lily_peach's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content
Minor: Gun violence and Pregnancy
always_need_more_books's review against another edition
4.0
Meredith Vincent, once a world famous singer in rock band Cohen, is living the quiet life in obscurity, working in a gift shop in a stately home. She lives in a cottage on the estate, she has only a couple of close friends and no-one apart from her twin brother Pete knows about her previous life.
We quickly find out that something happened to Meredith that caused her to disappear from the public eye, something terrifying which still haunts her to this day. One day when she turns up at the shop she finds it has been vandalised. She also has her garden damaged. And then, when a body of a friend of Meredith’s turns up in a pond on the estate, she realises that someone is watching her and has returned to finish what they started over 20 years before…
This was a great thriller! There were a lot of threads to this story – I was desperate to find out what had happened to Meredith (who for some reason I pictured as Kim Wilde in my head!) and Voss did a good job of teasing out the threads of the story at just the right pace. As well as the present day, we return to the early 1980s, where we meet the teenage Meredith, rebelling against the establishment and her parents, falling in love with a woman and leaving home after her dad died to live in a squat in London, before joining a band and hitting the big time.
I really enjoyed the writing and it kept me highly entertained which is just what you want in a thriller! I always think the sign of a good book is that I start looking forward to my lunch break at work so I can read some more! The threat in the book felt very real and Voss does a good job of ramping up the levels of anxiety I felt. I loved the relationship between Meredith and Pete – after several years of estrangement, the love they feel for each other is touching. The setting of a country house and a pretty little village made it even more atmospheric.
A real page turner of a thriller, the pace and storytelling made this a fast read, which I really enjoyed!
We quickly find out that something happened to Meredith that caused her to disappear from the public eye, something terrifying which still haunts her to this day. One day when she turns up at the shop she finds it has been vandalised. She also has her garden damaged. And then, when a body of a friend of Meredith’s turns up in a pond on the estate, she realises that someone is watching her and has returned to finish what they started over 20 years before…
This was a great thriller! There were a lot of threads to this story – I was desperate to find out what had happened to Meredith (who for some reason I pictured as Kim Wilde in my head!) and Voss did a good job of teasing out the threads of the story at just the right pace. As well as the present day, we return to the early 1980s, where we meet the teenage Meredith, rebelling against the establishment and her parents, falling in love with a woman and leaving home after her dad died to live in a squat in London, before joining a band and hitting the big time.
I really enjoyed the writing and it kept me highly entertained which is just what you want in a thriller! I always think the sign of a good book is that I start looking forward to my lunch break at work so I can read some more! The threat in the book felt very real and Voss does a good job of ramping up the levels of anxiety I felt. I loved the relationship between Meredith and Pete – after several years of estrangement, the love they feel for each other is touching. The setting of a country house and a pretty little village made it even more atmospheric.
A real page turner of a thriller, the pace and storytelling made this a fast read, which I really enjoyed!
thisguybooks's review against another edition
5.0
Quick Synopsis:
Once an 80's pop star, Merideth now lives alone. She's out of the spotlight hiding from a past that seems determined to find her.
Review: Five out of Five Stars
This was an unexpectedly great book! I hadn't read any Louise Voss prior to this but she has definitely jumped onto the list of authors I need to read more of.
Overall it's a standard mystery/thriller entry but her writing is quite good, it takes time to develop the main character without feeling the need to dump outrageous plot on the reader.
Merideth is generally likable but imperfect, the supporting cast isn't quite as fleshed out but still compelling.
Once an 80's pop star, Merideth now lives alone. She's out of the spotlight hiding from a past that seems determined to find her.
Review: Five out of Five Stars
This was an unexpectedly great book! I hadn't read any Louise Voss prior to this but she has definitely jumped onto the list of authors I need to read more of.
Overall it's a standard mystery/thriller entry but her writing is quite good, it takes time to develop the main character without feeling the need to dump outrageous plot on the reader.
Merideth is generally likable but imperfect, the supporting cast isn't quite as fleshed out but still compelling.
pznightingale's review against another edition
4.0
Really well written. A very engaging beginning, a small slump, and then gripping until the very end. Plenty of big twists. Fun read.
noveldeelights's review against another edition
3.0
Despite having written eleven novels over the years, Louise Voss is still very much a new-to-me author. Her previous book, The Old You, is the only one I’ve read so far (still one of my favourites too!) and I was quite excited to see what she’d come up with next.
