would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this exceptional book

3 women
one death

a proper whodunnit

Celia, Juliette and Nadia they know nothing of each other but they are entwinned in a crime....

Ellis Cobain is married to one is blackmailing another to sleep with him and the other one is a former lover

he engineers it so that his wife and the one he is blacmailing are in the same hotel at the same time the icing on the cake is the apearance of the other one

what he didnt expect was to be found dead on his boat ....

what a kettle of fish this one is .... full of insighful innuendoes and red herrings galore .... never saw that ending coming at all

brilliantly written and very plausable....cant wait for the next book by this author

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

What a great book!! Such a good thriller/mystery! Perfect writing style and that plot twist!! PERFECT!!

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read "The Last Time I Saw Him" in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the fourth book in the Stephanie King series and from start to finish it is a gripping story, that I did not want to put down because I wanted to know what happened next. The story is told in 2 voices - DS Stephanie King and Juliette Dalton's.

Stephanie is spending time with her mum for the weekend at the Morvoren Manor on the coast. The hotel is an old manor house that has been converted with several outbuildings also for guests.

Stephanie however is distracted by 2 men at the bar who she thinks are acting "oddly". She names them "Bald Smiley Man" (who we later learn is named Russell Dalton) and "Floppy Hair" (Ellis Cobain). When a woman enters the bar she notices that while the woman acts like she doesn't know Ellis, she is convinced that she does. She later meets Celia Cobain, a very anxious woman whom is feels is afraid of her husband, Ellis. Russell is a lawyer and he's at the hotel to sign a contract with the singer Nadia Shariq. The following day Steph and her mum see Ellis threatening Celia.

Five days later DI Harris-Cooke assigns her a new case, a death has been reported at the hotel Steph and her mother had been at. A body has been found on a yacht, the very yacht that Amanda King had admired in the bay. Steph realizes that the dead man is the one that she had called "Floppy Hair."

Steph learns that Celia was very controlled by Ellis, she was devoted to her 3 step-children. Juliette knew Ellis from the opening of a restaurant that she had designed the interior for. He then asked her to design a pied-à-terre for him in Bristol. Her husband Russell is unaware that she's met Ellis.

We learn that Ellis was not a nice man. He had a hold over everyone he knew. He was threatening to ruin Nadia's career - by having clubs refuse to book her, or by hiring hecklers if somehow a club managed to book her. He knew that the kids meant everything to her, so he threatened to take them away from Celia.

Stephanie and Gus are stumped as to how anyone could have got out to the bay to kill Ellis when the RIB from the hotel was locked in the boathouse and the only keys were in the office.

Nadia has a plan to get Ellis to stop threatening them and making their lives miserable. She hatches a plan to blackmail him into being a better person. She makes sure that everyone has airtight alibis. Ellis was not supposed to die. Juliette is wondering if Nadia and Celia set her up.

A huge piece of evidence comes from the housekeeping staff at the hotel. There was a mobile on the table both times she went in - to pick up laundry and to drop off a new bag. There are several "ignored" calls from home on the phone. Stephanie wonders if she was so attached to the children, why would Celia ignore calls from home? Yet, she appears to have responded to Ellis' text message immediately. The police aren't saying exactly when Ellis died.

The women all have reason for wanting Ellis out of their lives but which one of them actually killed him when the plan had been only to blackmail him. When all the pieces fall into place, there is a race to catch the culprit and prevent another murder.

This story has an incredibly shocking ending that the reader will never see coming. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see what adventures are in-store for Stephanie King.

4⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advanced copy of The Last Time I Saw Him.

This story takes place at a beautiful boutique hotel and centers around the lives of three guests-Nadia the singer at the hotel, Juliette who is there with her husband Russell trying to repair there broken marriage, and Celia who is there with her husband Ellis who has a sinister reason for being there. The three woman have all been tortured by Ellis and they make a plan to take him down. But one morning he is found murdered and the women each accuse one another of the act. Did one of them set another up or was it another enemy that took Ellis out forever?

