Last Day by Luanne Rice

Last Day Reviews

• 
  Nilufer Ozmekik

  This book made me healthy, rejuvenated, relaxed, rested, energized because it helped me to fight with my sleep deprivation and gave me an amazing sleep! I was bored to death. Even I started to write my will and reviewed my bucket list when I’m reading it.
  
  The beginning was promising: Beth and Kate, two sisters suffered from a big tragedy that ended with their parents’ death and a valuable paintings’ stealing. A now Beth is dead and the very same painting’s stolen. Then too many characters started to appear on the picture. And there are too many unnecessary yadayada blablabla’s appeared on the pages. I felt like I was trapped in my own Groundhog day. My eyes were closing, the book was repeating itself and I woke up in panic, jumped out my couch and induced more caffeine to read more. ( The cycle repeated itself till I end this book)
  
  For a long time, I haven’t yawned so much, when I was reading a book and now my cheeks are killing me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I drank gallons of coffee, listened to my husband’s cursing to his soccer team (yes he recorded the games and started to watch at nighttime. But trust me even his silly jumping on the couch didn’t alert me a little bit!), I listened “Five Finger Death Punch” from my headphones. Nope! Nothing worked. I surrendered to one of my best sleeps in my life and I didn’t think all those long details and long descriptions, way too many characters and their long back stories.
  
  If ending would be a little satisfying, I could really give three stars and classify this one as one of my Switzerland books but unfortunately I didn’t like it ending either.
  
  There are so many good reviews out there and I accept my expel to the minority wasteland. I tried so hard but this is the least likeable thriller reads of mine lately. So I’m giving my two stars and trying another book.
  
  
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• 
  Ceecee

  Beth Lathrop is found dead - murdered. Who by? That’s it. Book is in three parts. Two parts too long = approximately 300 pages where I was bored out of my skull. Soooooo much unnecessary detail and I think when dead Beth joined in the narrative that finished me off. The ending was good (actually it wasn’t) and I raised a resounding cheer. I know others loved it so maybe today I’m The Grinch.
• 
  Kimberly

  Great premise and potential, but seriously overwritten, bogged down with redundant details and inconsistent characterizations. The pacing was off, the plot twist inconsistent and an editor's pen needed to do some serious work here. Disappointing.
• 
  Berit Talks Books

  Murder, Family secrets, infidelity, betrayal, friendship, and a tragic past. This was a who done it with a whole Lot of suspects. What I liked best about this story was the relationship between the sisters and how their past tragedy had ties to the current murder. The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of Kate and while I did like her she wasn’t easy to get to know. This was a story that kept me guessing... Red herrings, miss directions, loads of secrets, and plenty of suspects. The setting of the book added a lot of intrigue to the story. I was completely hooked until the very end and then I was kind of let down. The ending while it caught me completely by surprise, I cannot for the life of me figure out why this person behave the way they did?
  
  This book in emojis. 🖼 🩸 🛩 🕵🏻
• 
  DJ Sakata

  Favorite Quotes:
  
  He always thought of his first encounter with a homicide victim as two people meeting. An encounter every bit as important in death as it would have been in life, as revelatory as a conversation— in some ways more so.
  
  She had the feeling she might fall off the world. Everything felt dangerous; she wasn’t sure her skin could hold her bones and blood and heart inside.
  
  She was the crème brûlée of mothers: hard shell on the outside, total mush on the inside.
  
  Every few weeks the morgue was called here to remove a body—mostly overdoses, some accidental and some suicides. The walls were soaked with the sadness of lonely people drinking themselves to death in their small rooms.
  
  Surreptitiously, on the side Lulu couldn’t see, Scotty grabbed the roll of fat around her waist. The old commercial used to say if you could pinch more than an inch you needed to eat their cereal and get into shape. Scotty could pinch half a foot.
  
  
  My Review:
  
  Brilliantly conceived, cunningly plotted, diabolically crafted, shrewdly paced, and skillfully written. This book was da bomb! I was taut with tension with my shoulders in my ears and so sure I knew who had killed Beth, but, silly me, I was - so – very - wrong! This was my introduction to the skilled and breathtaking art form found in the wordcraft of Luanne Rice. I was enthralled, riveted, confounded, and ensorcelled. Ms. Rice was obviously gifted by the fairies of lexicon with mad skills. Her word voodoo is strong. I am her newest and most ardent fangirl.
  