That next book is here and it’s called The Last Stage. Meredith Vincent was the lead singer of a legendary 1980’s indie band. Until one day, she turned her back on it all and retreated to a little cottage on the grounds of an old stately home; choosing a quiet life working in a gift shop, rather than the bright and dazzling lights of the stage.
Few people know what made Meredith decide to change her life like that and the reader is fed little clues along the way with chapters that take us back to Meredith’s rise and ultimate fall in the music industry. I enjoyed that journey as a fascinating ripple effect of decision upon decision, some extremely innocuous and innocent, take Meredith on a path she couldn’t have predicted at all. You just can’t help but wonder how different things would have been if she’d made other choices. Hindsight and all that.
Meredith now leads a quiet and peaceful life but things are about to change when the estate manager is found dead. Meredith starts to notice other little things but is she merely being paranoid or has someone found out who she is and more importantly, where she is?
The disturbing prologue pulls you in from the get-go, to be followed by something a bit murder-at-the-mansion like and what’s not to love about that? There’s a delicious kind of threatening vibe running through the storyline, this feeling deep in your bones that says something is coming but you have no idea what that will be. Just that it won’t be anything good, obviously. I couldn’t at all figure out who was behind it all or why, even though it seemed fairly clear that it had something to do with Meredith’s past. It’s hard not to feel for her, the terror she deals with, never feeling safe and constantly wondering what’s coming next. I’d be hiding too.
There’s absolutely no denying Louise Voss is a brilliant writer. The Last Stage is an unsettling read, with short chapters that urge you on to keep reading. A well-paced story of obsession and revenge that shows off Louise Voss’ ability to diversify and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
That next book is here and it’s called The Last Stage. Meredith Vincent was the lead singer of a legendary 1980’s indie band. Until one day, she turned her back on it all and retreated to a little cottage on the grounds of an old stately home; choosing a quiet life working in a gift shop, rather than the bright and dazzling lights of the stage.
Few people know what made Meredith decide to change her life like that and the reader is fed little clues along the way with chapters that take us back to Meredith’s rise and ultimate fall in the music industry. I enjoyed that journey as a fascinating ripple effect of decision upon decision, some extremely innocuous and innocent, take Meredith on a path she couldn’t have predicted at all. You just can’t help but wonder how different things would have been if she’d made other choices. Hindsight and all that.
Meredith now leads a quiet and peaceful life but things are about to change when the estate manager is found dead. Meredith starts to notice other little things but is she merely being paranoid or has someone found out who she is and more importantly, where she is?
The disturbing prologue pulls you in from the get-go, to be followed by something a bit murder-at-the-mansion like and what’s not to love about that? There’s a delicious kind of threatening vibe running through the storyline, this feeling deep in your bones that says something is coming but you have no idea what that will be. Just that it won’t be anything good, obviously. I couldn’t at all figure out who was behind it all or why, even though it seemed fairly clear that it had something to do with Meredith’s past. It’s hard not to feel for her, the terror she deals with, never feeling safe and constantly wondering what’s coming next. I’d be hiding too.
There’s absolutely no denying Louise Voss is a brilliant writer. The Last Stage is an unsettling read, with short chapters that urge you on to keep reading. A well-paced story of obsession and revenge that shows off Louise Voss’ ability to diversify and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
melaniesreads's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book of two parts for me. It started with a slow burning character driven narrative. Giving little snippets of Meredith’s past. I love an unreliable narrator and she is not only keeping secrets but lies to the police and her best friend.
Then once the body is found it becomes unsettling and almost claustrophobic in atmosphere. The setting of an isolated stately home really ramped up the creep factor.
DC Gemma McMeekin and DS Mark Davis, hilariously nicknamed Dark Mavis and new officer and old friend Emad Khan made for a brilliant police team and I hope the author will feature them again. Once they start working the case more things come to light and the tension racks up the pace until the frenzied conclusion.
I went into this as a first time reader of Louise Voss and was drawn in by how well she writes strong female characters. Meredith, the striking Samantha, Gemma and Paula are all really different but utterly believable.
This very much felt like doing a jigsaw puzzle where the lid is missing so you have to take your time to work out what goes where, going in blind until piece by piece the picture is revealed. Then getting a surprise because it’s a different picture than what you thought.
Then once the body is found it becomes unsettling and almost claustrophobic in atmosphere. The setting of an isolated stately home really ramped up the creep factor.
DC Gemma McMeekin and DS Mark Davis, hilariously nicknamed Dark Mavis and new officer and old friend Emad Khan made for a brilliant police team and I hope the author will feature them again. Once they start working the case more things come to light and the tension racks up the pace until the frenzied conclusion.
I went into this as a first time reader of Louise Voss and was drawn in by how well she writes strong female characters. Meredith, the striking Samantha, Gemma and Paula are all really different but utterly believable.
This very much felt like doing a jigsaw puzzle where the lid is missing so you have to take your time to work out what goes where, going in blind until piece by piece the picture is revealed. Then getting a surprise because it’s a different picture than what you thought.
steph1rothwell's review against another edition
4.0
The Last Stage is the second book that I have read by Louise Voss and much like the first it is a slow burner, where the reader has little idea what expect.
There are quite a few narrators. Meredith, her twin brother Pete, two police officers, one of whom is a new officer, and two very unsavoury characters. One of these I did identify fairly early on, the other I was completely wrong about.
There are a few scenes that contain violence but none of them are gratuitous. They didn’t need to be, anybody who reads this can imagine the terror that Meredith felt. Not only for the threat to herself, but also towards people she cares deeply about. She was happy in her new life and doesn’t want her past to affect it. In particular she didn’t want to think about who was responsible for her injury and the reasons why she turned her back on the music industry.
Meredith was a character who I liked more as I read. I found her to be honest, felt her remorse over the abandonment of her family and admired her determination to live her life without revealing her past and relying on her fame to be successful. Her type of music I was familiar with, being roughly the same age but I was never a fan. Unlike Mavis, who made me smile a lot.
It was slightly different too much of the crime fiction I usually read. Not as dark but many of the character felt more real. In particular the police team. The frustration, admiration and determination to impress all made a very entertaining novel to read.
There are quite a few narrators. Meredith, her twin brother Pete, two police officers, one of whom is a new officer, and two very unsavoury characters. One of these I did identify fairly early on, the other I was completely wrong about.
There are a few scenes that contain violence but none of them are gratuitous. They didn’t need to be, anybody who reads this can imagine the terror that Meredith felt. Not only for the threat to herself, but also towards people she cares deeply about. She was happy in her new life and doesn’t want her past to affect it. In particular she didn’t want to think about who was responsible for her injury and the reasons why she turned her back on the music industry.
Meredith was a character who I liked more as I read. I found her to be honest, felt her remorse over the abandonment of her family and admired her determination to live her life without revealing her past and relying on her fame to be successful. Her type of music I was familiar with, being roughly the same age but I was never a fan. Unlike Mavis, who made me smile a lot.
It was slightly different too much of the crime fiction I usually read. Not as dark but many of the character felt more real. In particular the police team. The frustration, admiration and determination to impress all made a very entertaining novel to read.
abookwormwithwine's review against another edition
3.0
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 5
I really enjoyed the majority of [b:The Last Stage|44106854|The Last Stage|Louise Voss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551044615i/44106854._SY75_.jpg|68598276] by [a:Louise Voss|819885|Louise Voss|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442476465p2/819885.jpg], but the ending caused it to fall a bit short for me.
What it's about: Meredith Vincent is currently living and working in the gift shop of an old stately home called Minstead House after abruptly leaving her band - for which she was the lead singer - in 1995. The public doesn't know why, and her band members were very upset with her, but the reminder on Meredith's hand is all she needs to remember why she's never going into the spotlight again. But when people in her life start dying, she's worried that the weird things that have been happening could indicate someone has found her, and she may not get out with her life this time...
I loved the musical aspect of The Last Stage, and I really enjoyed the switches from past to preset in Meredith's POV. We get to see how her band started in the first place, and it all sets the stage (eh, eh!) for what is occurring in present day. There were quite a few character viewpoints and the way Voss wove everything together was quite brilliant.
