked up The Last Woman in the Forest because the title and the the cover gave me the impression it was a survivor story, about a woman fighting to stay alive on her own, lost in the deep woods. Marian is a survivor, but it's not that kind of story at all. She's in the woods as a dog handler and is part of a research team, seldom alone, never lost, and always well equipped with all the amenities, including a GPS and satellite phone.

The novel starts with Marian scattering her dead lover's ashes in a stream deep in the backwoods, a spot he chose before he died. Afterward, she calls Nick, a famous Profiler, and tells him she's afraid the man she loved may have been a serial killer who preyed on women alone and left their bodies in the forest. She wants Nick to help her prove to herself that it isn't true. Despite her suspicians, she wants to believe Tate was a good man, because she loved him.

I may have liked the novel better if the story had stayed with Marian, instead of moving back and forth between her viewpoint and Nick's, an older man dying of brain cancer. Nick has a devoted and loving wife and although he should be relaxing in his retirement, he can't stop thinking about his unsolved cases, especially the murders of the young women left in the woods. Over the years he had written the life stories of each of the four victims, detailed accounts pulled from the evidence, multiple interviews, and his own imagination. Each report Nick wrote is included in the novel as a separate story and those four viewpoints further diffuse the tension of the tale begun with Marian. Nick is an interesting character on his own and I wanted to learn more about what happened to him. His storyline felt unfinished.

Marian's job as a dog handler doing research on the wildlife populations in the Northwest is a big part of this novel. The details can be fascinating, if you like reading about dogs and dog training.

Altogether a pretty good read. There's a twist at the end that should be surprising, but I saw it coming. You may not, so I won't spoil it for you.

A marriage of nature and murder make up this story of a canine handler for conservation efforts and her belief that her deceased boyfriend is a serial killer. Filled with descriptions of various hikes and landscape along with psychological profiles of the victims, the atmosphere is foreboding. Not without its unexpected twists and turns, the investigation is not as straightforward as it first seems.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I was granted access by netgalley.com to an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was hooked my in the first few pages, and I had a tough time putting it down! Intriguing and suspenseful, I'll recommend to all lovers of psychological thrillers!

Tl;dr: A lyrically written novel about a serial killer, the nuance of life, and how beauty and terror are encapsulated in nature. (Seriously!)

The Last Woman in the Forest is ostensibly a thriller, but it's more of a psychological profile of how closely linked life and death are, both for the mc, Marian, and for those last few places in the United States (especially Montana) where there's true wilderness.

That's not a bad thing--in fact, it's a great thing! Ms. Les Becquets' novel does away with a lot of the usual thriller style, most notably dropping a brisk pace for one that's slowed down to really examine the construction of something few of us see: true evil (thank goodness!) and the beauty of land outside civilization (this one, I wish more people got to see)

I can't say enough good things about the way the great outdoors--or what's left of it-- is within The Last Woman in the Forest. It goes beyond describing the beauty of it, to not just an appreciation of it, but a real understanding of it. Nature, in its purest state, is staggeringly beautiful. It is also frequently (and terrifyingly) dangerous, and I can't remember the last time I saw that written about so well, or with such passion.

Although the above is the best part of The Last Woman in the Forest, there are some great characters in here too. I adored Marian, who was such a walking contradiction--so smart, but naive too--as any person is, but it takes a lot to pull that combo off well within a novel, and Ms. Les Becquets does so in a way that's completely believable. I also loved Jenness, and it's a sign that a minor character is done exquisitely when you want more about them, even as you know there won't be. I also thought the "profiles" within The Last Woman in the Forest were exceptionally done. In a few pages, I really cared about every woman within them, and they enhanced what The Woman in the Forest said about life and how there is so much beauty--and sadly, for many women--terror-- in it.

Nick, the main male character, was fine, although more of the typical "old smart guy" you see in thrillers. I did think his relationship with his wife was well done, though, with a layer of tenderness normally absent these types of characters.

The climax of the novel is standard thriller fare--which is to say it's fine, good even--but when placed inside such a delicately done meditation on the outdoors it seemed almost too easy, but then, maybe that's how it is when everything is on the line. (And I never ever want to be anything near a situation like Marian's to find out!)

