Last Seen is one of Lucy’s earlier books on her backlist and it’s been on my TBR for quite a while. I’ve recently joined our local library and spotted this one on the shelf so I thought I’d give it a go.

Last Seen follows the story of two families affected by missing children, although missing at different points in their lives. Isla and Sarah are childhood best friends who have held each other together through Isla’s son going missing presumed drowned and now Sarah’s own son is missing years later after a fight with Sarah.

The story follows Sarah as she tries to piece together what could have happened to her son and as she comes to terms with her part in his disappearance. Lots of secrets are revealed throughout the book drip fed into the story with perfect timing. I guessed what direction the ending was going to go but still was taken aback by some of the revelations!

It’s a very complex relationship that Sarah and Isla have and that’s really in the forefront of the chapters where Sarah is narrating. A tense moment was shared between the two before Isla left the sandbank again and the effect of it lingers uncomfortably in the background throughout the story.

I’ve read a few of Lucy’s more recent releases like One of the Girls and The Hike - both of which I liked and if you enjoy location centric thrillers then these ones might be for you. I’m looking forward to picking up her most recent release No Escape soon!

Thanks to @netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this title.

Isla and Sarah are traumatised and grieving for the traumatic events at crucial stages of their childhood, Sarah a deceased sister and Isla a mother lost to cancer. I did not finish this novel as I didn't enjoy the subject matter

I have put off reading this as I get a bit funny about stories involving things happening to kids, but actually the events of the missing children serve more to highlight the complex relationship between Sarah and Isla.

This was a really gripping book which was paced so that the reader can feel like a smarty pants, getting to the answer a moment before the characters - turns out Lucy Clarke is the smarty pants for making the suspense flow in this way.

I see that Lucy Clarke’s No Escape is now a TV drama and this books is so atmospheric that I can see it working well on TV too.

An excellent novel!

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. This was an excellent read.
Thoroughly recommended

This was a great book, plenty of twists and well written. Okay, the setting was a little idyllic, a bit unlikely, but hey, it's a story, not reality. How nice those beach huts that one could stay in could be - or could they?
I don't normally like those titles that tell you how wonderful the book will be, although they seem all over the place now. But this one was pretty true.

I was provided with a copy of this book in return for a fair and impartial review.

I’d give this book 4 stars and will look out for more by this author as she is deft at writing a suspense thriller. I enjoyed how she shifts between each character to give you insights about them and leaving out details to build mystery. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon reading this book

Thank you for letting me read this. I can honestly say this is the best book I have read in a long time. The story is told by best friends Sarah & Isla and takes place on a sandbank within a beach hut community. In my opinion it is so well written that each of the characters actually feel real. I wouldn't say it is a psychological thriller but it is certainly gripping

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

This book was brilliant, the descriptions were so vivid I could see them in my minds eye. The story kept me gripped and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. Would highly recommend.

This is an absolutely brilliant read which had me hooked from the very beginning. (The cover is fantastic too!) Seven years ago, two young boys were swept out to sea, but only one was brought back to shore. The tragedy of the idyllic coastal area has never fully recovered.

Lifelong best friends Sarah and Isla did everything together - even having sons the same age. However, one day tragedy strikes and one of them is left without her darling son. but seven years later, on the anniversary of the tragedy, Sarah's son disappears...

Last Seen is one of those stories that will stay with me; it's chilling, fast-paced, haunting and generally unputdownable.

I jumped straight into 'Last seen' on the back of reading 'You let me In' , many apologies to Lucy Clarke, HarperCollins and Netgalley for not having reviewed this already.
I also apologise to my family for the shambles that I am today having stayed up all night to read it, what an excellent book, with a gripping story and 2 vividly realised narrators.
Both Isla and Sarah are traumatised and grieving for the traumatic events I don't think either fully dealt with at crucial stages of their childhood, Sarah a deceased sister and Isla a mother lost to cancer.

The only constant in both their lives are the beach huts on a spit of land close to their homes, Isla buys one with the proceeds of her mother's estate and Sarah eventually buys the one next door.
Both grow up, take on differing jobs, responsibilities, relationships, have a child(both boys) and then tragedy strikes again in the death(presumed, missing at sea but no body recovered)at sea of one of their sons.
Years later, still living side by side in the beach huts, the remaining son walks out following a row and all the carefully built walls begin to crumble, affecting all the beach hut owners, forcing head on collisions of truth versus fiction. Both women have to face their losses in order to find out what actually happened the day one of their sons vanished and the other walked away.
Many thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for letting me read this in return for an honest review.