• 
  Mackey

  Luanne Rice is a master storyteller and that truly shines in her latest novel, Last Day, the story of four friends, two deaths and the secrets kept hidden to the end.
  
  Sisters Kate and Beth had survived a tragic ordeal in their teen years but, like so many, that tragedy pushed them apart rather than pulling them together. Kate is closed off from all emotion and Beth has infused her life with love, giving to the community, loving her daughter and caring for her friends. When Beth is murdered, Kate digs in to find the answers to her sister's murder. What she finds instead are layers of secrets.
  
  While I was a bit disappointed in the ending, the overall story is brilliantly told. Last Day was my January selection for Amazon First Reads and will be available on February 1st.
• 
  Shanna

  A woman has been found dead, secrets are revealed, crime is solved. There is very little action in this story, and LOTS of LOTS of reminiscing for the sake of back story, and also feelings. I found it quite tedious to get through. The characters are so shallow that the family drama was just a bunch of annoying whining. Rice completely lost me when she went on and on about the greatness of motherhood. Newsflash: childfree lives are very fulfilling! Ironically, the mom characters in this story are the unhappy screw-ups. The mystery is solved through a twist, as most are, but it seemed to be thrown in just to be a surprise, leaving an implausible and unsatisfying ending.
• 
  Lora Barnhart Driscoll

  Tripe, even for a free Amazon First book. Plot is unforgivably slow, characters are unlikable, police investigation is completely unbelievable, and the ending is outrageous and unsupported. I could go on, but there is simply nothing redeemable about the book. I gave it one star because it was an utter waste of my time, plus it was personally offensive on several levels.
  
  Its greatest offense is one of my pet peeves: a stalking relationship that is portrayed as heroic or even romantic. A police officer encounters teenage girls when they’re victims of a crime, then stealthily keeps tabs on them for YEARS until surprise! They are again the victims of violence, so he can swoop in (unsupervised, somehow) and investigate all on his own. He even kisses one of them at one point. Am I the only one who notices this stuff? Sometimes I wonder.
  
  I only kept reading only to find out who the author had the audacity to reveal as the killer, because there were absolutely no legitimate suspects whatsoever after about halfway in. It turns out I was right. There were no legitimate suspects, so the author chose one of only a few people left as the killer. Bullshit.
  
  Waste. Skip it. I’m offended by its existence.
• 
  Dale Harcombe

  When Beth and her sister Kate were young they experienced a horror event that shaped their lives and took their mother from them. At the same time a painting called Moonlight was taken. The detective on that case was Conor Reid. Since then he has kept an eye on the two women. Beth went into the art world, running a gallery and raising a daughter with her husband Pete. Kate retreated into herself. Her one great solace was flying. As a pilot she was never happier than in the air. When he same painting goes missing again after being found and Beth is found strangled, Detective Reid is again on the case. He has a strong suspect for the murder firmly in his sights but is he right? Is he letting his own feelings dictate to him because the suspect has a watertight alibi, even though he does have a strong motive to want Beth dead. The more Conor digs into the case the more questions both he and Kate have. Who could have wanted Beth dead? And was significance does the Moonlight painting have?
  Years ago, mostly before I was on Goodreads I read and enjoyed a number of books by this author. She was ago to author. So when I found a new Luanne Rice book in the library I was excited even though it appeared to be a different genre that what I remembered of her earlier books. However I was happy to give it a go and it started okay enough to get me in. Sadly, despite a few red herrings about the murderer, after a while it started to go downhill. There was a lot of repetition and unnecessary detail. But I was interested enough to want to keep reading to find out who the murderer was.
  Most of the story was told from Kate or Conor’s point of view but when another voice turned up late in the book, my rating went down further. Add to that the ending with a culprit and motivation that made no sense at all. So, what started out promising ended up being a real fizzer as far as I was concerned. But others obviously don’t agree, since Lee Child, wrote on the cover,’ Lovely, lyrical and lethal.’ Not the words I would use. Overwritten, implausible and okay would be more my take. Think I was better off with this author’s earlier novels. Others may really like it but I was left disappointed.
  
