This was a really good read! I had previously read and enjoyed Girl last Seen so was excited for this one. I love dual storylines, true-crime type mysteries and cold-case stories. All included here, so YAY! Michelle, a child of an affluent family disappears way back in 1979. Stephanie grew up hearing the tales and years later leaves town and starts a podcast. Her career in the toilet and the recent discovery of a child's body sends her back to her old hometown. Is this the body of missing Michelle? Stephanie starts investigating. Along the way we meet Laura, her alcoholic mother and Luc, her old high-school sweetheart. There are also a lot of other characters to keep up with, but they all have a place. Very atmospheric, creepy small-town vibes. I liked the witchy rumors and feel this would be a good Fall story. Some good twists and turns and an overall good read. I look forward to more from Nina Laurin.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Nina Laurin and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, this one did not work for me. The dual timelines were interesting but there were SO many characters to keep track of. Many of which did not enhance the plot in any way. This was entirely too long and could have used a good edit to make it move investing for the reader. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Thing She Saw is a solid, dual-timeline suspense that I was able to relate to. I live across the border from Quebec, and Nina Lauren's description of the town and the character's personalities resonated with me. Although I was hoping for a little more grit and darker reveals, I enjoyed this latest book, and I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next!

Nina Laurin is a great author! Love her books. This one though did not his the thriller hype for me. I was waiting for her twist and it did not happen. Otherwise a great story!

This is newly released on the 23rd of July. Give this book a try.

Thanks for the arc net galley 🫶🏼

This was genuinely a GOOD READ. I couldn't put it down it had me drawn in. So much gratitude given to NetGalley & Grand Central Publishing for eARC.

What to generally expect:
⭐ Dual story Lines
⭐ Past & present story telling
⭐ An overarching story of small town life that has dark secrets
⭐ Decades old Cold Case

The story itself is what pulled me in to begin with. I am a true crime junkie interested in all the workings of the story, but also captivated by the people involved. In this case there are MANY characters involved and each of them in the small town play a role in the whole journey of this specific story. Characters you are rooting for and committed to seeing them on the other side of it all. Others you are hoping are involved in the case to the point of being charged with the disappearance.

I also love that until the end of this story you really have ZERO idea who was actually involved in the disappearance in the first place. I thought I had it figured out early on, only to find I was definitely wrong.

Nina writes so much depth in to each of the characters of this story, this includes 3rd layer character. In my opinion this is what genuinely helps a reader dive deep in to the story and feel connected. The overall story is heartbreaking yet hopeful, at least that is how I saw the way it ended. She also envelopes you in the small town with the characters, the feel and nonsense of a small town life. Secrets and rumors will run amuck but the truth comes out in the end!

Synopsis:
After a flood destroys the historic center of a small Quebec town, a child’s body is discovered. The remains are decades-old and nearly impossible to identify, yet everyone knows at once who they belong to. Nine-year-old Michelle Fortier vanished without a trace in 1979, and her fate has remained unknown—until now.

Stephanie O’Malley grew up in her mother’s crumbling trailer listening to stories of Michelle’s disappearance, stories she once tried to turn into a podcast without much success. Although Stephanie left Marly fifteen years ago and vowed never to return, she finds herself back with her tempestuous mother Laura, her high school sweetheart Luc, and the entire community in an uproar.

While Stephanie struggles to separate the truth from wild rumors about witchcraft and town-wide conspiracies, Laura is consumed by the strange feeling that all this has happened before. But then a bombshell drops: the body might not be Michelle after all.

I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Last Thing She Saw" and all opinions expressed are my own. I didn't feel the thriller part of this book. More of a drama. Overall okay.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC.

This book was twisty and fun. I loved the dual timeline and how the story wove itself together. I couldn't fully predict where the story was going or what was going to happen and for me that makes the book un-put-downable. :) Looking forward to more by this author.

In 2017, flood damage in a small Quebec town lead to the discovery of a child’s body that appears to be decades old. Locals suspect that the remains are that of Michelle Fortier, the nine-year-old daughter of an affluent family who disappeared in 1979.

Stephanie O’Malley returns to her hometown of Marly, Quebec, after her career hits a downward spiral as a result of her failed podcast, which was based on Michelle’s case. Fifteen years ago, she had left Marly with hopes for a better future, leaving her mother Laura and high-school sweetheart Luc behind. Her relationship with her mother is strained and Luc has moved on. Stephanie keenly follows the renewed interest and investigation into the cold case in hopes of reviving her podcast. As the narrative progresses, Stephanie finds herself drawn into a complex web of lies, secrets and cover-ups.

