This was my first read of this author, and I really enjoyed the book. It was told in first person point of view by Rose Kynaston, a MC and American journalist, as well as in third person. It took me a minute to get used to that but once I did, it was all good. 

Rose and her husband Dylan go back to his home in England, to the Hurtwood House. Immediately the reader begins to question what is going on. The house presents some questionable occurrences, and Dylan's mother Gwendoline is shadowed by a lot of mystery and eerie behavior. Add to this a little six year old boy, Aled, and the reader is likely to become concerned for his well-being. 

I was invested in all of the characters, including Aled who really added a lot to my hunger to discover the truth about all the secrets, because this book has secrets, cold cases, old flames, and a return to a home that may or may not have been a good idea. There is even an archaeological dig that digs us "Indian Bones" adding more mystery to the secrets of the past.

I want to thank NetGalley, Jo Furniss, and Lake Union Publishing for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are mine.

Rating: 4
Genre: Suspense
Would I recommend it? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes
First off I want to thank the publisher Lake Union Publising as well as Netgalley for letting me read and review this, because with out them I wouldn't have picked it up might not have gave it a try otherwise. What first got my attention was the the title and as well as the cove, and that get me every time , there's something about the title or the cover that makes me want to pick it and read and with this one i'm glade I took the change to request it. Because right from the story it had me wanting to know what  happened and what was going to happen next , its was everything I was hoping it would it would, and that was that  the setting would give it that creepy feeling as well as been well written and  that the pace would keep me turning pages. As for the story itself  the more your read it becomes apparent that everyone in this town has secrets they are still trying to hide and that they will do anything to kept in the dark, and while the story is slow in some places I actually liked it that way and it made it even more creepy , it give it the vibe of been some what gothic .

This was an interesting story about family, love and home - about leaving as a young man and coming back home a man with a wife and family. It's about long held secrets and mistakes made in your youth. It's a good mystery, one that I didn't guess the elements or moving parts until I was almost at the end. The author did a good job of flushing out characters and a town and its gossip, assumptions and long held secrets. I enjoyed it.

Rose and her husband Dylan move back to his childhood town, which isn't quite what Rose was expecting. Her mother-in-law seems to be suffering from dementia, her husband's surname causes unfriendly reactions in the town, and there are very few career options for her. In making the best of things, she gets drawn into a mystery from her husband's childhood - and then human remains are found near their home. 

This is an enjoyable, small-town mystery/psychological thriller, and the combined investigative efforts of Rose and police officer Ellie (we get POV chapters from both) serve to move the narrative forward at a good pace. There are some plot points that are dwelt on and then never progress - an event in Rose's past comes up repeatedly, and then never goes anywhere, for example. A satisfying read nonetheless.

Thrillers, fall beer, and red wine all go together so beautifully. As the kids start back to school and the leaves start falling if you want a good book to ease into Fall this one was a fantastic thriller. It is set in England and there is a creepy house, a weird mother in law, a ghost (or is there?), a mystery, and a crazy ex-girlfriend. One of the main characters is a female detective and the other a journalist mom. They are written so perfectly you love cheering for them to figure it out. This book is everything the cover promises and is a great creepy fall thriller. The writing was superb with little quips about life, people, and social settings that it reminded me a lot of Tana French. I loved the lead detective and her outlook/attitude. I identified so much with the journalist mom character in this book because of her approach to people and situations. One night I really needed to go to bed, but there was a murderer on the loose and I had an hour left to figure it out so I didn't sleep until I was finished.

Oh, just enough creepy for me!  I’m not into the whole serial killer genre but this has a bit of menace without being graphic which I appreciate. Poor Rose!  What a situation she finds herself in. A lot of women can relate to her trouble with balancing childcare and having a decent career. I wasn’t sure how it was going to end for her marriage, if her hubby turned out to be a good guy or not.  Talk about skeletons in the closet!  And that mother in law!  Oof, quite a page turner.

