Member Reviews
Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Kelsey arrives at daycare to pick up her daughter but her daughter isn't there, she was never dropped off that morning, and they have never heard of her. When Kelsey tries to call her husband, he doesn't answer and she finds out that he never accepted the job he was offered a couple of months ago when they moved back to his hometown. An investigation ensues and it is led by Paul, a detective whose sister went missing 15 years ago, a crime for which he has never gotten any closure. The story alternates between Kelsey and Paul's points of view.
3.5 stars rounded up.
I am very torn on this one. In some ways I enjoyed it, in others I did not. It started off intriguing enough and I definitely wanted to know what the hell was going on and why no one had any idea why this kid wasn't at the daycare and why the husband wasn't answering the phone. But then it sort of fell apart in a way with what I thought was some very questionable police work by the Paul. Lots of things didn't make sense at all, and luckily that was cleared up in the end, but I felt very confused along the way and honestly, I think I may still be a bit confused at the ending because I found it to be pretty convoluted. I think I know what happened but I can't really be sure without rereading the whole book, which I am not going to do. I give the author points for the twisty turny nature of the book, but the police work was too ridiculous for me to believe at times. I preferred this author's last book, but I will likely read the next one.
WOW! This book is one of the best this year! Suspense! Suspense! Suspense!
Hooked from the start! A woman, Kelsey, drives to pick up her 2 year old daughter, Mikayla, from day care. Just having moved a month ago from Florida to Maryland, unfamiliarity doesn't help Kelsey at all. Having only dropped Mikayla off so she (Kelsey) can attend a yoga class - for a couple of hours - it should be smooth...
Kelsey is told that there never WAS a Mikayla there. She swears she dropped her daughter off to a "Fran" this morning. Kicking up a major fuss, the police arrive and as Kelsey tries to get in touch with her husband - she only gets voice mail...
Any more would be a spoiler...
All I can say is that this is an amazing read - I recommend to all!! Time to search for more from this author!
Many Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for a truly wonderful story.
Excellent twisted psychological thriller. After reading and loving All the Lovely Pieces, I was THRILLED to get a copy of this book. Believe me when I say I was not disappointed. The further I got into this book the more dark and twisted it becomes. When Kelsey arrives at daycare to pick up her daughter she is told not only is her daughter not there, she isn’t even enrolled at the school. Has Kelseys husband Malcolm abducted the little girl or is something more sinister going on. Crazy thriller that ensures you have no idea to trust. Highly recommended.
WOW! This was quite the thriller! You might think you’ve figured out the answers but just wait! Many twists and turns make this thriller an intriguing and suspenseful book!
Tension throughout until the end when the plot falls apart
Grabbed my interest from the start, a daughter missing and a husband not answering the phone is just the beginning of the mysteries.
Kelsey goes to pick her 2 year old daughter up from her first day at nursery only to be told she has never been there, even though Kelsey herself dropped her off that morning. Frantic calls to her husband get her nowhere. Detective Ryan tries to solve the mystery and finds himself getting more involved than he should be.
Told in the first person we gradually learn more about Kelsey’s past, and the tension grows as more about her is revealed. Det. Ryan’s past holds tragedy, can this be resolved at the same time as he is investigating the missing child?
With short chapters and plenty of tension building, this book kept me up late reading. Until the end, when it all fell apart, and parts of the story just didn’t seem to work. I flicked back many times to see if I had mis-read something, and gave much thought to the plot in case I had got something wrong, but I can’t tie up the anomalies. A great shame, as until the end it was brilliant!
Therefore 2*s from me – as having read and loved 90% of the book, the ending left me so confused, with so many “but why wasn’t that noticed” “but how could that have been” questions that all the tension of the preceding book came to nothing. What a shame!
One of the best books I´ve read this year. Once I started reading it I could not stop. The author keeps hold of the reader´s attention as she slowly introduces bits of information to the plot and makes you feel even more confused and wanting to discover the thruth. Some will say that thrillers about identical twins are not new but this one sure puts a totally different mark in this type of fiction. It has a most unexpected ending involving more that just one crime. Loved reading it and will make sure to grab other books by J.M. Winchester.
