I actually tried to finish this book, but I couldn't. While it started off okay, I just never went back to it. Maybe I'll try another book by this author someday soon.

I would rate this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I unfortunately just really didn't enjoy this story. I thought the premise was really strong but I was left feeling really disappointed and let down by this story.

All of the characters felt incredibly one-note and had no real depth to them. The story failed to create any suspense or really build up the story and then after all that the ending was really poor in my opinion.

This was one of the typical ‘locked room’ mysteries which I love. There are only a few characters thrown together in an isolated place, and we have to work out the mystery as to what is happening to them and if any of them are responsible. I quite enjoyed this and could connect with some of the characters, there were a few twists some I could see coming and some I couldn’t. I didn’t guess the main twist or the ending. This was an ok thriller with that mystery locked room vibe that keeps you guessing.

Mysteries set in isolated places are popular in thrillers these days. In this book, the story is set on a private Island. Amelia arrives here along with six strangers and soon finds out that the stay is not at all what she expected. Inspired by Agatha Christie´s "And Then There Were None", this thriller unfortunately did not appeal to me and I ended up putting it away before I was finished reading. The suspense was lacking, and I lost interest in what was happening to the characters. Since I did not finish the book, I will not be reviewing it on my other channels.

there were a lot of plot holes, the premise was weak in my opinion, and nothing ever really made sense/added up.

The premise of this book sounded interesting from the very beginning. It was a quick, easy read and I was surprised by some of the twists. I feel like there could have been more character development, but if you are looking for a quick, entertaining read then this is a great book for you! I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book has a bit of an Agatha Christie feel to it with its set-up and atmosphere: Seven strangers find themselves boarding a small plane to test out a mysterious luxury vacation resort during a weekend retreat that they’ve all been carefully selected for, with strict instructions not to share the reasons for their invitation or the incentives they’ve been promised. The guests aren’t even off the plane before it becomes apparent that this isn’t an ordinary vacation. Things quickly go from bad to worse when it become apparent that their mysterious host isn’t the only one who they may not be able to trust.

The premise is obviously super intriguing, and the further you get into the book, the better it gets as things become more tense and more secrets are revealed. There’s some great tech elements to the story that really make it very Matrix-y creepy and that really made things more “on-edge.” I also liked that everyone in the story was potentially a “bad guy.” I don’t want to give anything away, but no one in the story is a perfect person, shall we say, and so that puts a different spin on things.

The only things that really made this four stars instead of five was that I thought the ending was a little weak. I wish we would have got to explore the motivations and reasoning behind the villain a little bit more and also some of the stories with the other guests. Some of it felt rushed. Especially the ending. But I was definitely pulled in. I couldn’t look away. I just wish I had a teeeeensy bit more to look at, you know?

Either way, this was a good thriller, and I enjoyed reading it. I would read another from this author in the future.

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. It was strange. A group of people are chosen and compensated in some unknown ways for a "luxurious," adventurous vacation. The "vacation" is neither luxurious nor adventurous. Strange things begin to happen that don't really make sense. Though the story moves along quickly, there are so many things that don't tie together. And the ending ... makes even less sense! I just didn't get this one!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

This book just got me all intrigued with its premise and when I started it I was immediately interested to find out more, to keep reading and see how it unravels. For the most part I enjoyed the only thing that was underwhelming was the ending. It took away from the story. It has a great concept but deserved more brilliant ending.

The Last Resort is an entertaining read with a cast of unusual characters. Seven people are chosen for a luxurious getaway to an island to trial some new technology. On arrival the guests find themselves being fitted with trackers and sent on their way to explore the island but things aren't as they seem. Soon the body count starts rising and the guests begin to panic! With thanks to NetGalley for my digital copy of this book.

I Loved the idea of this book - a group of strangers are invited on an all expenses paid retreat to a luxury island - sounds too good to be true?? and it appears it is ! They are there supposedly to help check out some new software for a company and there is a big party at the end of the day. One by one there deepest darkest and shameful secrets are exposed to the rest of the group . They all begin to wonder what they are really doing there ... I enjoyed it but I wasn't gripped ..

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have read Violet one of the authors previous books and loved it, so I was really looking forward to this one. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped to. The characters were all very shallow and unlikable and the story got a bit silly and unrealistic. It started off well and had a great premise, but ultimately it fell flat for me.