THE LAST TO KNOW, the newest novel by Jo Furniss, is an eerie and twisty novel full of secrets and rumors, and a hint of ghosts. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the way Furniss made the setting feel as if it was a character in the story.
I savored the twists and the journey the novel took me through and how the two narrators worked to unravel the mysteries. The end was paced perfectly and did hold a few surprises for me. This would be a great one to read on a stormy or gray fall day, curled up in a cozy blanket with a cup of hot tea!
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
#THELASTTOKNOW #JOFURNISS #LAKEUNIONPUBLISHING

I really enjoyed this book, although it took me a while to get into my reading groove. It started slowly for me, but by the middle-ish, I couldn't read fast enough to keep up with the suspense. The characters were wonderfully odd and the story was well thought out. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a slow burn suspense with a bit of gothic feel to it.

Rose Kynastan moves to England with her husband Dylan and their 5 year old son.  I liked the idea of the English setting and the creepy old gothic mansion, even if the house is falling apart.  There's a creep factor to the house as well as Dylan's mother - she doesn't allow them to stay in the main house, shifting them immediately to an old cottage on the estate. There are clearly secrets surrounding this family.  

Rose learns soon enough that Dylan's family is hated by pretty much everyone in the small town.  She is a journalist and assumes her maiden name to gain employment with a local newspaper, allowing her the freedom to research without the stigma of the Kynastan name.  Rose joins forces with a local police officer, Ellie Trevelyn, to film a typical day in the town for an officer.  In following Ellie about she finds out more about her new family and the troubles they had as well as getting involved in the current crimes being investigated.

Overall I didn't feel empathy for Rose or Dylan.  I didn't dislike them but it was hard to get behind them as charming or engaging characters.  I would read more by this author.

Ellie is searching for rose inside the house. I liked the characters and dialogue. I was curious to see what would happen with Ellie. I didn't care for the descriptions.

The Last to Know, by Jo Furniss, is a creepy mystery, complete with an old house and ancient English landscape. The main character, Rose, relocates to her husband’s childhood estate with spouse and four-year old son.  There she uncovers unsolved deaths, hostility from the locals, and the difficulties of balancing work and family needs.  She joins forces with a local police officer, struggling with her own family challenges, to uncover the secrets of this dark and rainy English town.

This novel has a lot going for it, including suspicious deaths, several suspects, and dangerous English locations. What it lacked for me was a main character that was truly engaging.  Neither Rose nor her spouse aroused much sympathy, although the policewoman and the child did pique my interest.  The slow unraveling of the mystery was a relief, particularly since the perpetrator was a character I had barely noticed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

#TheLasttoKnow 
#LakeUnionPublishing 
#NetGalley

This book went along at a good pace. The multiple perspectives meant that I put together things a little faster than the characters sometimes but then, at other times, my guesses were nowhere near correct. It kept me interested until the end.

*3.5

I struggled with this one until halfway through due to the slow-burn nature of the plot. Once things started to pick up, I was hooked and didn’t expect some of the twists!

I received The Last to Know as part of a NetGalley giveaway.

Rose Kynaston, her husband Dylan, and their young son Aled relocate from their home in Nairobi, where they have spent several years living as journalists, to Dylan's English hometown of Hurtwood, to live on his family estate with his widowed mother Gwendoline. But it soon becomes clear to Rose that a shadow lies over the family and their legacy: Dylan's late father, accused of an unspeakable crime decades earlier, his eccentric mother, shrouded in mystery and suspicion,, and even Dylan himself acting strangely, behaving in ways completely foreign to Rose. Meanwhile, Detective Ellie Trevelyan, facing the end of her own career in law enforcement, finds herself drawn into the mysteries and personalities that have haunted Hurtwood for 20 years. Working from opposite perspectives--one personal, one professional--the two women must discover the truth of what happened  all those years ago and bring those responsible to justice.

