✨Review✨

Thank you so much @netgalley @amazonpublishing @katerockbooktours @jofurnissauthor for the free ARC of “The Last to Know” to review. Readers can grab a copy on 8/11/20.

I thought “The Last to Know” was such a solid mystery read. I was drawn in from page one and loved that it’s both a whodunit and a haunting read. The whodunit part of the book was great because there were a bunch of suspects and I kept waiting for someone’s alibi to crack. The read was also haunting as human remains are found and Hurtwood House has such a history that you can’t wait for more to be uncovered.

I thought that the characters were fantastic as was the setting of the book. I love a small town where everyone knows everyone and secrets are aplenty. It’s definitely a read to pick up if you’re looking for something a little spooky, but with a mysterious edge. I would definitely recommend the read to mystery lovers.

4/5 ⭐️

“Behind closed doors –
even doors surrounded by roses –
all sorts of things could happen.”

Rose Kynaston – a journalist who has survived imprisonment in Somalia and worse, has now moved to the Shropshire village where her husband Dylan grew up. She feels that finally they have a safe place in which to bring up their young son, Aled.

Little does she know that Hurtwood (an aptly named village) hold decades old family secrets that will threaten her family’s reputation, safety, and even their very lives…

“When the mighty fall, everyone jumps on their back and feels a little taller.”

Ellie Trevelyan – in her fifties, Ellie is a twenty-five year veteran of her local police in a Shropshire village. With the police office under threat of closure, Ellie feels her enforced retirement looming. Single, Ellie cares for her father when not working. A retired police detective, he now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

“The human capacity to keep secrets is limited only
by the size of the available hiding place.”

MY THOUGHTS

An engaging plot and likeable characters made “The Last to Know” an enjoyable and intriguing mystery novel.

The atmospheric setting, a manor house sitting atop Grim’s Holm (translates as Devil’s Island), an iron age hill fort and leper colony, engendered a creepy vibe that added panache to the already alluring mystery plot.

Three cold cases converge and all have links to Hurtwood House and the Kynaston family. The author skillfully tied the three cold cases together in an entertaining and believable way. The steady pace of the novel kept me avidly turning pages, though in my opinion the author relied rather heavily on the use of similes which pervaded the novel throughout.

All in all, an absorbing and atmospheric mystery novel which I can heartily recommend.

I only managed a few pages before giving up. I knew I wouldn't enjoy this one because of the writing style - I found it impossible to immerse myself in the scene without being pulled out of it by the intrusion of clumsy, forced similes and metaphors. There were so many that it became comical.

Others may like this style, but it's not for me.

Thanks to @amazonpublishing @jofurness & @katerockbooktours for my copy of The Last to Know. This book published on Aug. 11 so it is available NOW! So hurry and go order it if you love a spooky atmosphere with ghosts and malevolent people thrown in!
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The story is about Rose, Dylan, and their son Aled. Rose and Dylan, both journalists, met when they were captured and held hostage in Mogadishu. They have to return to Dylan’s home and care for his mother and the family estate because she is suffering from dementia. Dylan’s house is a historical landmark of sorts BUT it’s also haunted. Rose quickly learns there is a lot she doesn’t know about Dylan’s childhood and his family’s sordid past. A young boy died on the grounds Dylan’s home and the entire town thinks Dylan’s father was involved. When another body is found on the estate, Rose has to get tot the bottom of it. She wants to keep herself and her son safe!
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This book was different, it had Gothic elements but ultimately was a mystery. The pacing wasn’t as fast as I usually prefer but this author’s writing was so well done I kept reading. This book was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars for me!

Arriving at Dylan's dilapidated family mansion in the middle of the night in the middle of a rainstorm is certainly not the way Rose envisioned moving to her husband's hometown. But as the sun rises, so doe the number of questions that go unanswered as Rose begins to explore the surrounding estate and village, even with her reclusive mother-in-law.

When bones are found on the estate grounds, the mystery of what happened deepens and the story picks up.

If you're looking for a good mystery, The Last to Know is the perfect place to start. The characters are written well and I felt as if I were a part of the story. Overall, I couldn't put this down and I would read it again and probably discover even more.

Thank you for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.

