Title: The Last Girl to Die
Author: Helen Fields
Publication: September 1, 2022
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 376
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
The island watched and wept…
In search of a new life, sixteen-year-old Adriana Clark’s family moves to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland. Then she goes missing. Faced with hostile locals and indifferent police, her desperate parents turn to private investigator Sadie Levesque.
Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before.
The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Full Disclosure: I am a mega-fan of Helen Fields. I have never read a book by her I did not absolutely love. I love how dirty and gritty her novels get and I was full on expecting this book to do the same.
The story follow Sadie, a private investigator. I’ve had a few novels following P.I.’s instead of police and I really find I enjoy them. Sadie was an interesting lead character with a snarky, no bullsh** personality that I quite enjoyed. I loved the dynamic Fields gave us between Sadie and the townsfolk who clearly thought she was just a woman who can do nothing. Each townsfolk was dynamic and well thought out creating a sense of suspense and tension with their disagreements and negative treatment of Sadie.
This story started with tension and built up slowly throughout until the ultimate climax between hero and villain. Every time I thought I had guessed the person, I was wrong. I did not suspect who it ended up being and I never suspected a lot of the twists and turns. Fields is a queen of surprise endings. I really love her character development and how you slowly get to peel back her characters personalities and really get to know them. I found a lot of hidden reveals in this story and feel like those personality reveals really made the story flow so steadily and made it more interesting. There was never a lull in the story. I really enjoyed the historical context about Scotland and the area this story took place in. It also added a little history lesson to it.
Fields will remain at the top of my master writers list and I will never miss one of her new books. I only wish there were more to be had. Definitely another showstopper that you won’t be able to put down from Helen Fields.
