I had all the chills reading this story. I had to stop so many times to try and process it. It was just so fantastic! I loved it. I was so taken back by how the ending came about.

Engaging and entertaining - as expected. A recommended purchase for collections where crime and thrillers are popular.

I seem to always enjoy the books by this team. I found this to be well structured, lots of different story lines, lots of hints that I reflected upon after I finished the story. Good story and good message.

I read the first book in this series, "Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter" and loved it. I was so happy to discover that there was a second book, and a series! Although I will point out that I think The Last Days of Kira Mullan would work fine as a stand alone. I had a tiny bit of trouble at the beginning deciding what I thought; but then I was hooked! Another good story, and I enjoy Maud and her style so much. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Firstly, I enjoyed the first book of the Maud O'Connor series: "Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?" and I honestly jumped at the chance to read another Maud O'Connor book without hesitation because I loved the tough, brilliant, smart, observant, self-reliant, capable detective inspector who catches the details no one sees and helps women who have been forgotten or neglected.

This time, Maud's part intertwines with an unreliable woman, Nancy North, who is going through trauma, having been hospitalized twice and being watched like a hawk by her extra-protective boyfriend Felix and a group of her neighbors. These neighbors leave a bad taste in your mouth with their unlikable attitudes and their insistence that Nancy is unhinged and that anything she says can't be taken seriously.
Interestingly, Nancy insists she's the last person who saw a presumed suicide victim alive, a woman who lived in the same apartment building. She claims the victim wanted her help before she died because she was scared of someone. The trouble with this conviction is that when Nancy saw Kira Mullan on the street the day she died, Nancy was also in the middle of an episode, feeling like she was walking on air and hearing voices, which raises more questions about her statement.

From the beginning of the book, we see how Nancy struggles with her mental illness, taking her pills, seeing her psychiatrist, doing everything to cure herself. Her boyfriend's suffocating protectiveness, which pushes him to tell everyone about her episodes with exaggeration, raises red flags. Unfortunately, all the inhabitants of the apartment building - including a middle-aged couple, a gym trainer who insists she tried to seduce him, the married couple with a nonstop crying kid, and the young man who spends his time playing video games - think she should be put in a cage like a wild animal, having no intention of helping her.

Until their paths cross with Maud, who is trying to move on with her life, attending law classes and meeting a charismatic stranger, having no idea Nancy's stopping at the station to talk to someone about reopening Kira's case. When they finally meet, you feel a little relieved about Nancy's well-being, as she has finally found a supporter who can believe in her.

From the beginning, we know Kira Mullan didn't hang herself; somebody killed her. As the tension builds about Nancy's struggle to make somebody hear her voice while everyone in her circle tries to shut her up, you may start guessing that anyone in this apartment could be a killer, having secret agendas as they keep blaming Nancy as unreliable when it's the other way around!

Overall: This is one of the most tense readings I've had lately. The mental health awareness is perfectly represented. The gaslighting, paranoia, and abuse are sensitive subjects that the author perfectly approached as well. I couldn't put it down even though it truly made me nervous. I truly loved Maud O'Connor and her straightforward approach to interrogation, her sharpened senses, her ability to see the details and piece together puzzles. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her adventures if one of my favorite writer duos gives life to them.

This one is even more brilliant than the first book, which also highly deserved my full obsession. Five manipulative stars!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this unputdownable masterpiece's digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.