While Rumbold is clearly channeling his inner Hemingway, it did not distract from Rumbold's own excellent writing style. While there were times when I wanted to give a character or two a good smack, I found the novel intriguing and well worth the read.

The Last Fiesta by Andy Rumbold
Paeon and ode to Ernest Hemingway’s classic, The Sun Also Rises, Andy Rumbold’s first novel has more than a few echoes to that classic.
The book takes place in the summer of 1995: Dan Willis is living in northern Spain. An old school friend and Gulf War veteran Billy Wyatt visits, bringing two other school friends with him. They travel through the Basque regions and onto Pamplona, for the iconic running of the bulls. Sound familiar?
Rumbold is aware of that – and Hemingway’s novel and influences thread through this narrative: “And as I sit here now and try to make sense of it all, it strikes me that maybe they were missing the point. Because as far as I understand it, Hemingway was looking to present things as they really happened, and how he really felt, rather than what you were meant or taught to feel. And yet, judging by the number of American college boys standing about in front of his statue, his book– i.e. someone else’s experience they’d learnt about– influenced, and was inextricably linked to, how they felt about Pamplona. Not that we were any different, of course. We’d all read it as well. And so we were just as much seeing Pamplona through his Fiesta-tinted specs, whether we liked it or not.” And so, it is through his Fiesta-tinted specs that we read the rest of the story, and of the friends brought along by Billy, Simon, Fiona and Eddy. But they are foils for the story of Spain and of Dan and Billy’s relationship which stretches into an uneasy past – and the tensions are highlighted convincingly and well.
Spain too is highlighted in this story and Rumbold’s numerous descriptions conjure up the atmosphere of the country. Here is he talking about the night before the running of the bulls:
“There was no mad fiesta up here, only our hushed voices talking in reverential tones, because even from this distance, high up and way out of danger, the bulls commanded respect. Just to see them was enough. Just to sense them. You couldn’t see that much. Dark shapes and rough outlines. But you could hear them. Bells rang softly, and there was the occasional snort; you could feel their presence all right… Looking down on them, the first thing that struck me was their size. You could just make out the branded numbers on their flanks in the moonlight. And now we were close enough to hear them, the soft heave of their breathing as they dozed gave me the shivers. It masked their explosive menace.”
This is a compelling, interesting, well-crafted and written novel which is more than worthy of its nod to Hemingway’s classic. An alive, pulsing book about friendship, the secrets we keep and fail to keep and the reverberations that thrum through our lives.

After a slightly slow start, this became a real page turner. A group of friends reunite in Spain, at Pamplona for the bull run. Their histories are slowly peeled away, although they remain enigmatic characters. The Last Fiesta frequently references Hemingway's Spain, and his own text "Fiesta". Beautiful descriptive writing, ending in tragedy. Recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, RedDoor Publishing and Andy Rumbold for my ARC of The Last Fiesta.

This is the first novel I have read by this author and found it compelling reading and fascinating. Dan receives a call from an old friend, Billy, who wants to visit him in Santander where Dan now lives. Unbeknown to Billy Dan invites two other school friends. Their ‘rod trip’ changes all of their lives forever.

They make their way through Spain to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. During the course of their journey a shared secret between two of the men has dark and complicated undertones and Dan struggles to keep the journey on track.

The characters are superbly developed and I enjoyed the descriptions of the Spanish countryside. It was a refreshing read and highly recommended.