I'm not usually a fan of the term women's fiction because it seems to give " serious" outlets a pass on reviewing great fiction because it's "commercial," aka "oh, a woman wrote it" (I mean, look how many books it took for Jodi Picoult to be taken seriously, or Kristin Hannah,etc. etc.) but the term is fitting here because behind the thriller facade Ms. Les Becquets is deeply and passionately committed to exploring something that every woman knows--that by simply being a woman, life is that much more dangerous.

I think the best way to sum up this gorgeous novel is its luminous last line:

"And in that moment she felt such great empathy it hurt to breathe, as if she were one with everything."

(I told you the writing was beautiful!) Highly recommended, and although I'm sure it will be paired up with Wild, I think those who liked Molly Gloss' phenomenal The Jump Off Creek, Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, whatever that famous book by Annie Dillard is, or, more recently, the aforementioned Ms. Hannah's The Great Alone will find this a perfect fit.

Likable characters and interesting environments. I wasn't sure of the outcome. The story definitely kept me reading!

It took me a few pages to get into this book. Once I got hooked, I couldn't put it down. I couldn't even guess the turn of events that would occur. A wild thriller that will have you checking over your shoulder...

Since reading Diane Les Becquets' Breaking Wild, published in 2016, I have been impatiently waiting for a new book. I even went so far as to contact her to see when I might expect that event. Granted the privilege to read the ARC of her latest work, The Last Woman In The Forest, made my day.

I wondered if Les Becquets would continue the characters in Breaking Wild. Though this is not the case, all that I loved about that book is present here. The themes of wilderness adventure, rescue dog training, strong female character, survival technique, the beauty of nature, and the great outdoors continue and come alive in Les Becquets' powerful writing.

Marian Engström, joins a conservation study group in the northern Rockies. She is intrigued with the K9's for Conservation, rescue dogs, that lead her way to scat specimens for a study to prevent a dwindling population of wolf, caribou and moose. She soon realizes she would prefer being a dog handler rather than her orienteering role. She also finds herself falling for the handler on her team, Tate, a relationship not without some issues. Tate is a hard man to read, holding his thoughts and emotions close.

When Tate is killed in a bear attack, Marian begins to wonder if Tate was truthful with her or if their relationship was full of deceit. Tate seemed a storyteller, often embellishing tales, making it hard for Marian to know what was truth or fantasy. One of these is a cold case involving several deaths of women. Marian cannot ignore the questions she has regarding Tate's knowledge of the killings. Could she have loved a serial killer? To prove his innocence Marian collaborates with a forensic profiler.

The plot had its hiccups for me but I easily forgave these for the journey, a wilderness I can only imagine. The breathtaking, and beautifully written passages made this a winner. As in Breaking Wild, Les Bescquets writes from the heart and her own experiences to bring this story to life. My only regret is the wait to see what Diane Les Becquets writes next.

Absolutely the strongest thriller I have read this year. Set in wilderness areas of the North American west, the environment itself takes on a significant role. Six young women, naive, generous, and trying to spend their lives doing good fall prey to a charming and appealing psychopathic killer. Marion just wants to work with dogs, bonding with them and working as a team to help preserve the vanishing animals of the world. But it looks like the love of her life, recently deceased, might not have been as trustworthy as she thought. She works with a psychological profiler to zero in on a serial killer who ws in her part of Montana. Not predictable, heroine didn't do anything stupid. Absolutely wonderful book!

All I can say about this book is WOW! I would give it more then five stars I could. If you are looking for a spine-tingling, creepy, ominous read this book is for you. This is a whodunit of the first order and when you finish reading it (keep the lights on) you will never go on another hike alone.

This book is set to be published in March, 2019. Undeniably this one belongs on your next year to-read list.

Highly recommended!

Could Tate, the man who taught Marian to train rescue dogs really be a serial killer? Killed in a bear attack, he can hardly defend himself and Marian doesn’t believe it anyway. She sets out to prove it, putting her own life on the line