I found the premise of The Last Thing She Saw by Nina Laurin intriguing and appreciated the suspenseful vibe, the atmospheric setting and the depiction of small-town life and the dynamics within the community. The narrative is structured in dual timelines. In the present timeline (2017), we follow Stephanie as she pursues her own investigation into Michelle’s disappearance while navigating her relationship with her mother and her dynamic with Luc. The 1979 timeline is presented from Laura’s perspective and focuses on Laura’s life as a teenager in Marly, while the events that led to Michelle’s disappearance are gradually revealed. Stephanie wasn’t a particularly interesting protagonist, and I wasn’t a fan of how the author chose to develop her story. Laura was a more complex character, but I felt the present timeline didn’t do her justice. The writing was stilted, resulting in a somewhat disjointed narrative that lacked cohesiveness. I also thought a few plot points were unnecessary (a few of the more common tropes no longer work for me ) and of no consequence to the story. The final reveal wasn’t entirely unpredictable (I do have a few questions, though) but was well-executed.

While I didn’t dislike this book in its entirety, I also didn’t find it to be the tightly woven, gripping thriller that I was expecting.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Last Thing She Saw by Nina Laurin is a small town murder mystery/thriller. There is a flood in Marly, a small Quebec town that reveals remains of a child. Stephanie, a former resident of Marly who left fifteen years ago, is now sent back to her hometown to uncover the mystery for a podcast. This causes many things that happened in this town to be brought up as the truth is being discovered.

This story kept me interested since I was unable to guess who all was tied to the crimes and secrets. What was revealed at the end was surprising! This story is written in two timelines, present day 2017 from Stephanie and 1979 from her mother Laura. Having the point of view from the past was able to give insight of the events that were being uncovered. I felt like this book was fast paced and I enjoyed it being non predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Nina Laurin for providing me with this ARC in return for my honest review.

The Last Thing She Saw starts off in 1979 with 9-year-old Michelle going missing. Her fate has remained unknown until now. Flash forward to the present day Stephanie returns home because of a flood in her hometown. Stephanie grew up listening to stories of Michelle's disappearance. She left her town 15 years ago. But now she is back and is determined to find out what really happened to Michelle.

I am a big fan of Nina Laurin. So when this book was announced I was so excited. I loved this book. This was a fast paced edge of your seat thriller. This book had a lot of twists and turns. I also liked that this book was told and both the past and present. Nina Laurin just knows how to write a good thriller. All of her books are just so good. I feel like I want to go back and reread this how that I know what happens.

Thank you Nina Laurin and Grand Central Pub for the ARC of this book

I have read one other Nina Laurin book and I was pleasantly surprised at this one. I finished it fairly quickly and enjoyed this spooky town and storyline about how corrupt a small town can be. I haven't read many books based in Canada so getting this setting was fresh and fun!

I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it either. I enjoyed the timeline with Laura as she was growing up - I however, did not like Stephanie our main MC, she just wasn’t likeable to me. The story had great potential, and it did keep me interested, but I felt like the end just got chaotic and felt a bit rushed. There was not really an explanation on some things, so I finished this book with some unanswered questions.

The Last Thing She Saw by Nina Laurin is a totally riveting and twisted story.
The characters are well developed, realistic and totally engaging, the story is fast paced, packed full of twists and you have no idea what has happened.
The intensity was such that by the time the tension has built, the book is impossible to put down.

Thank You NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This is a little different than what I expected. I don't know if I would consider this a thriller. It was a quick and easy read that kept my attention for the most part. There were parts that were slow, but overall it was a decent story.

While this is another read with the podcast and small town trope, it was still an entertaining, solid mystery with toxic relationships and traumatic pasts. With dual timelines and perspectives, we learn about the lives of Stephanie, the down on her luck podcaster, and her alcoholic mother Laura in her teenage years, slowly leading the reader to answers about a missing child from decades earlier. While this wasn't a story to blow my mind or stand out in years to come, this was still enjoyable and great for a quick in-between read. The subplots and theories discussed throughout, mixed with the details of the past, were what kept me flipping the pages and intrigued. Overall, this was a good, solid mystery that left some things unanswered for me. Three stars and a half stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing, for this ARC.

This book is about a woman who runs a podcast and tries her had at solving a missing persons case. This missing persons's case happened in the same small town that she grew up in, so she thought she would be the best person to solve this case.

This book is being marketed as a thriller, but I think it should be more of drama. It focuses more on the relationship of the main character and her daughter as they try to solve this case. This story is told from two different POV's - one in current time and one in the past when the missing persons case started.

For me, this was a quick page turner, and going back and forth from the different POV's had me so engaged that I wasn't able to put it down. There was a lot of twists and turns that kept me entertained, shocked and engaged.

I am looking forward to reading more from this author, and can't wait for the next book

While the premise is right up my alley, this one fell a little flat for me. A woman with a podcast tries to solve a missing persons case in her small town from 40 years earlier. The book was just too slow for me, didn’t get exciting until the last 20% of the book and I figured it out early on. It was fine, but not my favorite.

Oh man, I was so sure that I was going to like this book, since I loved other books by this author and the synopsis seemed very interesting, but it just didn't meet my expectations. In fact, so many things were pretty predictable and I didn't find the characters interesting enough. Anyway, thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for sending me this ARC.

This was not a thriller. It was a drama that focused on the relationship between mother and daughter and a small town. If it's advertised to an audience who wanted drama/women's fiction it would do great. I was led to believe it was mystery/thriller and was therefore disappointed.