• 
  Tonya

  Plenty of mystery and suspense with a touch of supernatural in this fast paced mystery novel of what happened on Beth's last day before she was brutally murdered. Beth and her unborn child seemed to be loved by everyone in this small community... but obviously someone had a reason to kill her. It is up to her big sister, Kate to find out who and why... and hopefully not get in the path of the murderer at the same time.
  
  I like that the book is circular in that in relates to past events. Themes of love and forgiveness are definitely woven throughout the book. Who the killer is may just surprise you!
  
  This is a Kindle Unlimited choice and I loved being able to switch from audio to reading back and forth as I had a drive recently for an essential medical appointment...this book helped me get through the commute and I was eager to keep reading/listening.
• 
  Mackenzie - PhDiva Books

  An expertly crafted story about four friends, two deaths, and the secrets that have anchored them for so long. This was my first Luann Rice novel and I really enjoyed it!
  
  Last Day opened in a very powerful way! It is Beth Lathrop’s last day. Her friends, family, and loved ones wake up expecting her to be alive. Instead, Beth Lathrop, six months pregnant and in her own home, has been murdered in her own bedroom. When her sister Kate finds her, Beth has been dead for several days.
  
  This alone is quite a start to a book. But there was so much more to the story than Beth’s murder. In fact, the story began decades earlier, when a young Beth and Kate were kidnapped along with their mother during a robbery at their family’s art gallery. Beth and Kate were bound, gagged, and tethered to their mother who died from suffocation while gagged.
  
  Meanwhile a painting stolen in the heist at the family's art gallery is missing again in the wake of Beth's death. Detective Reid is shocked. He had worked on the case the first time and has kept an eye on Beth and Kate all of these years.
  
  Is this a simple case of "it's always the husband"? Or is something else going on here?
  
  I didn't guess the ending of this one, which made it an engaging read!
  
• 
  Bitsy Kemper

  Sorry to be a downer on this one but I couldn't wait for it to end. The thing with mysteries is they follow a formula. You KNOW the main person of interest isn't guilty--esp if they are a person of interest in chapter 1 or 2 or 4 or 7 or 8 etc... It felt like a waste of time going through all the motions and sidebars when you knew it wasn't going to be any of those people, b/c (not a spoiler alert if you've ever read a single mystery book before) you know it's going to be someone you never expected... While yes the characters and situations were all real and believable and I appreciated that, there was just too much wasted time and detail spent on what you knew were wild goose chases.
• 
  Nursebookie

  I enjoyed this women’s fiction, family drama, mystery thriller read.
  
  This book surprised me with a story full of twists, that had me in a delightfully surprising ending. I loved how Rice was able to write amazingly relatable characters in situations and settings that I enjoyed reading about. Rice wrote with such eloquence that grasped my attention from the beginning.
  
  This was my first Luanne Rice book and I will be picking up more books from her in the future.
• 
  Sherry

  Luann Rice does what she does best- write about families, sisters, secrets, relationships, with a little mystery thrown in. Personally, I loved reading about locations familiar to me and the nod to a murder that took place here years ago. Definitely recommend.
• 
  Guylou (Two Dogs and a Book)

  
  
  This is the first book by Luanne Rice I have the pleasure reading. It won’t be the last. Her writing is gorgeous, and she creates intricate scenarios that lead the readers to believe that they know what will happen next and it does not always go that way. This keeps you reading and wanting to know where the story will go. 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆 is the story of two sisters, one painting, and a repeating event. Kate is devastated when she discovers her sister Beth’s murdered body. A flow of memories assails her as she remembers what happened to them twenty-three years prior. Is this a repeat crime or a copycat? Who killed Beth? Many have motives but only one person did it.
  
  Suspenseful, this book is well structured and provides the readers with all the clues to solve the mystery. The ending is surprising and satisfying. Awesome book!
  
  🙋🏼‍♀️ Thanks to Thomas Allen & Son for sending me an ARC of this fantastic novel. 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘆 by Luanne Rice will be available at your favourite bookstore on February 1st, 2020.
  