This is a book that eats away the minutes into hours without you realising how long you have been reading because it is just impossible to stop until you know the outcome of two missing children. Two boys, best friends brought together by their mothers that had met years before and were best friends too. On Jacob's tenth birthday, he and Marley, only just a couple of weeks older, went into the sea, but only Jacob returned. Now seven years later Jacob has disappeared from the same patch of beach on the anniversary that his friend went missing.
Oh my, this is such a terrific read as the story unfolds on the beautiful southern coastline where families have come together year after year and spent the entire summers together in their brightly coloured beach huts that had become their second homes. It is here where the story is set. Isla and Marley spending the summer next to Sarah, her husband David with Jacob. They did everything together.
I loved Isla's character she had been a free spirit in her youth full of courage to explore the world on her own. After Marley disappeared it was like all her inner colour disappeared too because no-one could tell her what had happened to him. She was stuck in limbo on a continuous circle each year asking the same questions, to the same people giving the same answers, but Sarah's son had gone now too and something just felt very wrong.
There are some stunningly beautiful passages in this book that made me envy the simplicity of life on the beach and the totally chilled out relationship that the three adults and two children had. The gas lights in the huts and making beds up each night, the tourist arriving and leaving the true beach dwellers behind each night. It was magic. It was like a time warp where modern life had passed them by. But I loved the subtle writing of Lucy Clarke that just now and again prickled my skin until it really ran cold as the past began to fall apart for it to be picked over until all that was left was the truth.
Oh boy this story has such depth, layers and layers of secrets like a pass the parcel with each reveal taking you closer to the ultimate answer of two missing children seven years apart. A super ending!

An enjoyably different story that kept me guessing. I loved the setting, beach huts, dunes etc it reminded me of being a youngster at the seaside many moons ago. Intriguing and relatable characters with twists galore.

Last Seen is a story of secrets. A story of friendship, family, love, tragedy, jealousy, resentment and lies.

Last Seen starts with Sarah and Isla. Best friends from their mid-teens and for the twenty years afterwards til the present day, they have always been inseparable, each of them leaning on the other like a crutch through the most difficult times of their lives. As their lives pass by, the women remain best friends, raising their boys who are also best friends.

When a tragic event unfolds and Isla’s son Marley is assumed drowned, Sarah, husband Nick and son Jacob pull together to look after Isla as her world falls apart. Each of them grieving for the boy they’ve lost, their relationships are fractured and things start to break down.

When the anniversary of Marley’s death comes around, a bitter argument between Sarah and son Jacob results in Jacob going missing. As Sarah’s world falls apart in the same way Isla’s world did 7 years earlier, Sarah starts to suspect everyone around her of hiding secrets and telling lies. Her trust and her own decisions are tested.

The interesting aspect of Last Seen is Sarah and Isla’s friendship. To see how a relationship built on trust and love, can slowly turn into jealousy and resentment. And how the broken fragments of their relationship starts to affect everything.

Told from the perspective of each of the women, Last Seen slowly and timely reveals all the secrets and lies their relationship has been built on.

This book has everything. It felt like reading scandalous gossip where you think you know everything and then something else is revealed. I really enjoyed Last Seen and would definitely recommend. 4.5 stars from me and a very big thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Clarke and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks for the opportunity to have read this harrowing read. It was really a difficult read due to the sensitive nature of the story line, the drowning and the boy disappearing but it was very well done and worth the effort. Recommended.

Well what can I say, after spending every spare minute for two days devouring this book, I’ve been left with a massive book hangover.

The characters within this story are so well written with all their character flaws that they are so believable. The characters that you empathise with chop and change as new secrets and lies are exposed and I really didn’t know where my loyalties as the reader should lie.

At the beginning I found this book quite slow going and wondered whether the pace would pick up. However once the pace did quicken, I realised why the lead up was slower paced.

Lucy Clarke has produced a book whose characters and themes will stay with me for a very long time. I rarely give a book 5* as I usually feel that there was something that could be improved on, but this for me was perfect as it is. I have since bought a copy of this book as a gift.

I received a free copy of this book from netgally.co.uk in exchange for a honest review.

This is a book which is hard to put down. Two young boys are out playing in the sea when tragedy strikes.
Characters and story were a bit slow to evolve and there were so many twists to this story that is felt slightly unbelievable at times- but was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Extremely clever little book that takes you on a rollercoaster without actually moving up from a sedate, natural pacing. Somehow more thrilling than a thriller. All the characters are pretty hateful but somehow you still care! Lucy Clarke excels again.


[Goodreads; Amazon UK]

Wow! Just WOW! I started this book and from the first few pages I was hooked and just had to find out the story behind Sarah and Isla's friendship! There are so many secrets and twists and turns throughout this book even I didn't know who to trust and who was telling the truth! A fabulous read and one that I'd definitely recommend.