I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I've had this book on my TBR for much longer than I would care to admit, and did opt to listen to the audiobook.

While this is marked as the second book in the Searchers Series, it can be read as a complete standalone. It features Elsa, the main character from [book:A Map of the Dark|35605410], but there is no overlap in the storylines. Elsa does have a cameo in this book, but she is not the main character and her role is small.

This follows a group of teenagers, who find themselves in a world of trouble after making a slew of bad decisions. Their parents report them missing when they don't come home and they are assigned Lex, a detective with the NYPD. The author tries to weave social commentary into the storyline, however I don't believe it is an own voices perspective. There is nothing really done about the social issues and no solutions brought forth to try to solve them or change the situation, only that they exist and they are bad for those who have to experience them. Each of the characters fits a stereotype, and they aren't developed much beyond that. The main characters make alot of dumb teenager decision that they should have been able to avoid given the level of intelligence they were supposed to have. They read alot younger 18/19. There are a few side plots that don't really add to the main plotline, and I don't feel that they added to the story, but they do help you get to know Lex.

This is more of a police procedural type of thriller/mystery. It doesn't contain the suspense and violence that you might expect from some other books in the mystery/thriller genre. There isn't much violence or suspense. I thought the police work was done well, and if you are into procedural type crime fiction, this might appeal to you. It is not my favorite type of mystery.

The sequel to A Map of the Dark, we follow Det. Lex Cole while he tries to piece together 'last night'- the strange occurrences of an angsty privileged teen who drags a Princeton-bound classmate into a dangerous situation.

I'm not one to usually follow a series, but the way The Searchers series flows really catches my attention. I love the authenticity of the characters- they're flawed and therefore relatable. Nothing is off-limits- addiction, drug use, gun violence, racial tensions are just the tip of the iceberg. These may be 300 page books, but I promise you they end quicker than you'd like!

I enjoyed reading this book I just never got around to writing a review. I will continue to read works by this author

I couldn't get into this story. It started out so slowly that I had to restart several times to get through it. I didn't really like the characters. Guess this just isn't my cup of tea.

This is book 2 of the Searchers Series. Titus "Crisp" has always been the odd man out. He makes an impulsive decision which has dire consequences. Detective Lex Cole has to decipher the clues about Crisp's night and figure out what really happened. Can the decisions Crisp made be tied to his and and can past secrets come back to haunt you in the present?

This was a decent sequel to A Map of the Dark, although it was a little slower moving than the first one. This one switches to NYPD detective Lex Cole. It was interesting and pretty fast moving, but I was not as fond of this one as I was of her first one. Will definitely check out her next one, though!

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

I really like reading stories by this author. She does a wonderful job of really pulled me in. There are two storylines here - 2 detectives, and 2 teenagers (there are more, but these are our main). And each of them have a unique POV in the story.

The two teenagers meet by chance and then head off into the night. When they don't show up the next morning, the detectives then get called in. Slowly, as the detectives are trying to piece together the night, the chapter will switch and backtrack to the night with the teenagers and slowly show you what happened.

This story has a lot of themes it tackles and, I think, tackles well: race, socioeconomic disparities and that funny time after turning 18 - when you're technically an adult but maybe not ready for it. The story is so well done, well laid out and the mystery was great. I found each part interesting and enjoyed the whole thing. I'll keep watching for more from this author.

Book 2 in the series, this follow up didn’t grab me the way book 1 did. It’s a fine story but the suspense and thrill I was looking for wasn’t there.

The second novel featuring NYPD Detective Lex Cole.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, A MAP OF THE DARK, which did a great job of introducing us to Lex Cole, and establishing her place in the NYPD and the city in which she lives.
LAST NIGHT offers more of what made the first book so good: it builds on the character foundations of the first, and also a gripping story. Crisp's story is one ripped from the headlines - of racial injustice, the imbalance in the US justice system, and the powerful impact of bad/impulsive decisions.

Well-written, gripping, and populated by engaging characters. Really enjoyed this novel. I hope there are more books on the way.