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• 
  Susan

  I gave up on Luanne Rice a long time ago; the novels she released in the 1980s and 1990s with interesting, nuanced characters gradually evolved in the 2000's into shmaltzy melodramas with cardboard heroines and hokey dialogue. But this was a cheap Amazon "First Reads" option so I took a chance again, only to remain woefully unimpressed. There was way too much info-dumping and too many unnecessary details, which made getting through the book a chore. The detective investigating the murder seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the dead woman's sister based on another tragedy that happened in their lives 20 years ago, but nobody thinks it's strange that he is fixated on a woman who was a teenager when he first met her. There are other inconsistencies and behaviors that make the characters feel very unrealistic. And as for the ending....well, I don't want to spoil anything but I will say it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me and felt like it came out of nowhere. Sorry, but I'll continue to pass on this author. I still recommend her earlier books such as
  Angels All Over Town and
  Summer Light though.
• 
  Holly Mowery

  I don't know what happened here, *spoiler alert*. Kindle First selection for January and was hooked from the beginning. Have to admit it was slow at times, but you could never truly nail in on the "who dunnit". I did think of the premise of the possibility of the actual killer but never saw the motive or buildup. Then, boom here we are at the end and we are suppose to believe this? There's no depth as to what motive Scotty had here. I was expecting more to it then what was played out. The last 20 pages lost it for me. Good read, but for a long 400 page book it deserved a better ending than what seems as an author who grew tired of writing.
• 
  Monnie

  When I look at the sum of the parts, it was Gestalt. The individual parts, however, sometimes left a bit to be desired.
  
  At an art gallery in a small community along the Connecticut shore, Beth Lathrop and her slightly older sister Kate lost their mother - and nearly their own lives - during a robbery at the gallery 23 years ago. Young detective Conor Reid managed to save the girls, but the gruesome circumstances left an imprint on his mind that he could never forget - nor could the sisters; their own father was convicted of masterminding the crime, which included the theft of a special painting, and he has been in prison ever since.
  
  In the present day, Beth is running the museum, married and has a teenage daughter Sam. Her husband, Pete, helps with the gallery and has an ongoing not-so-secret affair with a young woman who subsequently gave birth to his child. Not a pleasant time for Beth and Sam, needless to say. But then, the unthinkable happens: Beth is found murdered - strangled in horrific fashion - and that special painting that was stolen and found years ago has gone missing once again. Bringing the story full circle is that Reid, now a seasoned detective, is once again assigned to the case.
  
  It's helpful that Reid needs little when it comes to background; goodness knows he's followed the lives of Beth and Kate ever since the case 23 years ago (if it had been in any other book, I'd have called him a low-key stalker). But it comes in handy during his investigation, as does the help he gets from his Coast Guard brother, Tom. But early on, Reid has only one real suspect: Beth's lying, cheating, mean, mistreating husband, Pete, who, alas, has an unshakable alibi. So what's a detective to do?
  
  Well, for starters, I'd suggest that someone decide what to call him. All the other characters are referred to by their first names; not so the detective, who goes by "Conor" and "Reid" when the mood strikes, I guess. Besides being a frustrating inconsistency, it actually made me wonder whether his name is Conor Reid or Reid Conor.
  
  As the investigation moves along, readers get a glimpse of the relationship among Beth, Kate and their long-time female friends Scotty and Lulu - who call their collective selves the Compass Rose. Best buds since childhood, they shared secret after secret; but as it turns out, all four may not have been privvy to all of them, much to the disappointment of Kate, who carved a life for herself outside of the art world by becoming an in-demand private pilot and now feels left out.
  
  All of that brings me to another frustrating aspect: an overabundance of detail, whether it be on works of art, history, or even the characters' backgrounds, quite a bit of which wasn't all that relevant to the plot. I won't call it uninteresting - I found much of it was educational, in fact - but it just seemed to overwhelm what could (should?) have been a shorter book.
  
  Somewhere around the middle, I began to suspect the identity of Beth's killer - and that was more than enough incentive to keep me glued to the pages from then on (for the record, I was right). I admit to losing a bit of enthusiasm at the ghostly appearance of one of the characters - what the heck is that all about, I asked myself - but as I said early on, overall this is a solid effort that I'm sure will please many readers, including me. Good choice for the Amazon First Reads program!
  
