BLOG TOUR: The Last Party (DC Morgan Book 1) - Clare Mackintosh

On New Year's Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests.

His lakeside holiday homes are a success, and he's generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbours. This will be the party to end all parties.

But not everyone is there to celebrate. By midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.

On New Year's Day, DC Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects.

The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbours, friends and family - and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.

With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn't who wanted Rhys dead . . . but who finally killed him.

In a village with this many secrets, a murder is just the beginning. 

 

What did I think?

You're always guaranteed a good read with a Clare Mackintosh book and The Last Party is no exception.  It's the first in a new series and I'm already hooked as I love DC Ffion Morgan and the village of Cwm Coed on the Welsh/English border.

The traditional New Year's Day swim in the lake is disrupted when a body is found floating in it.  Not many tears are shed when it's revealed that the body is that of local celebrity Rhys Lloyd.  For starters, Rhys has brought the English to Cwm Coed with his controversial development The Shore on the English side of the lake.  The tension and distrust of strangers in a small village is beautifully portrayed and it makes every single one of the villagers a suspect.  

Ffion has her own demons to deal with and she wears her reputation of being a wild child like a badge of honour, although it has come at a very steep cost.  I love Ffion's personality, her flawed character and the way that she meets and interacts with Leo, her partner in this case, is just brilliant.  Cheshire police are involved as Rhys lived in England, but his body was found in Wales.  

There's just so much to enjoy and devour in this book.  Leo's personal and professional life is riveting with his ex-wife holding something over him and his boss being an absolute disgrace.  Ffion's covering something up and I was completely thrown off course and blindsided when that all got revealed.  As for who killed Rhys...well, you'll just have to read it and find out!

With a plot that would make Agatha Christie envious, Clare Mackintosh delivers once again in her stunning new novel The Last Party.  It's an absolutely stunning start to a new series and I am so excited to find out what's next in store for Ffion.  An easy five stars - very highly recommended.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

About the author:

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels, including I Let You Go, which was the fastest selling debut thriller in the year it was released. Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers and have spent a combined total of 64 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller chart.

Clare spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant and is the founder of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She now writes full time and lives in Wales with her husband and their three children.

www.claremackintosh.com / www.facebook.com/ClareMackWrites / @ClareMackint0sh

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BLOG TOUR: Hostage - Clare Mackintosh

Save hundreds of lives. Or save your child?

You're on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney. It's a landmark journey, and the world is watching.

Shortly after take-off, you receive a chilling anonymous note.

There are people on this plane intent on bringing it down - and you're the key to their plan.

You'd never help them, even if your life depended on it.

But they have your daughter . . . So now you have to choose.

DO YOU SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES? OR THE ONE THAT MATTERS MOST?

 

What did I think?

WOW! What a book!  This is one of those books where I want to tell you to stop reading my review and just buy the book now - it's THAT good.  So for anyone still with me, I'll try to sum up my thoughts of a book that left me completely speechless (and incredibly tired as I really couldn't put it down).

The moment I opened this book, I knew I was going to be hooked.  The prologue is an emergency call transcript that is so chilling it made all of the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.  It haunted me throughout the book and I couldn't read fast enough to get to that point but also felt terrified of reaching it.

Mina is in the middle of a marriage breakdown so she signs up to be a flight attendant on the first ever non-stop flight from London to Sydney, even though this means she will be separated from her daughter Sophia for several days.  Someone on the plane knows all about Sophia and they're banking on Mina being willing to do anything to keep her safe.  Can Mina really sentence hundreds of people to death just to save one life?  That's all I'm going to say about the outstanding plot that kept me reading late into the night.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes of Mina's life and I was very intrigued as to how she ended up becoming a flight attendant.  Clare Mackintosh very cleverly weaves a story into the main thread that shows we can be physically held hostage but also metaphorically held hostage to our past.  This felt like a pearl of wisdom from the Dalai Lama; how often do we hark back to something we wish we'd said or done differently?  Let it go!  It's holding you hostage.

Claire Mackintosh scoops all the stars as well as all the adjectives in her exceptional new novel.  Hostage is breathtaking, jawdropping, awesome, stunning, gripping and terrifying; it's an absolute must read and very highly recommended.

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour; all opinions are my own.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

About the author:

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels, including I Let You Go, which was the fastest-selling debut thriller in the year it was released.

Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers and have spent a combined total of 64 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller chart.

Clare spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant and is the founder of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She now writes full time and lives in Wales with her husband and their three children.

www.claremackintosh.com / www.facebook.com/ClareMackWrites / @ClareMackint0sh

Follow the tour:

Hostage - Clare Mackintosh

 

You can save hundreds of lives.

Or the one that matters most . . .

The atmosphere on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney is electric. Celebrities are rumoured to be among the passengers in business class, and the world is watching the landmark journey.

Flight attendant Mina is trying to focus on the passengers, instead of her troubled five-year-old daughter back at home - or the cataclysmic problems in her marriage.

But soon after the plane takes off, Mina receives a chilling anonymous note. Someone wants to make sure the plane never reaches its destination. They're demanding her cooperation . . . and they know exactly how to get it.

It's twenty hours to landing.

A lot can happen in twenty hours . . .

What did I think?

WOW! What a book!  This is one of those books where I want to tell you to stop reading my review and just buy the book now - it's THAT good.  So for anyone still with me, I'll try to sum up my thoughts of a book that left me completely speechless (and incredibly tired as I really couldn't put it down).

The moment I opened this book, I knew I was going to be hooked.  The prologue is an emergency call transcript that is so chilling it made all of the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.  It haunted me throughout the book and I couldn't read fast enough to get to that point but also felt terrified of reaching it.

Mina is in the middle of a marriage breakdown so she signs up to be a flight attendant on the first ever non-stop flight from London to Sydney, even though this means she will be separated from her daughter Sophia for several days.  Someone on the plane knows all about Sophia and they're banking on Mina being willing to do anything to keep her safe.  Can Mina really sentence hundreds of people to death just to save one life?  That's all I'm going to say about the outstanding plot that kept me reading late into the night.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes of Mina's life and I was very intrigued as to how she ended up becoming a flight attendant.  Clare Mackintosh very cleverly weaves a story into the main thread that shows we can be physically held hostage but also metaphorically held hostage to our past.  This felt like a pearl of wisdom from the Dalai Lama; how often do we hark back to something we wish we'd said or done differently?  Let it go!  It's holding you hostage.

Claire Mackintosh scoops all the stars as well as all the adjectives in her exceptional new novel.  Hostage is breathtaking, jawdropping, awesome, stunning, gripping and terrifying; it's an absolute must read and destined to be one of THE books of 2021.  Very highly recommended.

I chose to read a digital ARC received via NetGalley and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon