Scan barcode
A review by lillimoore
The Last to See Her by Courtney Evan Tate
2.0
Well, I suppose it's a good thing I went into The Last to See Her with low expectations because I did find myself to be pleasantly surprised. This was nothing particularly special or sparkling, but it was engaging and compelling enough to keep me company at work despite its numerous issues.
Romance author Gen and her surgeon sister Meg are the best of friends. They share everything with one another and always have—or so it seems. But when Gen accompanies Meg to a conference in New York City to get away from her dramatic divorce with her cheating husband back in Chicago, she goes missing one night after the sisters have gotten fairly drunk and Meg begins the challenge of locating her missing sister. She enlists the help of Detective Nate Hawk, and together they discover that this disappearance is not all that it seems at first. Things unshared between sisters begin to unravel.
This was enjoyable enough with a fun and semi-twisty plot, but felt rushed and heavy-handed. Another reviewer mentioned the repetitive use of the terms "pregnant pause" and "mercurial" and this drove me wild while reading. It was so annoying! The dialogue often felt cheap and forced, and some of the descriptions made me actually scoff aloud and roll my eyes right here in the middle of my office. Gen describes her 5-year-old nephew as smelling of "puppy dogs and sunshine" at one point, I kid you not. It was soooo bad. There were also a ridiculous amount of plot holes and things that didn't add up or make any sense at all. Detective Hawk is terrible at his job and exceedingly unprofessional, and honestly so is the P.I. Gen hired to follow her husband, even though he was one of the more redeemable characters. The characterizations in this book were all very surface level, and this is something I'm finding to be true with a lot of thrillers as I explore the genre more that makes me think maybe thrillers aren't for me, although I do enjoy the elements of mystery. If anyone has enjoyed any thrillers with a particular depth of character to them, please recommend them to me!
I failed to understand a lot of motivations of the characters and did not find them to be realistic or sensible at all. The book could have done a better job handling the clear mental illness Gen was suffering from and did a disservice to audiences and those living with mental illness in reality by being so vague in regards to her mental health. I also think this could have been such an interesting exploration of sisterhood and of coping with the mental illness of a loved one, but it didn't dive too deep into those topics even though there was a great opportunity to.
All that being said, this was enjoyable enough. I haven't read enough of this genre to compare it to anything that might be useful, but if you enjoy run-of-the-mill thrillers and the plot sounds intriguing to you, you might enjoy this one!
Romance author Gen and her surgeon sister Meg are the best of friends. They share everything with one another and always have—or so it seems. But when Gen accompanies Meg to a conference in New York City to get away from her dramatic divorce with her cheating husband back in Chicago, she goes missing one night after the sisters have gotten fairly drunk and Meg begins the challenge of locating her missing sister. She enlists the help of Detective Nate Hawk, and together they discover that this disappearance is not all that it seems at first. Things unshared between sisters begin to unravel.
This was enjoyable enough with a fun and semi-twisty plot, but felt rushed and heavy-handed. Another reviewer mentioned the repetitive use of the terms "pregnant pause" and "mercurial" and this drove me wild while reading. It was so annoying! The dialogue often felt cheap and forced, and some of the descriptions made me actually scoff aloud and roll my eyes right here in the middle of my office. Gen describes her 5-year-old nephew as smelling of "puppy dogs and sunshine" at one point, I kid you not. It was soooo bad. There were also a ridiculous amount of plot holes and things that didn't add up or make any sense at all. Detective Hawk is terrible at his job and exceedingly unprofessional, and honestly so is the P.I. Gen hired to follow her husband, even though he was one of the more redeemable characters. The characterizations in this book were all very surface level, and this is something I'm finding to be true with a lot of thrillers as I explore the genre more that makes me think maybe thrillers aren't for me, although I do enjoy the elements of mystery. If anyone has enjoyed any thrillers with a particular depth of character to them, please recommend them to me!
I failed to understand a lot of motivations of the characters and did not find them to be realistic or sensible at all. The book could have done a better job handling the clear mental illness Gen was suffering from and did a disservice to audiences and those living with mental illness in reality by being so vague in regards to her mental health. I also think this could have been such an interesting exploration of sisterhood and of coping with the mental illness of a loved one, but it didn't dive too deep into those topics even though there was a great opportunity to.
All that being said, this was enjoyable enough. I haven't read enough of this genre to compare it to anything that might be useful, but if you enjoy run-of-the-mill thrillers and the plot sounds intriguing to you, you might enjoy this one!