Have bought a range of more mature reads for the school library and this was a huge hit with staff and students alike. A good read that created plenty of opportunities for discussion -will definitely recommend

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

This was one of the best true crime books I have ever read.
This was horrifyingly gripping from beginning to end. I was so easy to read and follow, it was told in such a logical way.
Obviously trigger warnings for death and murder, abduction and sexual assault.

3.5 rounded down

The subtitle on the cover of The Last Stone is "a masterclass in criminal interrogation", and this is a wholly accurate description - this book is a feat in true crime writing in that the interviews with the prime suspect, Lloyd Welch, are meticulously detailed word-for-word by Bowden, from tapes of interviews which took place once the case was re-opened in 2013.

The crime Welch was accused of was not one I'd heard of before I read the book but one that shook the local community when it took place - on March 29 1975 two young girls, Sheila and Kate Lyon (aged 12 and 10) went missing from a mall near Washington DC. Three days later a young man, Lloyd Welch, visited police with a story of how he saw the two girls get into a strange man's car. The case then went cold until 2013, when local police took a fresh look at the suspects.

Bowden begins with some context in that he was a young reporter in the area when the crimes took place, then moves on to join the detectives in 2013. Welch was interviewed in various contexts by a core of three detectives who employed various tactics with varying levels of success. These interviews give police a bizarre thread of leads to follow up, mostly involving Welch's own family members.

The Last Stone makes for a compelling if frustrating read. My rating was rounded down because much of the book made me feel like I was banging my head against a brick wall - Welch talks a LOT, and it's impossible to ascertain what is fact and what is complete fabrication, and just when you think he has picked a story he's sticking with it changes again. Readers enjoyment will probably hinge on how much enjoyment they get from trying to pick truth out of Welch's various stories to get to the real facts of what happened.

This is a true crime book about a Cold Case. In 1975, two sisters, aged ten and twelve, disappeared from a shopping mall in Maryland. The girls are never found and nobody is ever charged with the crime. In 2013, a cold case detective, finds something previously overlooked, which links events to Lloyd Welch, currently in prison, for a crime against a child.

At first, the detectives hope that Welch will provide them with evidence implicating a man they felt was the main suspect. However, after initial interviews, it seems that Welch may be of more interest than they first imagined. Over the pages of this book, we see the investigators gradually try to get to the bottom of events, which happened nearly forty years before.

Welch is currently in prison, serving a thirty three year sentence for the sexual assault of a ten year old, but he can see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, as the questioning commences, it seems that, despite realising it is in his best interests not to reveal details of those events, Welch, firstly, can’t resist talking to the investigators and, two, is completely unable to keep his story straight. The investigators patiently, over a number of visits, tease details from Welch about the unsolved crime.

Now, for those who like books where everything is neatly tied up and packaged, this is not for you. Real life is rarely neatly ended and, those involved with this case, are to be applauded for trying to bring some resolution to the parents of those two girls. However, with so much time having passed, it is difficult for this to be resolved perfectly.

That said, I found this a fascinating glimpse into the case built up against the suspect, the way that the investigators did everything they could to try to discover what happened and how Welch was revealed as, not only a maladjusted individual, but as the member of an incredibly dysfunctional background. A fascinating, if difficult, read. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I have never really been an aficionado of true crime books but as claimed this truly is a‘Masterpiece of Criminal Investigation.’

I have read a few books by Mark Bowden and recognise and applaud his ability as a wonderful writer of non-fiction.

This is a forensic re-eamination of a terrible unsolved crime that haunted him as a young cub reporter who covered the crime at the time and he follows the investigation as a cold case that is re-opened and finally solved.

The level of detail is exhausting and you can only pay tribute to the exhaustive patience and diligence of the police who finally got to the bottom of a terrible, terrible crime almost 40 years later.

I cannot say that I enjoyed this harrowing account but it is a fine addition to the ranks of true crime books.

In turns gripping and revolting, Mark Bowden has penned an unputdownable page-turner of the first water.

The Last Stone gave a fascinating insight into a cold case investigation. At times the facts were disturbing, horrifying and sickenening but were part of the case so needed to be included. The detectives worked so hard to find out what had happened to two little sisters who had disappeared years before. What their poor family have gone through is heartbreaking.
How the detectives remained calm throughout their questioning of a suspect and his family is beyond me. The suspect was evil and a liar, game player and an attention seeker and he made my skin crawl.
Extremely well written.

I initially requested this book from NetGalley because I have an interest in true crime.

This book covers the investigation into the cold case of Katherine and Shiela Lyons, two little girls who went missing from a mall in 1975. The narrative begins with a police officer at the end of his career re-opening the case and discovering a new suspect. The narrative converges around the interrogation of Lloyd Welch.

The author, Mark Bowden, is a journalist who covered the disappearance at the time. He has been given access to the investigation/interrogation team along with video/transcripts from the interrogations themselves. The book is, by necessity, very dialogue heavy. There were points where I struggled to keep track of all the players in the narrative. However, the book was a compelling read from start to finish. I found reading the techniques used by the police really interesting and did find myself at points going ‘surely he’s not going to fall for that?!?’ in the way an outside observer does. I would have preferred the ending to be more precise but, as is the nature of true crime, sometimes you never will have all the answers. Real life is messy in a way that fiction is not. I would recommend it to any person interested in true crime or police procedure.