I really struggled with how to rate this one... ultimately I think it's a 2.5 for me which I've generously rounded up. The book just didn't land on multiple accounts, and even going back to reread the cover copy, the book feels like a bait & switch. I was expecting a taut isolation thriller with clear personal stakes, and it just didn't deliver on that.

First, the book is weirdly speculative--but in an overblown way that feels silly rather than well-supported and fun. Meaning, while of course the copy mentions a tech company, I didn't expect so much of the book to be predicated on characters having a device embedded into their brains. We're meant to believe the book takes place now, in our reality, but the fantastical nature of the tech meant the book never sat quite right for me. It also meant wide swaths of the book are literally just characters describing video projections, and ALL the tension of the book is derived from that. It's a wait-and-see, re: when will this crazy tech project a memory-secret?! There are also no real stakes, re: people dying until the bizarre finale. The book kept walking it back like "oh no we're sure he's fine" so I found myself simply feeling impatient, re: what ARE the stakes here?

The blurb promises a perfect crime--not really. It's a ridiculous "crime" and I'm not entirely show how the hell the villain pulled it off (or why). "Amelia begins to suspect that her only hope for survival is to be the last one standing." Also literally not true--this never crosses her mind? Again, there are no real stakes, re: we are going to die one by one. The book simply doesn't do that. Yes, they are isolated on an island but it doesn't feel like an isolation thriller.

And what are the stakes? What's the whole point if it, re: the twist, what is going on? Well, none of it really makes sense. I didn't find anything about the "big reveal" particularly satisfying, and the entire climax is the villain monologing at a dinner table with the MC (it's multi-POV, but come on Amelia is the main character) and it STILL doesn't make any real sense. Motives are thin and supervillainy which, again, weirdly sets the whole book against the reality it apparently takes place in. I was reminded of Fantasy Island, the Blumhouse remake more than once... but neither really lands. I like soap usually, but this execution fell flat for me. I wanted there to be SOME foundation in something real, something tangible, and what we're given just lacked that foundation.

So sadly I cannot recommend this one to fans of isolation thrillers--the reason I picked it up myself--but if you like speculative suspense with cool tech, it might be a good read. The tech was indeed cool, and it had some fun "wtf is going on" moments--I mean read the whole thing in a few days; I was compelled to read. The writing itself was fine and it had some interesting characters, I was just too let down by the "twist" for this to land wholeheartedly as a rec.

During the first chapters of The Last Resort by Susi Holliday, readers will be reminded of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery,And Then There Were None. Amelia, as well as six others, have been invited to an all expense paid vacation at a resort under the guise of testing new technology. Early on, readers learn that each has a secret, and with the technology, the secrets are disclosed to everyone on the island. While reading, it is evident that this is a dystopian version of a nightmare for the participants, and it is not certain that any of them will survive. As the novel progresses, it is evident that the plot goes in different directions Christie’s classic, but it is a good premise, all the same, and follows a different path with good incentive to keep reading.

The characters are well developed, and they are under plenty of pressure, leading to interesting interactions among each other. None of the characters are particularly likeable, and as the secrets are revealed, readers will tend to like each one even less. There are plenty of interesting scenarios, especially with the fantasy technology that is being used, and the novel and the plot are compelling, keeping readers on the edge most of the time. Not a fan of dystopian and fantasy, it was a surprise that this novel flowed and kept my attention. The dénouement was surprising, and made for a good novel that was not only fun to read, but also quite fascinating and in the end, different from Christie’s classic. Recommended for readers who enjoy a good suspense novel with a few different twists.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Absolutely adore a good and carefully plotted locked room mystery — or locked island, in this case, and this book was no exception.

Seven strangers are invited to a luxurious island to test out what it has to offer, but it quickly becomes clear there's more to what's going on than they first thought.

I loved the chapters that followed the guests as they sized each other up, even as they all got their wishes. But when they start to realise why they're really there, things got a bit Black Mirror-y -- and took a much, much darker turn.

There's plenty of twists and turns that will keep you on your toes throughout the book.

“The Last Resort” is a thriller about a group of people invited to an island to test an all-expenses-paid mystery luxury experience. On arrival, they are fitted with technology which revels their darkest secrets, and the guests slowly turn against each other, not knowing who to trust and finally realising this is not the luxury retreat they had signed up for...