I really enjoyed this book. It had my attention from the very beginning and had me guessing up until the last page of the book. The writing was great and it really painted a picture so I could actually visualize what was going on.

An absolutely brilliant read.
Told from the different perspectives of three woman and their relationship’’s with one man this twisty turny tale is gripping.There are so many twists that you’ll keep second guessing what happened, and trust me you won’t guess correctly!
While the main plot hurtles along a stunningly shocking twist in the sub plot had my heart racing and adrenaline pumping.

My first Rachel Abbott book and I loved it!

Juliette is at a hotel with her music industry husband, when she sees Ellis Cobain. She is horrified, but not as much as when he is discovered dead the following morning!

Stephanie King is on the case and as she investigates, the build up to the crime is unveiled to us slowly, with lots of twists and murderous motives revealed.

The writing is brilliant, the pace is fast and the characters are well developed and relatable. Although I haven’t read the previous books in this series, it worked well as a standalone and I will definitely read the next instalment as the ending really got me!

4.5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel Abbott and Storm for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Three women, one murder . A who done it. I liked the way the book flowed and how the characters interacted with each other. It definitely kept me on my toes reading

Fun and full of twists, The Last Time I Saw Him has a villain who very much deserves his fate, and the three women who could have done it.
Set in Cornwall, this book is part of the Stephanie King series of police procedurals but I i had no problem getting the dynamics and background right away, and the plot is a real rollercoaster.
I enjoyed the distinct, well written characters and I see more Stephanie King books I my future.

"The Last Time I Saw Him" is a book searching for the criminal who murdered a man while showing the life and anguish of three women who are related among themselves through the life of the murdered man. The book is full of twists and enlightenment about the problems with lies: they get larger and larger. The final chapter brings us a lot of surprises. You should read it!

Thank you Net Galley & Storm Publishing for the ARC!

Rachel Abbot’s writing is quite beautiful. I find her to be descriptive without being over the top and for that alone, I felt this book get off to a great start, but I felt that this could be condensed a bit more. I was confused at times with the amount of characters, but I enjoyed reading this and trying to figure out who did it before the end.

Okay, I have a new favorite suspensful author! This was GOOD!!! I was so taken in to this book! I could not put it down. It kept me on my toes and I could not wait to see how it ended. Well done!!

It is a good story centering on a narcissistic man and three women plotting to kill him.

Ellis Cobain is a wealthy philanthropist, who is cruel and mean. He delights in criticizing and belittling others, making them feel less than. Celia is the pushover wife, Nadia is the singer, and Juliette is the married one. They're all pretty unlikeable and they all have reason to hate him. When Ellis is found dead, the identity of his killer remains a mystery until the very end.

The story is set in a romantic location at a new hotel on the English coastline. It's full of suspense with a little twist. A cruel man and three women that fall for him...Overall, it's a decent read. The murder investigation of Ellis goes unresolved, the woman goes free, but their actions lead to the death of an innocent man. The ending was a little sad.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the eARC.

Good read from an author who is new to me. Twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and gripped. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance ARC this book.

In this book we have three women who have plenty of reasons to hate Ellis Cobain. This is a very cleverly plotted book with layers of meaning and secrets. Just when you think you have worked out who murdered Ellis, another piece of information upends your theory. The piecing together of who was where and at what time was well done, and the plotting of the blackmail was so intricate. Most enjoyable was the reaction of Police Sargeant Stephanie King to the plight of the three women. There was an ending that I didn’t see coming, but it was fitting. Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for a copy to read and review.

Ellis Cobain is cruel and mean. Delights in criticizing and belittling, making others feel less than. A wealthy philanthropist, his public persona is without reproach; he hides his sinister side, revealing it only to those he chooses to torment. Ruthless, full of attitude, certain he’s smarter, richer, better than anyone else, it’s a wonder he hasn’t been murdered before this.