This wasn't poorly written, but I just found the story a bit hard-to-swallow. There were just too many twists and coincidences piled on top of each other for it to be believable.
This book had my head spinning. In a good way!
Last One To Lie is a pretty crazy and wild read. Kelsey goes to the local daycare to pick up her daughter when she is informed that there is no record of her little girl ever being there. In shock, she asks for the lady, Fran, who took her in that morning, she is informed that Fran has retired and no longer works for the daycare. She frantically calls her husband repeatedly and every time her call goes to voicemail. She finally calls the school her husband works at only to be told that he has not been working at the local school!!
This book is extremely intriguing and the pace never lets up. You are racing through the pages to figure out what Kelsey is up to and what will happen next. The relationship between Kelsey and the main detective is pretty interesting as well. The dynamic is pretty steamy between the two which leads to the atmosphere because you wait for the reveal.
And just when you think you have it figured there is a final twist. I did end up guessing that twist before it was revealed only because it reminded me of another book which. However, that did not take away from the compulsive story. I was totally involved in Kelsey and her story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
oday's Kindle read was 'Last One to Lie' by J. M. Winchester. At first I thought I knew what was going on in the story with a rather reliable point of view narrator telling us a story about a child who had gone missing. But then I realised that I wasn't really sure about the story because I wasn't really sure about the narrator. I think that may have been some intention to write this story. The point of view of the narrator was that the narrator wasn't actually telling us the truth from the start. I started liking the character and less and less as I progressed through reading. I found that the relationship between Kelsey and Detective Ryan to be far fetched. And again, I think that may have been about shaping the character for the final plot reveals. It was a good thriller but I was hoping there would have been just a little more.
This book started off with a wholesome character; a mom who dropped her kid off at a daycare but then found her "missing" when she came back to pick her up. But there's more to the story than just a missing kid.
I love reading thrillers and mysteries because of the twists and shocking characters, but this one has way too many twists and turns that boarders to ridiculousness. A story within the story within a story. I mean, it's all over the place.
I got to 3-stars rating because I liked the way it was written, like you find some of it absurd but you're too much invested on it to not know what happened. The characters are vicious. The story - if it just solely focused on what's really happening behind the main characters - will no doubt, be one of the best thriller there will be. But no, for some reason, it has to have 3 separate stories that has gone over the top. But I'll say the author writes very well and I quite enjoyed it, I might actually read another book written by her.
This was an enjoyable read, despite the fact that the plot twists occasionally pole vaulted over the line of utterly ridiculous.
Last One to Lie is a dark and twisted thriller that keeps you guessing. Each time the story seems straight forward a big old wrench gets thrown in the works and leaves you scratching your head. Kelsey's daughter was kidnapped or was she? Kelsey leads Detective Paul Ryan around by his nose as the facts in the case become flipped to the point it is hard to guess just who is really the villain and what is the truth. The characters are complex and twisted, leaving the reader with mixed feelings. Shocking and unexpected, the story flows quickly for a read you cannot put down. J.M Winchester is now on my must read author list. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
Complex,twisted story and although I had figured out what had happened there were plenty of surprises.Good twin,bad twin, nature ,nurture interesting,thought provoking story.
I love a thriller with twists and turns, that has me gasping and shocked with the final outcome. What I do not love is when there are so many twists, that the story becomes unbelievable and over the top. Last One to Lie by J.M. Winchester definitely is definitely standing on the line between love and didn't love because of the sheer number of over the top twists and the unreliable narrator. For me, the unreliable narrator has been overdone and the main narrator was so unreliable that I was both annoyed and confused a lot of the time. While I did enjoy that certain events I did not predict, I think the book would have been more believable and compelling with a few less twists. I will say that the author writes very well and excels at character development. I may not agree with the characters' decision making but I thought they were all interesting, flawed and complex people who I wanted to learn more about. I enjoy Winchester's writing style and would definitely read any other thrillers she writes in the future.