This was a great thriller! The story line kept you guessing because everyone had a sordid past and no one was to be trusted. This was my first book by this author and I would definitely read more by her.

I liked the gothic tone of this story but felt it could have been leaned into more, it just wasn't as crewpy as i would have liked. Some of the side stories also didn't add much to the plot and distracted from the main story

The Last To Know is an interesting mystery from the pen of author Jo Furniss. She is an experienced journalist who travelled across the world and maybe that's why she could write this story so well. 

Rose is from America and her husband Dylan is from England. They decide to move to Dylan's homeland which is a beautiful village called Hurtwood. The family mansion is on the top of the hill with nothing nearby except for the river flowing by. Rose finds it greatly difficult to adjust to this new place and especially can't trust her mother-in-law who seems to be a little forgetful, reclusive and secretive.

The family name of Dylan, Kynaston seems to be a dreadful thing to say among the villagers. Rose has no idea why it is that the villagers stare at her and why they whisper as soon as she enters any place. Some secret which is more than twenty years old seems to be the key to all that is happening around. 

Sergeant Ellie takes up the investigation of the remains of the human body that is accidentally found down the hill, during an archaeological tv show. Ellie is determined to solve the case, no matter what. Rose on the other hand starts her own investigation in order to find out the truth behind all this and when Dylan becomes a suspect, Rose puts forth her best efforts to clear his name. 

The entire story is very gripping and I'm in love with all the female characters. Rose, Elllie and to my surprise, Rose's mother-in-law are incredibly strong women. 

The village set up of Hurtwood is incredibly beautiful. The family mansion of Dylan, the outhouse, the hill, the river, everything is described in great detail by the author. I, literally, was transported to the village while I read the book. Loved it, absolutely.
The book is out now, go ahead, buy it and dive into this gripping mystery.

Rose and Dylan Kynaston and their son Aled, have moved from the US, back to Dylan's home town of Hurtwood and the history that goes with it. He hasn't really told Rose about much of his previous life, parents or what made him leave. But its becoming clear to Rose that he's not shared it for a multitude of reasons. None that great.

Hurtwood House is more like a mansion than a house, its cold, and imposing and Rose doesn't feel welcome there. Gwendoline, his raging mother is struggling to keep on top of everything, and her ailing health doesn't help. Add to this the rumors that surround the family and the estate and shes well and truly stuck in the middle of it. With Aled in tow, despite trying to get her journalism job back on the ground and Dylans too. That's how they met, and both are hoping to break back into the jobs the love.

Sargent Ellie Trevelyan works at the local police station, for now. She's just been told it will be closing soon, economy cuts. And this means her retirement, so she can look after her aging father, whose mind is slowing disappearing day by day. She is called in to investigate when a body is found by an archaeological team find in the Hurtwood grounds. Rumors abound again, and Gwendoline panics. Dylan's dad Stanley was hounded after a young lad Kenny Bale, died twenty years previously, either pushed or committed suicide after claims of abuse and bullying were noted in his diaries. But his death was said to be by misadventure and no one was ever charged, though blame was placed heavily at the Kynaston's door.

The chapters fly though with each characters part of the story, I say fly because once you start reading you won't be able to stop. The characters are all well written and true to life. The way that Jim Trevelyan's senility is handled delicately and how any grown child/parent relationship does a role reversal could change when a parent can't cope alone anymore.

On top of this of course, is the plot and story - its got a real spooky old house feel to it, as well as the police procedural side too. Its a hard subject to include, pedophiles and child abuse, but Jo has handled this brilliantly and highlighted that its wrong and people won't tolerate it. Great story, characters and plot all make this a 5 star from me.

Thank you to author #jofurniss, #netgalley, and Lake Union Publishing for an e-copy of The Last to Know. A special thank you to @KateRockBookTours for having me on this book tour.

This is the first novel I have read by Jo Furniss and I'm sure it won't be the last. This psychological thriller had so many key elements I love. The setting becomes a character itself, unreliable characters abound and you never know who to trust, there are secrets galore, the story is told from different perspectives, and the ending is intense!

It begins when Rose and Dylan Kynaston, along with their five year old son, move from Africa, where they have been working, back to Dylan's hometown in the village of Hurtwood, England. When they arrive, Rose realizes that Dylan's childhood house is an ominous mansion. The author does a great job of creating a mystical and eerie feel about the place. We then meet Dylan's mother who doesn't seem to have the best memory and most likely suffers from some form of dimentia.