This is the second book in Karen Ellis' "Searchers" series. I liked this one, but not quite as much as the first one, and I'm not quite sure why. The series to date centers on searches for young people who've disappeared, and the first book focused on Elsa Myers, an FBI agent who specializes in such searches. I was a bit disappointed that she plays a very small role in this second book, and that might be a part of my feelings about this one. She was a very complex, conflicted, interesting character and I was hoping to learn more about her. The "searcher" in this book is Lex Cole, a local cop who worked with her in the first book (A Map of the Dark) - and while he's interesting he isn't quite as compelling a character to me as Elsa was.
The story itself is both interesting and frustrating. Crisp is a high-achieving teen boy who's about to graduate from high school, but he makes a bad decision, which he compounds by disappearing and following it with a string of equally bad decisions. His "partner in crime" is Glynnie, a teen girl whose life circumstances are essentially the polar opposite of Crisp's - she's an exceptionally privileged white girl who's lived a no-consequences life, while Crisp is the biracial son of a single mother who's worked hard to support him and instill good values. Events that unfold over the course of the night in question do illuminate much about Crisp's life, but at what cost? A bit of advice Elsa had given Lex pretty well sums up the teens' actions: “Think like a teenager, Elsa told him. Translation: Don’t think at all. Act and react. Think later.”
Despite missing Elsa in this book, I did enjoy it overall and will hope to see more of her in subsequent books.
My thanks to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

First of all, I have not read A Map of the Dark, which is the first book in The Searchers series. I’m not sure if that played a part in my opinion of this book.

Unfortunately, this book did not draw me in and have me invested in the characters or the stories. I didn’t feel like there was enough suspense to make it a true mystery. And while there was focus on issues, such as addiction, racism, etc., the book as a whole was not my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis
I read this book two years ago and forgot to write a review. Ellis is a character centric author. That doesn’t mean she forgets the plot, she just makes the plot revolve around the characters. This book was about abductions and the young women who survived them.
Lex, a police detective and Elsa, an FBI agent are introduced in this book and are in the next book, Last Night, as well.
There were times the book was hard to read due to the angst of the characters.
It was a good read and I recommend it.

Last night is the second book in a series called the Searchers. This can be a stand-alone story and it was a good one. I did find that the beginning was more of a slow burn but towards the middle of the book it did speed up. Crisp is a teenage boy who seems to be making a lot of bad life choices, The main character Crisp is a valedictorian of his school and he misses his graduation because of a poor choice. This confused me and made me wonder where the whole thing was going. I would read the next book in the series but I wish the characters were more believable. Thank you to Mulholland Books and Netgalley for my advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

I absolutely loved this book!! The characters were easily relatable and very real, the story was full of suspense and constantly left me wanting more. It was a very powerful story

Crisp has his whole life mapped out. He is a good student and a great son. Little did he know that one afternoon his world is going to turn upside down. He meets up with Glynnie who he met once last summer. Glynnie is an angry and wreck less young woman.they meet this young boy and his very dangerous friends. An instant and their whole lives are in danger. The police are looking for them and so are their families.
Can they get their lives back?

I really enjoyed the first book in this series (A Map in the Dark), so I had high hopes for Last Night. It was OK. I wasn't as hooked as the first book, but still found it struck the right chord. As a NYC native, I love reading books set here!

Hello, a sequel to the book I just recently read. Map of the Dark started this, now we are back. Our messed-up FBI agent was stronger in this book. Vanishing teens, and one very scary, last night with a murder to be solved. This book was stronger than the first book, and I liked that. 

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Thank you to the author Karen Ellis, the publisher Mulholland Books, and NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

I read the first book in this series, The Searchers, and looked forward to the next book. I found that I liked the protaganist much better in the first book rather than this one. Lex is a less complicated, less interesting character for me.

The story is dramatically different in that the missing teenagers are not taken, but are missing of their own doing. You really do want to smack both of the teens---recent high school graduates ----for getting into the troubles that they do.

The book has some interesting narratives----a story of a biracial young man whose first and second generation mother's family raise him. He is a bright, highly accomplished student who is given a scholarship to Princeton. But he struggles with having a black father who disappeared when he was an infant, and with finding his place in the world---being not fully black nor fully white. He deals with much prejudice because of his complexion. He meets up with an acquaintance, a girl who is white and priveleged and who does not have any idea what she wants to do after high school. Her rich parents are mandating that she go to Outward Bound for the summer and then she goes to a local college in order to bring her grades up. She does not take the edicts well and proceeds to act out and looks for dangerous activities.

It does talk about the different worlds in which people exist ----even while living in the same city. The city includes the wealthy, the working middle class, life in the projects, and life on the street. It also talks about relationships and disappointments in them....and how previous abandonments color our world and all relationships going forward.

It is a compelling book----I read it quickly, but it was only an okay story. It is a quick read, but not a terribly memorable book.

I rate it 3 stars.