The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh is the first book in the DC Morgan series. It was released in 2022 and since I’ve never read a Clare Mackintosh book I didn’t enjoy, I was really excited to read it.
Clare Mackintosh always writes brilliant books. Hostage was a fantastic thriller and the twist in I Let You Go had me re-reading the first half of the book. I was gobsmacked!
I therefore had high hopes for The Last Party.
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It’s New Years Eve and Rhys Lloyd has a houseful of guests. As a failing opera singer, he is delighted that his holiday home business is actually thriving. The Shore is a high end resort and sits on the edge of a lake which transverses both England and Wales.
Rhys has invited the whole village to his house to drink champagne and party with their wealthy new neighbours. By midnight, Rhys Lloyd is dead.
On New Years Day DC Ffion Morgan has a whole village of suspects. Working alongside DC Leo Brady, Ffion soon realises that Rhys Lloyd wasn’t as popular as he seemed.
Plenty of people had reasons to dislike Rhys, but who hated him enough to kill him?
The Last Party Book Review
I really enjoyed this book. The setting was brilliant, the story was full of twists and I really liked the two main characters, DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leo Brady.
I thought the setting was really atmospheric and the lake added a touch of mystery to the story. The location of the lake meant that both Ffion (Welsh) and Leo (English) had to work together on the case.
I really enjoyed the interactions between Ffion and Leo. The dialogue was quick and witty in places and I loved how Ffion constantly surprised Leo. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with. I was therefore really pleased to learn that this was the first book in the DC Morgan series.
The mystery itself was well done. Clare Mackintosh herself worked in the police before becoming an author so her stories always feel really authentic. She obviously knows what she’s talking about!
There was a good mix of characters and I think I suspected each of them at one point. While the two DCs were likeable, the rest of the characters were suspicious to say the least!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. While it wasn’t as gripping as Hostage, or as shocking as I Let You Go, it was well paced and full of twists. I didn’t predict the outcome and I felt it had a really satisfying conclusion. I’ll definitely be reading the next book in the series.
What to read next
The second DC Morgan book has now been released, titled A Game of Lies, should you wish to continue the series. My favourite Clare Mackintosh books are I Let You Go and Hostage so I’d definitely recommend also reading those.
Clare Mackintosh has also written After the End which is a completely different change of pace from her usual gripping thrillers. Mackintosh draws from her own personal experience of losing a child and so the book is a very emotional read.