This is all a culture shock for Rose and it doesn't take long for her to realize that the Kynaston family is not liked in the village. Many myths and tragedies are linked to them, including the death of Kenny Bale several years earlier. Not only do the Kynaston's have secrets, but so does Rose.

The secrets of the past and present weave together when a body is found on the property during an archaeological excavation. The story is told from two perspectives, Rose and the investigator Ellie Trevelyan. As the story unfolds, there are suspenseful parts. There are also a few side story lines that I thought would bring more to the story and when they didn't I thought they were distracting, but in the end, it gave me what I love in a book like this and that is: it was intense.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and think that people who like suspense and thriller novels will enjoy it too.

This book ended up being pretty good. I almost gave up at the beginning, the overly descriptive, overly dramatic phrases put me off of it. I kept at it as I owed a review. It both got better and there was less of what wasn't working for me. Feels like an old fashioned morality story mixed in with a mystery

Very atmospheric from the word go, Rose and Dylan with their little son are returning home from tumultuous Somalia after a long exile away from home.

Home is Dylan's ancestral pile in the quiet village of Hurtford. The house is eerie, sitting on a hill and the Kynaston name alone is spoken about with derision, scorn and disdain. Rose is unaware of the tension surrounding her husband's family until she actually arrives in the home to find Gwendoline - Dylan's mother herself eccentric, displaying all the characteristics of dementia but is not acknowledged by her son to actually be a danger to anyone.

To the outsider Rose, there are lots of things very wrong both with Gwendoline and the house but Dylan persists in being blind to all this. The scandal attached to Dylan's father persists despite there being no proof at all (case dismissed) but it is not a happy situation at all. Rose is fighting blind an enemy that she does not know or even can perceive, and when human remains are discovered the entire old scandal is reopened like a festering wound and it is upto Rose to protect herself and her son even against her husband who is now a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

The whole village of Hurtford itself added to the suspense of the story as it seemed as if small time villages have very long memories and thirty years is a mere few days in people's memory. It does not fade with time nor is it allowed to do so and it is kept very much alive - the animosity and hatred particularly.

This was a good read with a lot to ponder over - how family ties, loyalty to a clan to a village can sometimes be too much of a good thing!

The story is about two people Rose and Dylan who met in Africa working as journalists. They move to Dylan's childhood home with their son Aled. They are looking for a new beginning, as well as hopefully help Dylan's mom, whosoon is revealed suffers from dementia. Rose starts to learn things about her husband's family, and that their is a dark history noone really wants to talk about. It's tied to a mysterious death of a teenage boy.

As Rose learns about the town and the secrets and mysteries hidden there, she starts to question her own husband, if he's actually the man she thought he was.

I liked the setting, and the ghosts that were littered into the story. I enjoyed Rose, she seemed strong and dedicated woman. However her husband was very misogynistic, and I couldn't stand him. The way he was ignorant of his mother's sickness, and patronizing towards his wife and her career. Just ugh.

The mystery aspect wasn't anything you couldn't see from a mile away. It was very obvious where the mystery is going. It was littered with red herrings, but they were just very obvious.

In the end it is an enjoyable book. The writing was beautiful. Author has a knack for settings. You definitely get the feel for the dark England village. I'd recommend this for anyone as an easy murder mystery in between heavier books.

I requested this ARC because of the mention of Hurtwood House in the synopsis: I'm always in for a good "haunted" house, be it haunted by ghosts or by hidden secrets!
And I was right! The house aspect of the book was really good!
I loved the opposition between Hurtwood House, old and genuine, and Low Farm, renovated and called an horror because of a glass extension - I couldn't portray it in my mind, I don't know why!
More than the house, Shropshire helped create an ambiance for this novel: when it poured, I felt it while reading!