Sergeant Stephanie King and her partner DCI Gus Brodie are having a small holiday at a boutique hotel. Ever the watchful police officer, Stephanie thinks something is a little off when she observes Russell & Juliette Dalton with Ellis Cobain. It’s odd, but she thinks no more of it until a few days later when Ellis is found murdered and she and Gus are assigned the case.

The Last Time I Saw Him is full of tension, suspense and secrets, and with a six-degrees-of-separation kind of thing going on. As Stephanie and Gus work the case they uncover more and more connections between the likely suspects. Russell introducing Juliette to Ellis for the first time did look odd because it was: she already knew him. Russell is at the hotel to interview singer Nadia Shariq about possible representation. Seems she also knows Ellis. Celia, Ellis’s wife, is elusive and seems frightened. Things didn’t end well for Ellis and Juliette, nor for Ellis and Nadia, and they aren’t going well for Celia and Ellis. They all have reason to hate him, and wait – do they already know each other? Yes, they do, and they devise a plan to silence him once and for all. But did they agree that once and for all meant death?

Who killed him? One of them? Two of them? All of them? I raced through the book trying to figure out who was lying, who was telling the truth, who had the biggest motive, the best opportunity, the most to gain, the most to lose. Stephanie and Gus make a good team, both on and off the investigation field. There have been recent changes to their lives, too. What will the future bring for them?

Thanks to Storm Publishing for providing an advance copy of The Last Time I Saw Him via NetGalley. It was intense and exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

4.75⭐️ which I’m actually rounding up!
I am thankful to have gotten the eARC for free from Netgalley and Storm Publishing so I can leave my voluntary review.

Any book that piques my interest from Storm Publishing I try to grab and this one is not exception. I needed to move it to the head of my TBR as it comes out very soon.

So I brought it up on my kindle this morning and didn’t stop until I was finished. It was the epitome of a page turner! It did take some getting used to go back and forth between 1st and third person. It’s the second time this week that I’ve read a story written in that manner. However, unlike the other book, this was executed very well and after unwrapped my head around it, was easy to read.

I loved that the twist at the end was certainly not overly visible. I loved how it was crafted as everything made perfect sense without it being given away too early. I also loved the very ending.

Seeing the women in the story who were at odds with each other still come together and support each other was refreshing. I did round up to 5⭐️ but for my personal rating I gave it a 4.75. Why? For a short while it did drag a bit near the middle of the book. It was short lived and easy overcome but it did take a bite out of my opinion.

This comes out on August 15th 2024 so put it on your TBR now!

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

An intriguing and twisty thriller! It will keep you guessing until the end.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Hooked from the very beginning. Intense and captivating with every page. I stayed engaged the entire time and loved it!

This was a very interesting,intense, twisted read! I loved it. There is something to keep everyone happy in this book! It all starts with a few days away, then ventures off into a mystery that had me guessing right up until the ending, which I thought was absolutely perfect!
This was 4 1/2 stars for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Last Time I Saw Him was a great thriller, set in a romantic location of a new hotel on the English coastline, with the perfect build up of suspense.

Starting at the hotel we meet Stephanie, who we later find out to be a detective, observing the other vacationers at the hotel’s restaurant. Through her observations and on the grounds we are introduced to Juliette, an interior designer who is keeping a secret from her husband, Celia, a mother who is clearly terrified of her spouse, and Nadia, an emerging singer at the hotel. When Ellis, a by all means disgusting excuse for a human being (and Celia’s husband) dies, Stephanie is brought back to the hotel and remembers observing all the woman when she stayed there. As mentioned the build up of suspense was perfect, slowly revealing all the ladies secrets and ties to Ellis. With a burst of action at the end we find out who killed Ellis (and why) but also see Stephanie get drawn into the mystery in a tragic way.

A perfectly written thriller, this will pull you in from the start and not give you the option to stop reading until the very end.