The Last Stage was a pretty chilling novel, and there were a few parts that had me more than a little freaked out. The book has some stuff with knives that reminded me a tiny bit of [b:Mister Tender's Girl|35023989|Mister Tender's Girl|Carter Wilson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1506368845i/35023989._SX50_.jpg|56310333], and equally as disturbing. Nothing got overly gory, but I did cringe on several occasions. Voss is clearly incredibly talented at the creepy and disturbing.
The big reason why The Last Stage is getting a 3.5 from me instead of a higher rating is because I was very frustrated with the ending. I thought both Meredith and Gemma (an experienced detective) made mistakes they never would have made with Meredith in as much danger as they thought. I also thought the end was drug out a bit too much. This is already a short book, but I felt like the end could still have been a bit more concise. At the climax of the book we are reading dialog between Gemma and another cop that I didn't think was necessary and I ended up skimming a tiny bit.
Song/s the book brought to mind: American Pie by Don McLean and Bad Moon Rising by CCR
Final Thought: Don't let my 3.5 rating fool you, The Last Stage is a solid novel that I think the majority of readers will enjoy. It's on the slower side of things at first, but it quickly picks up and the ending is all action. I will definitely be reading more of Voss' novels and I did enjoy her writing style. A 3.5 from me means I really enjoyed this book overall, and I think most of you will too!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed the majority of [b:The Last Stage|44106854|The Last Stage|Louise Voss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551044615i/44106854._SY75_.jpg|68598276] by [a:Louise Voss|819885|Louise Voss|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442476465p2/819885.jpg], but the ending caused it to fall a bit short for me.
What it's about: Meredith Vincent is currently living and working in the gift shop of an old stately home called Minstead House after abruptly leaving her band - for which she was the lead singer - in 1995. The public doesn't know why, and her band members were very upset with her, but the reminder on Meredith's hand is all she needs to remember why she's never going into the spotlight again. But when people in her life start dying, she's worried that the weird things that have been happening could indicate someone has found her, and she may not get out with her life this time...
I loved the musical aspect of The Last Stage, and I really enjoyed the switches from past to preset in Meredith's POV. We get to see how her band started in the first place, and it all sets the stage (eh, eh!) for what is occurring in present day. There were quite a few character viewpoints and the way Voss wove everything together was quite brilliant.
The Last Stage was a pretty chilling novel, and there were a few parts that had me more than a little freaked out. The book has some stuff with knives that reminded me a tiny bit of [b:Mister Tender's Girl|35023989|Mister Tender's Girl|Carter Wilson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1506368845i/35023989._SX50_.jpg|56310333], and equally as disturbing. Nothing got overly gory, but I did cringe on several occasions. Voss is clearly incredibly talented at the creepy and disturbing.
The big reason why The Last Stage is getting a 3.5 from me instead of a higher rating is because I was very frustrated with the ending. I thought both Meredith and Gemma (an experienced detective) made mistakes they never would have made with Meredith in as much danger as they thought. I also thought the end was drug out a bit too much. This is already a short book, but I felt like the end could still have been a bit more concise. At the climax of the book we are reading dialog between Gemma and another cop that I didn't think was necessary and I ended up skimming a tiny bit.
Song/s the book brought to mind: American Pie by Don McLean and Bad Moon Rising by CCR
Final Thought: Don't let my 3.5 rating fool you, The Last Stage is a solid novel that I think the majority of readers will enjoy. It's on the slower side of things at first, but it quickly picks up and the ending is all action. I will definitely be reading more of Voss' novels and I did enjoy her writing style. A 3.5 from me means I really enjoyed this book overall, and I think most of you will too!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
toofondofbooks's review against another edition
5.0
The Last Stage follows Meredith. In the late 1980s she was a hugely successful indie star but something happened which led to her quitting her band at the height of their fame and she made sure to become unrecognisable by starting a new life working at a stately home. One night someone she works with goes missing in strange circumstances and Meredith starts to fear that the past is coming back to get her.
I’m a huge fan of Louise Voss (and have been ever since I bought her first novel To Be Someone, which is still one of my favourite and most read books!) and I’m so happy to say that this book more than lived up to my high expectations. The prologue is so creepy that it gave me chills and I knew then I was going to be hooked all the way through this book (and I was right!). The idea of waking up in the middle of the night to hear footsteps on the stairs and then your bedroom door handle starting to turn is terrifying!
