Okay, I've been trying to get through this fully for the better part of the last three months, & I think it's finally time to call it. ~DNF @ 40%.

I'll keep this relatively short - this had such an interesting premise, but the execution didn't live up to the premise whatsoever. This is a slow, slow, slow burn, & while I don't normally mind a slower mystery, it has to keep my attention, & I found this incredibly hard to follow. Larger casts of characters can be hit or miss for me, & in this case I just think there were entirely too many people we had to keep track of - I will say the octopus was definitely intriguing, though. & I do want to give the author credit for the overall idea here - debuts are hard, & while this didn't work out for me, my curiosity is sparked enough to read something else from her in the future!

Thank you so much to Tess Little, NetGalley & Ballentine Books for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review!

The plot of the book was such a great page turner. The plot of the book was very well written. I truly cannot wait to read another wonderful book from this author. This was a truly great book by a new to me author.

The Last Guest by Tess Little is about a man, Richard, who is a Hollywood director, and an abuser. No so much a sexual abuser, just an abuser. He abuses everyone, and that means everyone who works for him and with him. He is throwing a small party for his birthday, and al the people there, except the one who doesn't know him, have been abused and hold resentments. Then he dies of an apparent overdose and people start sharing their truths. It is not pretty.

The characters are good, but I hate this kind of book where everyone leads dysfunctional lives and is more than ready to talk about it. There are high points and for the right reader, this is probably a pretty good read. It just embarrasses me, for them. There is a plot, which is pretty thin, and is meant to point out what a horrible man he was and how the people around him allowed themselves to be abused. I don't recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Last Guest by Ballantine Books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #ballantine #tesslittle #thelastguest

This book really dragged for me and I finally had to throw in the towel around the 27% read mark. I was not at all interested in any of the characters and the storyline was very boring. It gave me Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None" vibes and I loathed that book (there is no kinder way to say this). The Last Guest was just not my style of book and I couldn't force myself to finish it off. If you are a fan of Ruth Ware's "One By One" and the previously mentioned Agatha Christie, this is the book for you. Otherwise, it is a hard pass for me.

**Please note that as an avid reader I have the utmost respect for authors and their craft. I can't imagine the time and energy put into writing a book and I cringe when I have to leave a poor review.

This was a long slow read for me. It didn’t read so much like a thriller which was a bummer. I enjoyed how the author included a variety of characters; however the point of view of each was lacking. There was no twist that you anticipate in a thriller which made it a bit disappointing.

Provocative. This was an interesting story with many elements. However in some spots, it just didn’t get up to speed for me.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

As a huge fan of Agatha Christie, I really enjoy the book!
It's better if you read it without knowing the context within the book...you'll get the chill

Below is a good excerpt of this book!
A glamorous birthday dinner in the Hollywood Hills ends with the famous host dead and every guest under suspicion in The Last Guest, a dark, cinematic suspense debut reminiscent of an Agatha Christie page-turner crossed with David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

Thanks for the ARC!

Wohooo another great thriller in the books! I absolutely was enthralled by this storyline and was very impressed with the writing style. Great characters as well!

Who killed Richard? And why were the guests at his fiftieth birthday dinner people who really didn't like him? Maybe even hated him? Did he plan his death to frame one of them? All of them?
"The Last Guest is a stylish exploration of power-the power of memory, the power of perception, the power of one person over another"(From Amazon)
Elspeth Bell was a woman trapped in an abusive and unhealthy marriage who took the courageous step to leave her husband and move her and her daughter to the opposite coast. So, why then, does she go to his party? Why doesn't she leave? The Last guest touches on the long term affects of an abusive relationship and how being in the presence of the narcissistic abuser can have a lasting power over someone. It's here that I wanted to yell at Elspeth, "Just get the hell out of there!"., while also having compassion for her.
The mystery of the Whodunit! For real though, who did it? Was it one of the guests? If so, who? Was it Persephone the Octopus? Also, why is there an octopus? Was it self inflicted? This story also touches on the crimes/sins of commission and those of omission (the ones we like to forget about).
Overall The Last Guest was an engaging and quick read and I enjoyed it! I look forward to more from this author. I would give it a 3.5 star rating, rounding up to 4.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Reviews sent to Amazon and Barnes and Noble (awaiting approval on both). Review also shared on Instagram via @the_literary_fox

I really struggled with this book. It jumped around in time which made it hard to follow. I hope that the published copy has more distinction between the timeframes but the ARC really made it hard to determine the timeline you are reading. I didn't find any of the characters likeable, specifically the main character Elspeth. She was cold and one dimensional. I was intrigued by the octopus in the story and had hoped for more than a superficial presence in the story. I ultimately didn't care about who committed the murder and just wanted to finish the book.