• 
  Becky

  What a perfect way to kick start my 2020 reading adventure!!
  
  As a long time fan of Luanne's books, I have come to expect certain things in her writing. A gentleness, a sense of friendships, sisterhood, family & love of art, scenery & nature.
  
  All of those elements were in
  Last Day, but the added piece was not typical of previous books written by Luanne. There was a mystery, & a "who done it". I flip flopped throughout the book as to the "who" part, but it kept me guessing till almost the end.
  
  I am not a huge fan of the current rage of psychological thrillers, this was not one of those books. This was still the beautifully written book I would expect from Luanne, but with the hint of other deeper issues. Still love of family, women being there for each other & sisterhood & close bonds to "home"....
  
  Thank you again
  Luanne !!
• 
  PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps

  DNF another disappointing Amazon First. Luanne Rice is or miss for me. This was a big miss.
• 
  Jean

  This is the first book that I have read by this author. It was an excellent mystery, however, it was extremely wordy and I found myself skimming a lot. Oops it has been brought to my attention that this isn't my first Luanne Rice book. Looks like I enjoyed the other one also. She must be a keeper.
• 
  Carla

  I haven't read a Luanne Rice book in awhile, but I remember her stories about family set on the Northeast coast. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a mystery/suspense story dealing with a family that has seen their share of tragedy and hardship. Sisters Kate and Beth had been tied up with their mother in the basement of the family art gallery years ago. Their mother died during their confinement and the girls' lives would never be the same. At the same time a painting, Moonlight had been stolen, yet recovered when the thieves were found. Years later, Kate finds her sister's body dead in her home, once again, Moonlight has been stolen. Who killed Beth and why? Once again Connor Reid is on the case.
  
  This book starts off with a bang, the discovery of Beth's body. I was hooked and couldn't wait to figure out what happened, and who was responsible. Most of the story is told from Kate's POV. She does not think much of Pete, Beth's husband, and is sure he had something to do with the murder. There are a lot of characters in the story and all are involved in some way. Nicola is Pete's mistress and the mother of his illegitimate son, Sam is his daughter who is angry and wants nothing to do with her father, there are a couple of female friends that are Beth and Kate's BFF, their children and Tom who is Connor's brother. I got somewhat confused and found the mystery got a bit bogged down. I did like that the author shows how a murder affects the family and didn't brush it under the rug. I was pretty sure I had it figured out from the start, but changed my mind about 2/3 of the way in and found that I was correct. As the murder wraps up, I wasn't impressed with the motive of the killer. The ending seemed meh, after all the investigating. Overall, I was just okay with this story. It was not what I had been expecting. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.
• 
  Herman Morgan III

  Best " First Read " Yet !
  
  I don't enjoy books that are full of a lot of romance and sex. I do read a lot of female writers, primarily thrillers, crime, and mystery authors, and enjoy the good ones as much as any of the male writers I read.
  This book is about love, of sibling, friends, and family variety, and that's something that has been a major force in my life, and something I can relate to well. I also love a good mystery, and this one kept me guessing until the end, which I really enjoyed. Ms Rice writes great characters, makes you see, smell, and taste the story's locale, and weaves a spell that I couldn't break away from until I fell asleep, then woke and turned my Kindle back on to finish the final chapters. You can't ask more from a good book than that. I'll be reading more Luanne Rice novels.
  
• 
  Nic

  Twenty years ago, two sisters and their mother are tied up and left in the basement of their families art gallery. The mother ends up dying in that basement while her two daughters are helpless to help her. Intriguing premise and one that has many twists and turns before you ultimately find out what is going on.
  Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.
• 
  Diane Challenor

  The story was intriguing. It was half mystery half romance, and it was solidly anchored in the intense love of family and friends. The intensity of the devotion between the characters was a little too much for me, however good plotting overcame my reluctance to connect with all the fuss. I read the story continually over just a few days and I’m glad I did.
• 
  Jennifer Schell

  Enjoyed it,
  
  This book was beautifully tragic. The scenery descriptions are like poetry, the entire setting is gorgeous. The characters never seem to do what you expect, and that makes it so real. The ending was absolutely a surprise. 100% would recommend.