Omg I love this book. It was so good and I read it in one sitting.
The plot twist at the end was unbelievable..
Woooaaaah!! This book! This book sure had my head spinning.
Last One To Lie is pretty crazy. Kelsey goes to the local day care to pick up her daughter when she is informed that there is no record of her little girl ever being there. In shock, she asks for the lady who took her in that morning, Fran who has retired and gone. She calls her husband and yup, you guessed it right! He's not working at the local school like he was supposed to!!
This book in intriguing and the pace never lets up. You are racing through the pages to figure out what Kelsey is upto. The relationship between Kelsey and the main detective is pretty interesting as well. You keep wondering who will leave unscathed.
And just when you think you have it figured there is a final twist. I did end up guessing that twist only because it reminded me of another book. I won't name that book because that will reveal the twist to readers who have read it.
There has to be a suspension of belief at certain times in the story but hey, it's still compelling reading.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
Last One to Lie - Another Great Thriller from J.M. Winchester! Last One to Lie is a psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and on your toes all at the same time! I absolutely loved the all twists and turns! As the suspense builds, readers will begin to realize much of what they think they know is not what it appears to be. That doubt and uncertainty drives the building suspense of Last One to Lie.
This was a great book that I had a great time reading. The characters were well drawn, and the storyline flowed seamlessly. Would like to read more books by this author
Kelsey's world falls apart when she goes to pick her young daughter up from the daycare in their new town and is told her daughter was never there. Her husband's not taking her calls so Kelsey calls the school where he recently started work and is told he never accepted the job. Detective Ryan gets the call when Kelsey calls the police and he's not sure what to believe, but he's certain Kelsey isn't telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
This novel is at times terrifying, achingly sad, complicated, and twisted. The plot is fast paced. Each character is dealing with serious issues and grief, in varying ways and from very different experiences. If you're looking for a true to life novel this isn't the best option - but it's a perfect book if you want a creepy, over the top, fast paced read.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.
I liked this book! Even though I had some issues with it, I enjoyed reading it. The book was really captivating. I found myself wanting to pick the story up in all the free spots I found during my day. The storyline basically follows Kelsey Jennings, a mother who wants her missing daughter back, and Detective Ryan, who is trying to locate the missing child while also dealing with the old case of his missing sister. I just wanted to keep on reading to find out what happened to the child and the detective's sister. The writing was really nice and easy to follow and the story had a nice build up. However, I did not like every aspect of this book. The quick spoiler free version: I did not like the romance and some actions of the characters felt a bit strange or unreal to me considering the circumstances. If you don't mind getting spoilers, then read along for the more detailed version.
(Spoilers start here!) For starters, the romance in the book felt a bit weird to me. I just could not believe that a police officer would try to get answers by sleeping with someone he knows he can't trust, while also risking his career. Furthermore, I also did not fully understand why Kelsey was so afraid of her twin sister. I get that she wanted to leave her past behind, but it does not explain to me why, when her sister suddenly shows up on her doorstep, she reacts by dropping her keys with fear flashing in her eyes. Later on in the book Kelsey thinks about her sister: ''She's always been so weak, pathetic. I'm almost impressed by the way she's abducted me''. This really doesn't sound like Kelsey should be afraid of her sister... Lastly, after the revelation of Mrs. Jennings not actually being the real Mrs. Jennings, the beginning of the book feels a bit weird to me. In the beginning, Mrs. Jennings went to yoga and has really strong thoughts about the move, like: ''The move to Ellicott City has been a lot more stressful than I expected'' and ''This new job of Malcolm's is definitely the right step for the family. In Florida the opportunities for him were slim''. Here, the twin sister, Holly, has already taken her sisters identity without us knowing. I feel like Holly could not think like this when she has just made the swap of pretending to be her sister Kelsey.