The Last to Know was quite original in its narration: there are two points of view and two different ways to narrate. One point of view is Rose's, a reporter who followed her husband in Shiropshire to live in his childhood home; it's a first-person narrative. The other is Ellie's, a police officer who was in charge of a case nobody could solve twenty years ago; it's a third-person narrative, but it's still internal. The reader has more chapters with Rose than with Ellie, but the imbalance is understandable: Rose is part of the family involved in Ellie's investigation. She is discovering the secrets of her in-laws, investigating in secret and wanting to exonerate her husband from a crime she's sure he didn't commit. Meanwhile, Ellie - Eleanor - is thinking of this cold case: it's still haunting her and she grieves the fact that she'll never be able to solve it.

I loved the fact that the reader gets to be in the head of a reporter: how Rose thinks, how she sees things, her doubts, her questions, her anger sometimes. But it's not always easy being in Rose's head: she repeats things a lot, and it can be quite annoying sometimes. She even repeats the same sentences chapter to chapter, or uses the same words to describe her husband for instance. It's the only thing that bothered me: it made me feel like the story was stagnating - maybe it was the point, maybe it was a way to show the reader Rose feels stuck and can't go forward?

I was both surprised and not surprised by the ending: I didn't see part of it coming and guessed the other part because, to me, there was no other way.


Overall, it was a good atmospheric book!

Rose moves to her husband, Dylan’s childhood home in a small town in Britain and on arriving, she realizes it is actually one huge creepy mansion. From there, it becomes a slow burn atmospheric mystery with a lot of family drama as they uncover more and more buried secrets. Dylan has actually moved out of the town when his father died after being embroiled in a scandal in their small town.

Dylan seems to have hidden quite a few things from his wife which she uncovers only after reaching their house with their son. During an archeological dig, some remains of bones are found which leads to a police investigation around the mansion. Dylan is accused and taken into custody as they try to determine who is the victim and who is the killer?

The plot has a buried body, murder, scandal, police investigation, abduction, ghost and what not. I liked the vivid description of the mansion and the whole farm. I liked both the lead characters Rose and Ellie, the police officer investigating this case and the way they piece together all the broken links is very realistic. It has gothic elements and I was happy that I did not guess the twist at the end.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy for review.

I knew I HAD to read The Last To Know as soon as read Meggy's brilliant review, and I simply couldn't pass up on opportunity to join the blog tour when the invitation hit my inbox soon after. It's a fact that I've been wanting to try one of Jo Furniss' books for quite some time now, and this sounded like the perfect opportunity to finally do so. I'm glad I did, as my first impression with her writing turned out to be more than solid!

The Last To Know is what you call a slowburner, and I admit it took me a while while to get in the groove. Once I did though, I was fully under the spell of this story, and I had a brilliant time trying to guess how things would evolve. I think that a lot of the power of this story lies with the setting. The Last To Know takes place in the small market town of Hurtwood, Shropshire, and this setting helps set the right ominous and somewhat gothic atmosphere the story is then build on. Especially the Hurtwood House itself with its hint at the supernatural and its creepy vibe set the tone for this story, and I think it's the setting especially that makes this book. The descriptions made both the Hurtwood House and the town itself come alive for me.

The story told with help of a dual POV, switching between local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan and American journalist Rose Kynaston. This contrast between local and foreigner gives us two fascinating views of both the town itself, its inhabitants and history, and gave the story an extra level of dept. Rose has an interesting background with her growing up as a military brat and moving around a lot; now suddenly having to face a tight-knit community where fitting in won't be so easy with everybody being so prejudiced about her husband and his family. On the other hand we have Ellie, who is a local and has her own problems to face with her father suffering from Alzheimer's. Both women help us slowly unravel the past and the present as the story evolves, with plenty of secrets and lies to uncover along the way.

The Last To Know is mostly focused on the characters and their secrets as well as the town itself. This might be part of the reason why this story felt more slower paced, and it did turn out to be a slowburner for me where I even guessed some of the final reveals quite early on... But: overall the journey itself was still more than fullfilling for me. Like I said before, the power of this story is in its Hurtwood setting and the slightly gothic vibe as well as the hint at the supernatural. The stunning cover represents the setting very well, and it was exactly how I imagined Hurtwood House in my mind... The dark grey clouds hinting at that ominous feel that is so present all the time.

I haven't talked much about the plot itself, and it is for a reason. I think The Last To Know is one of those stories where you benefit from going in blind, and you will enjoy the nuances of the plot developments and reveals all the better because of it. Fans of slower and character driven psychological thrillers with a touch of the gothic vibe will most likely have a great time with this story.

