Book Description
One last holiday together. One of us wouldn’t come home…
Saturday night: It starts as an innocent holiday game amongst old friends. As we sit around our campfire, the evening sky streaked with peach, my little boy sleeping peacefully in our tent, the wine flows and secrets are spilled.
It should be harmless fun, but Annie’s questions worry me. She’s always been the keeper of our secrets. She knows all the infidelities, the indiscretions, the stolen kisses…
I just hope she knows when to stop. Because there’s something I can’t let her bring to the surface…
Wednesday morning: It’s the little things that stay with you. The hurried rip of zips being opened. Figures stumbling into the cold night air. The screams echoing across the campsite as flashlights scour the ground. That’s what happens when someone you love is murdered.
One of us is responsible for Annie’s death. One of us will stop at nothing to keep our secrets hidden…
A totally gripping psychological thriller that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and have you gasping at the twists. Fans of The Housemaid, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be turning pages all night long!
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Last Holiday' by Amy Sheppard.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Amy Sheppard, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication Date 30th May 2023.
This is the second book I have read by this author. I have previously read 'The Beach Party' which I would also highly recommend.
I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching beautiful cover and intriguing as well as intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A totally gripping psychological thriller that will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and have you gasping at the twists. Fans of The Housemaid, Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will be turning pages all night long!' I am a huge fan of Gone Girl and The Housemaid so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I also loved Amy's 'The Beach Party' and if this is half as good as that was it is guaranteed to be a page turner!!! I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of a prologue and 54 chapters. The chapters are short in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Cornwall, England 🏴, UK 🇬🇧. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture. I have actually been on holiday to and visited Cornwall many times and am going back next year so will definitely be intrigued to see if I recognise anywhere or get ideas where to visit or avoid!!!
This book is written in first person perspective with the main protagonists being Charlotte, Annie, Stella, DCI Melanie Price. The benefits of books written in first person perspective with multiple protagonists are, as long as they are well written, it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on.
WOW!! IF YOU WANT A BOOK WITH AN ENDING THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND MAKE SURE YOU PICK THIS ONE UP!!
This book was very fast paced, unique and addictive. I devoured it in one sitting and was completely absorbed throughout!! The storyline is rammed with suspense, jealousy, twists, secrets, betrayal, adultery, shocks, tension and mystery and everything you could ask for in a page turning thriller!!! Amy's fantastic evocative writing skills whisks the reader away to Cornwall leaving you feeling the breeze on your face, smelling the ocean air and tasting the sea salt. It genuinely felt like I'd dropped back into Cornwall again and made me want to jump straight back!! I was gutted when I came to the end and 'unpack my suitcase' as it felt like a holiday had come to end, even though it was one filled with murder and secrets!!!! We meet Annie, Stella, Charlotte, Jack and Tristan who have been friends for 25 years when the majority of them met in college. They all decide to go on a holiday to Cornwall together. Charlotte and Tristan are married with a son called Theo who also comes along. Annie is a single mother to Rose who turns 18 on their holiday. Stella is in a relationship with Nate and Jack is in a relationship with Kirsty who both also join them on the holiday. Tensions run high as the alcohol intake increases and it only gets worse when a body is found. Who won't be returning from the holiday? Will it stop at one murder or will there be more? Amy takes us from the present to the past and weaves the characters history and present together perfectly slowly giving the reader just the right amount of information to get to know the characters without giving too much away. What happened to lead to a killing in the campsite? This is one of those books where I kept telling myself just one more chapter but then something happened meaning I had to read another and then another until I devoured it in one sitting. I enjoyed 'The Beach Party ' but I absolutely loved this book and I could definitely see that Amy's writing skills and storytelling has improved and I really cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!!! I kept on trying to work out who the killer was and thought I had worked it out so many times but Amy proved me wrong time and time again and I never did work out what was going on. A HUGE congratulations to Amy for this!!! I have read hundreds of psychological thrillers and crime books so it is getting harder and harder to shock me yet that ending completely blew me away!!! There was no way I had any idea that was coming!!!! I will add that I actually shed a few tears which shocked me as very rare I cry when it comes to psychological thrillers, unless an animal dies 😂, but I was absolutely gutted about a certain event so it may be worth getting the tissues ready in case!!!
It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture
This is one of the few books that I have listened 100% on Audiobook. If I listen to a book on audiobook I usually also read the physical book between but I listened to the whole book and I was impressed! I must say a HUGE congratulations to the narrator Naomi Frederick who did a great job bringing this story to life. I would listen to it in the car and while walking at any opportunity and Naomi did a fantastic job on both male and female characters voices!!! I'm not only looking forward to reading more books by Amy but also to listening to more books narrated by Naomi!
I was completely invested in the storyline and the characters throughout. The characters were all strong and realistic making them easy to picture. However, I can't honestly say I particularly liked many of the characters which given that I was hooked on the storyline surprises me. Normally if I can't relate to or don't like the majority of the characters I struggle to get into the storyline but this was not a problem here, not only because there were a couple of likeable characters but because of the addictive and explosive storyline. I found Annie to be quite self obsessed at times and the more I found out about her the less I liked her. I really liked Rose and my heart went out to her for everything that was going on around her and for what happened on her 18th birthday. I hated kirsty, annoying in itself as my name is Kirsty lol, and found her to be stuck up and just a nasty person in general. I liked Charlotte and found her to be a good friend but she wasn't truly innocent. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the majority of them Amy ensures the characters are realistic with different flaws which is more important to me (a realistic storyline ) than likeable characters. They all came to life with the storyline and they all played their parts perfectly. My favourite characters had to be Rose and DCI Melanie Price although I won't say anything else as I don't want to spoil it for future readers but I will say regardless of whether you love or hate them each character played their part perfectly and made this book as addictive as it is!!!
Congratulations Amy on an explosive success!!! Absolutely mind-blowing ending and cannot wait for your next addictive page turner!!!!
Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the prologue and the first three chapters of Amy's page turning 'The Beach Party' which is another explosive page turner and one I have read myself and would highly recommend!!
Overall a page turning, addictive psychological thriller filled with twists, emotions and an explosive ending!!
Genres covered in this novel include Women's Psychological Fiction, Crime, Thriller And Mystery Adventures, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Literary Fiction, Suspense Thriller, Psychological Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Noir Fiction, Womens Psychological, Domestic Thriller, Mystery ,Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Crime Thriller, Suspense Thriller, Psychological Suspense, Murder Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Domestic Thriller and Thriller amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, The Housemaid and The Wife Between Us and just anyone looking for an epic read with a twist. What are you waiting for?? Go grab your copy now!!!
345 pages/ 10 hours 46 minutes
This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited, £8.99 in paperback and £20.03 for the audiobook via Amazon at time of review, which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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Author Bio
Amy Sheppard is a busy mum of two boys, living in Cornwall. Her obsession with making budget friendly family dinners, led her to writing two cookbooks. Amy creates recipes for her followers and for brands @amysheppardfood
Her debut novel is out in August 2022. A psychological thriller set in Cornwall called 'The Beach Party'
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Purchase Links
Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/3qCFKBF
Amazon US: https://a.co/d/hev7LVm