The premise of this book was fascinating to me - as others have identified, it’s a very Black Mirror-esque concept that seems only just out of current technology’s reach, which makes it all the more suspenseful. Throughout, I kept wondering whose dark secret would be next, and what it would be. This aspect really plays into gossip culture, and is effective at keeping the reader invested.

Although Amelia is the “main” character, we follow the story through the perspectives of several other participants too, and there are flashbacks to an event in Amelia’s childhood. I really enjoy a thriller with a split timeline as I enjoy trying to figure out how the two are linked together, and although this one wasn’t tricky at face value, it was intriguing to see where they would collide and what would happen as a result. I was surprisingly interested in the story behind the “past” timeline - Father Island sounds like it has a really interesting and dark history, so I would have enjoyed more information on this,

Being unaware who to trust was another effective aspect to the book - as the secrets started to be revealed, these strangers were not who they initially seemed, and I felt like I was there with them. It was really unnerving and I was constantly waiting for the next reveal.

Despite the interesting premise, I did feel it fell a little flat. It was entertaining, but I felt like the story plateaued for a long time in the middle and towards the end, which came very suddenly, rather than having much of a build-up. I also didn’t feel like any of the characters were particularly likeable, and without being able to relate to any of them, it was hard to care what happened to each one.

As previously stated, the ending happened very suddenly, and it felt like there was a lot of explanation in a very short space of time, which came very much out of nowhere. Had there been more “hints” throughout the book, I probably would have appreciated and believed the ending more, but it felt a world away from what had actually been going on. Had there been one last twist, it could have redeemed this for me, but it all felt very simple and for me, it fell flat.

In all, it’s an easy read, but I would recommend it as an introduction to dystopian-style psychological thrillers, rather than for the thriller connoisseur,

When a group of people who don’t know each other get invited to vacation on a beautiful secluded tropical island for free to review some of the owner of the island’s products how could they not accept? But in what I would consider a terrifying updated version of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the invitation should have come with a dire warning.

Within a twisted plot, the group are horrifically killed off one at a time, with a nod to a sci-fi novel as they are forced to be implanted with something called a memory tracker which when activated displays memories of horrible deeds they have done which all can see.

With this tracker, they are also allowed to think of something they want and it appears. But, they can also wish for something to happen to someone and unbeknownst to them, it will happen!

But one of the guests, Amelia is not fitted for the device. She seems to be exempt from the scathing memories the other’s seem to endure looking at. As the group makes their way to the house where they will be staying, they are not only tortured by their own memories, but by the island itself. They seem to all notice Amelia’s exemption and don’t understand and start to become resentful of her.

Amelia begins to have memories which seem to have been hidden deep in the recesses of her mind. This island looks somehow familiar. But why? Could she have been here before? And as her recollection becomes even clearer she thinks she could possibly be the reason they are all here. And for those who make it to the house to enjoy the last supper, they are in for a terrible surprise.

Who is behind this and why are they torturing this group who did not know each other until embarking the plane? What is it that Amelia knows that could kill them all, and why? What kind of a monster would take joy in terrorizing people?

The Last Resort is a wonderful thriller in which the answers to questions come only after a terrifying climax. The story is so very well plotted out you may want to go back as I did to look for the missing clues the reader was given during the story!

Thank you #NetGalley #Thomas&Mercer #TheLastResort #SusiHolliday for the advanced copy.

This was an average read for me. The premise was good but I got bogged down in several spots and it was hard for my interest to kick in again. I didn’t engage with any of the characters so it was hard to invest in the outcome.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Last Resort by Susi Holliday is quite the crazy ride!! Every time I thought I had the story figured out, a new twist was thrown in or the story went in a completely different direction that I thought it would. The story was very well written and while I enjoyed it very much, there were some places where it was a bit confusing or I would lose track of what was happening easily. I thought the characters were amazing and I felt for them and what they were going through. I would highly recommend this book for thriller lovers!!

I didn't go into this with high expectations given that it reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel that I have dnf'ed every attempt to read it, but I hoped that it would be similar but pull me in the way I want with that one. It was better. I managed to read it and it did interest me. But it never fully pulled me in. I didn't get lost or invested in the plot. It was good but not one I would re-read