I was looking forward to this book but unfortunately I had a hard time getting into it. I think because I didn't really like Rose and her way of narrating with her very small flashbacks and her cynical attitude. But the writing was good and I did feel compelled to find out what was going on, so I did keep reading.

An atmospheric, intriguing and menacing page-turner, Jo Furniss’ The Last to Know is an intricate family drama that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

When American journalist Rose Kynaston agreed to move back to the childhood home in England where her husband had spent his youth, she was prepared for a culture shock, but she certainly never imagined the sombre homecoming she and her husband would receive. From the family’s crumbling mansion to her husband Dylan’s reclusive mother and the strange whispers and rumours that surround the family, not everybody is keen on Rose and Dylan being back. Rose was prepared for the very first weeks being a bit tough, but the more she hears about Dylan’s past, the more she begins to wonder just how well she knows the man she married.

Twenty years ago a dreadful incident happened at the family home which the villagers still gossip about. Everybody seems to know what happened that night. Everybody except Rose who gets more and more apprehensive with each passing day. But Rose’s fears intensify when an archaeological dig unearths human remains at the family home. Local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan will leave no stone unturned in her quest to solve this cold case, but should some secrets be left dead and buried? Or has the time come for the dark deceptions of the past to be exposed by the harsh glare of the truth?

As Ellie begins to separate scurrilous rumours from cold hard facts, Rose begins her quest to clear her husband’s name. The truth might set you free, but is Rose ready for the revelations that will be uncovered? She was the last to know about her husband’s torrid family secrets, but when she finds out the truth will she stick by the man she swore to love, honour and cherish? Or will she realise that she has in fact been married to a stranger for all this time?

Jo Furniss is a talented storyteller who is brilliant at ramping up the tension and suspense and leaving her readers hanging onto her every word. The Last to Know is a multi-layered and densely plotted tale about the secrets we keep, the lies we tell ourselves and the lengths we go to protect ourselves and the people we love that will keep readers completely and utterly hooked throughout.

The Last to Know is a superbly written Gothic mystery with echoes of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca from an immensely gifted writer: Jo Furniss.

Dylan Kynaston returns with his wife, Rose and young son Aled, to Hurtwood House, his family home in Shropshire. In this sleepy English village Rose feels something of an outsider, especially as her American accent sets her apart and yet her journalist juices are intrigued by the secretive element of the place and the way that the very name of Kynaston sends a ripple of unease whenever it is mentioned.

There’s much to consider within the novel, not only about the myths and folklore which give the novel a darkly gothic feel but there are also some deeply concerning issues to sort out within the family as Dylan’s mother, Gwendoline is facing her own dark battles and the hint of a past trouble only serves to heighten the tension.

There’s even further intrigue when an archeological dig brings an added complication with the unearthing of human remans, and local police sergeant, Ellie Trevelyan gets drawn into a complicated investigation. Learning the secrets of this gloomy village only heightens the tension and the author does a great job in bringing both place and people alive whilst at the same time intertwining some dark secrets from the past which have a focus on what is happening in the present.

I enjoyed the ease of story-telling and the way that the many twists and turns kept me guessing. As each secret is revealed so the suspense of the novel gets a little bit darker and much more complicated. The Last to Know is a multi layered suspense thriller with a dark and gloomy edginess which kept me interested from first page to last.

I really enjoyed this book and the show burn mystery of finding out the history and secrets hidden within the story.
We follow Rose and Dylan who both work in television production and have been through quite allot and even escaped a kindnapping situation in Africa. They returned to his mother's farm, where Dylan spent his childhood in the town of Hurtwood. It quickly becomes obvious that his mother, Gewndoline is suffering from dementia. The town holds grudges against this family, and upon their return the rumors start again about the death of a football player, that was said to be suicide because of Dylan's father. During an archeological dig some remains of bones are found which leads to a greater investigation on the farm where another set of human remains are found. Dylan is accused and taken into custody as they try to determine what happened to the deceased. Once the secrets are revealed everything makes sense.

An intriguing gothic feel read that had a unique spin on a mystery of who did it and secrets being hidden for years. The past catching up with you with secrets, lies and cover ups Finally surfacing made a really interesting read that kept my attention.