Unfortunately, I really struggled with this one. I just could not get into it for the life of me. Too many characters that I found hard to keep track of and not enough about them to keep me interested.

Um. This was quite the let down. I loved the idea of locked room whodunit with 8 suspects...and an octopus! Unfortunately, I could not keep some of the characters straight and I have no patience for the "are they or aren't they" hoops of deciding if a character is an unreliable narrator. My advice is to give this one a hard pass.

Wow. This was crazy. I loved this style of writing and couldn’t put it down. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy of this book. I will be recommending to all my book loving friends and family.

When Elspeth is attending the ex husband, Richard's 50th birthday party, she is hoping to just make a showing and leave. But there are only seven guests that are there and they end up partying all night. When morning comes, her ex husband is dead and all of the guests are suspects, including the pet octopus that he had. As the weeks pass with each person under suspicion, she begins to learn a little more about each guest and their relationship to Richard. The story is a little hard to follow going between past and present, but it is suspenseful with the host of different characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC for my honest review.

I want to Praise This Idea. I love the old movie Clue. I love the murder-Mystery Dinners. This could have been that. BUT it missed the mark.
It is hard to be sad over the death of a Hollywood Producer, Sad, but true, Blame the news...blame men in power but anyhow... If we would have had more than just Elspeth's view that might have made it more interesting. A who-dun-it BUT with a ton of characters and you are only going to give me one point of view???
Plus it was kinds of set up like a play, told in acts/parts. AND for all the reading I do I only really see that work well in sweeping epic Historical or Fantasy novels.
And yes Richard has (had) an octopus. We get it. am I jealous yes, but it only adds to the rich and crazy aspect of not really caring who is the murderer or why they did it, or heck, who they even did it to. Elspeth is the lucky one who divorced him years ago,
I will give author, Tess Little, another try. As this one was SO CLOSE to hitting the thriller/suspense mark.

A decade after Elspeth left her marriage to Richard Bryant, she had agreed to accompany her daughter to his fiftieth birthday. Elspeth arrived late expecting her daughter, Lillie, to already be at the party except for Lillie never shows. Along with Elspeth, there are seven other guests, two of whom she knows, and despite having misgivings she is convinced to stay.

Richard is a film director, one who is eccentric and narcissistic. He owns an exotic pet, Persephone, an octopus.

The party gets a little out of hand and the next thing Elspeth is aware of is waking up and finding Richard dead. Now all eight are suspects.

Elspeth is finding out that there is a disconnect with her daughter, and questions brought up by the investigators, lead her to wonder what the other guests were hiding especially after being told Richard was murdered. Elspeth herself when questioned states Richard was a good father and the best husband she could ever want. Too good to be true? The investigators don't believe her. Elspeth wonders if there is another that no one would suspect who murdered Richard.

I didn't think I'd enjoy this book as much as I did. It struck me as the author wrote it like a play and it took me a while to differentiate between scenes because there was no break that would allow the reader to know that the scene has switched. The reveal at the end was surprising.

I received an ARC from NetGalley via Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

I really wanted to enjoy this book.
It was all just too much. Too many characters, too much random bouncing back and forth between present time and past with no clear delineations about the time jumps.
The plot was scattered, hard to follow and there were no real "hook" moments to keep me engaged.
Thankful for the ARC, honest review, as always.

I found this to be a bizarre story. I think the author tried to present it like a play and I love to read theatrical plays but this didn’t seem to make it.
The story is intriguing enough to keep you reading but sometimes you feel a bit lost on what is going on. Is she dreaming or having hallucinations?
How can Richard have died with seven guests in the same room? Each one of the guest is a friend but they all seem to have their personal reason to want him dead after all Richard wasn’t a very nice person and managed to degrade each one of them in one way or other. Elspeth only admits to herself and others the true nature of her relationship with Richard near the end of the book.

In one sentence: Elspeth Bell and her fellow guests attend the birthday dinner for her ex-husband Richard, and when he ends up dead, everyone's a suspect.

I liked the noir feeling of this book a lot - it definitely gave me Old Hollywood vibes mixed with an Agatha Christie novel. Elspeth was a good narrator, and I enjoyed seeing how her relationship with Richard unfolded in the past. Each of the guests had a reason to want Richard dead, and it's always fun to try to guess who did it!

This ended up being a 3 star read for me because it was a very slow read, and there wasn't enough of a payoff at the end. I would have appreciated more editing to make the plot tighter and more suspenseful. That being said, I did like the writing, and since this is a debut, I'd be willing to try Tess Little's next book.

Thank you to Ballantine Books for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!