The Last Stage is set in the present but we get chapters from the past from when a 17 year old Meredith goes off to Greenham Common and meets a girl there. I felt equally invested in both timelines and I was desperate to know how the past and present fit together to explain why Meredith was so scared by the thought of things from the past catching up with her.
Louise Voss has created such an interesting and intriguing protagonist in Meredith and I wanted to know more about her from the start. She does make some bad decisions in this book and at times I wanted to reach into the pages and make her do things differently but I could see why she chose to keep quiet about the unnerving things that were happening to her and around her. I think fear affects people in all kinds of ways and while some people would immediately beg for help and support, other people almost shut it down and believe that if they don’t acknowledge it out loud then it can’t possibly be really happening. I really felt for Meredith and was rooting for her to be okay.
I love the title of this book and how over the course of the novel you sense a different meaning in it. I initially thought it was about the last stage Meredith might have performed on as a rock star before she quit, then I thought it might be the last stage of her life but then I wondered if it might not be about Meredith but rather a reference to the last stage of a campaign to ruin her life. Or maybe it’s more to do with the way Meredith has to confront her fears from her past (last as in previous stage) before she can move on. I love when a title gives me lots of possibilities to ponder over!
This book kept me guessing right to the end! I didn’t trust anyone in this novel, they all seemed like they might have something to hide and this made for such a thrilling read. The tension in The Last Stage is there from the start and it slowly builds and builds until you’re literally on the edge of your seat. I even found myself holding my breath during the more tense moments! I loved this novel so much, it was a perfect psychological thriller and one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. It’s tense, thrilling and will keep you up way past your bedtime (and by this point you’ll be nervously wondering if you can hear footsteps on the stairs and if the bedroom door handle is moving!!). An utterly brilliant read!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
I’m a huge fan of Louise Voss (and have been ever since I bought her first novel To Be Someone, which is still one of my favourite and most read books!) and I’m so happy to say that this book more than lived up to my high expectations. The prologue is so creepy that it gave me chills and I knew then I was going to be hooked all the way through this book (and I was right!). The idea of waking up in the middle of the night to hear footsteps on the stairs and then your bedroom door handle starting to turn is terrifying!
The Last Stage is set in the present but we get chapters from the past from when a 17 year old Meredith goes off to Greenham Common and meets a girl there. I felt equally invested in both timelines and I was desperate to know how the past and present fit together to explain why Meredith was so scared by the thought of things from the past catching up with her.
Louise Voss has created such an interesting and intriguing protagonist in Meredith and I wanted to know more about her from the start. She does make some bad decisions in this book and at times I wanted to reach into the pages and make her do things differently but I could see why she chose to keep quiet about the unnerving things that were happening to her and around her. I think fear affects people in all kinds of ways and while some people would immediately beg for help and support, other people almost shut it down and believe that if they don’t acknowledge it out loud then it can’t possibly be really happening. I really felt for Meredith and was rooting for her to be okay.
I love the title of this book and how over the course of the novel you sense a different meaning in it. I initially thought it was about the last stage Meredith might have performed on as a rock star before she quit, then I thought it might be the last stage of her life but then I wondered if it might not be about Meredith but rather a reference to the last stage of a campaign to ruin her life. Or maybe it’s more to do with the way Meredith has to confront her fears from her past (last as in previous stage) before she can move on. I love when a title gives me lots of possibilities to ponder over!
This book kept me guessing right to the end! I didn’t trust anyone in this novel, they all seemed like they might have something to hide and this made for such a thrilling read. The tension in The Last Stage is there from the start and it slowly builds and builds until you’re literally on the edge of your seat. I even found myself holding my breath during the more tense moments! I loved this novel so much, it was a perfect psychological thriller and one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. It’s tense, thrilling and will keep you up way past your bedtime (and by this point you’ll be nervously wondering if you can hear footsteps on the stairs and if the bedroom door handle is moving!!). An utterly brilliant read!
This review was originally posted on my blog https://rathertoofondofbooks.com
singercat36's review against another edition
5.0
Well written, I'd read it again. I love it when a gripping story doesn't have to include a romance between the two main characters - the brother/sister duo was much more intriguing.