I received this book courtesy of NetGalley and finished reading it a few months ago. I've been waiting to review it until we were closer to the publication date, which was yesterday so here we are.
"The Last to Know" takes place in a small town in England. It revolves around an old house, old family secrets, and someone discovering them. It's a classic mystery!
Publisher's Summary
American journalist Rose Kynaston has just relocated to the childhood home of her husband, Dylan, in the English village of his youth. There’s a lot for Rose to get used to in Hurtwood. Like the family’s crumbling mansion, inhabited by Dylan’s reclusive mother, and the treacherous hill it sits upon, a place of both sinister folklore and present dangers.
Then there are the unwelcoming villagers, who only whisper the name Kynaston—like some dreadful secret, a curse. Everyone knows what happened at Hurtwood House twenty years ago. Everyone except Rose. And now that Dylan is back, so are rumors about his past.
When an archaeological dig unearths human remains on the hill, local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan vows to solve a cold case that has cast a chill over Hurtwood for decades.
As Ellie works to separate rumor from fact, Rose must fight to clear the name of the man she loves. But how can Rose keep her family safe if she is the last to know the truth?
My Thoughts
"The Last to Know" was very twisty, meaning it kept going in a bunch of different directions, in a good way. It wasn't predictable, you were constantly thinking something was happening and then something totally different happened.
The mystery behind Hurtwood House was the center of the novel but there was a lot more that contributed to the plot. The mystery, without giving too much away, was the death of a young boy who claimed he was being abused. The abuse was said to be coming from Dylan's father, who died shortly after the boy. For years, no one went to Hurtwood House and Dylan's mother became a hermit, never leaving the property.
When Dylan and Rose come back to England, the alleged crimes of his father come back to haunt him. Who hurt the boy? What is really wrong with Dylan's mother? Does Ellie's dad, the old police chief, know something? What really happened all those years ago?
There are multiple crimes that happened in the past...are they all linked? Perhaps but both Ellie and Rose are tasked with figuring that out.
I really loved this book. It was very similar to another book I recently read (review coming soon) and the feeling of a mystery novel set in England is very enticing to me. It was cozy, interesting, and a page-turner but it wasn't gruesome or overly gory. There was even a paranormal twist-tied in which I loved! It was a little dramatic at times but what's a novel without a little exaggeration?
"The Last to Know" was a great book with a great story and a very satisfying ending. You won't be able to figure out the mystery but you'll have a hell of a time trying!
xoxo
B