This was a solid,, if not completely riveting, mystery. It's very atmospheric; the world of a small English village is skillfully drawn, and the characters' respective motivations make sense. There were a few loose ends that didn't really go anywhere (Vic?), a few characters I wish had been better fleshed out (Shauna, Rhys, Stanley) and I felt the story meandered a bit at times in a way that kept it from being a real-page turner, but on the whole I found it an entertaining and  well-crafted read.

What started out as a slow burning thriller ended up being one of the most captivating reads I’ve picked up all year.  

Rose Kynaston a video journalist has just settled down at the childhood home of her husband in the English Village of Hurtwood.  
Arriving at the creepy run down manor, with his hermit-like mother, things do not seem very welcoming.  Not to mention the reception she receives from all of the villagers.  Apparently there is some type of hidden secret at Hurtwood House from years ago that everyone is aware of except Rose.  When human remains are discovered during a historical archaeological dig on the property, Rose and the local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan start to dig into the past and attempt to find out the truth about Hurtwood House and the Kynaston family.

This was my first Jo Furniss book, and I have to tell you her writing is phenomenal.  Her ability to pull you into a story is sleek and effortless, with characters that are so genuine that you become 100% vested in their struggles.  This story became a page turner and kept me up all night reading as I tried to figure out what really happened at Hurtwood House.  There is an eerie aura about the book that keeps it constantly mysterious with multiple unexpected surprises, building to the unexpected thrilling ending.  This has all the markings of a great dark psychological thriller with perfect doses of suspense and mystery.  Grab your hot cup of coffee (or drink of choice) and settle in with this one, you will be glad you listened to me when you are done. 
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The Last to Know is a slow burn mystery that gradually builds suspense as the search for the truth about a family’s past increases in intensity. The tone of the writing evokes a sense of eeriness, as if the very words on the page have their own secrets to tell.

The story is told in alternating points of view, switching between Rose Kynaston and Police Sergeant Ellie Trevelyan. Rose has just relocated with her family to the English village of Hurtwood where her husband Dylan grew up in the now-dilapidated mansion referred to as Hurtwood House. But from Dylan’s mother’s odd behavior to the chilly reception Rose receives from the villagers, everything about this move feels wrong.

Meanwhile, the discovery of human remains leads Ellie to begin re-investigating a cold case that has shaken Hurtwood for decades. As the investigation brings more and more questions to light about what really happened twenty years ago, Rose is forced to question everything she knows about Dylan, his family, and their manor estate.

While I found the backstory of Rose and Dylan’s time in Mogadishu, as well as the tie-in to Rose’s ex, to be somewhat distracting and unnecessary, the main plot line was intriguing enough that it ultimately didn’t take away from the story.

Chilling, atmospheric, and strangely dark, The Last to Know will haunt and perturb you until its truths have been revealed.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Jo Furniss for my advance copy.

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I love the cover and title and the premise grabbed my interest. However, ultimately, THE LAST TO KNOW gets too bogged down to be a real page turner. The author includes too many random subplots that slow down the story and ultimately go nowhere. Some of them pop up later as pieces of the puzzle, but others seem to fizzle off. I'm guessing they were meant as red herrings? However, I wish the plot was tighter. Furniss does, however, do an excellent job at creating atmosphere and the setting is fabulous.

"The Last to Know" was very twisty, meaning it kept going in a bunch of different directions, in a good way. It wasn't predictable, you were constantly thinking something was happening and then something totally different happened. 

The mystery behind Hurtwood House was the center of the novel but there was a lot more that contributed to the plot. The mystery, without giving too much away, was the death of a young boy who claimed he was being abused. The abuse was said to be coming from Dylan's father, who died shortly after the boy. For years, no one went to Hurtwood House and Dylan's mother became a hermit, never leaving the property. 

When Dylan and Rose come back to England, the alleged crimes of his father come back to haunt him. Who hurt the boy? What is really wrong with Dylan's mother? Does Ellie's dad, the old police chief, know something? What really happened all those years ago?

There are multiple crimes that happened in the past...are they all linked? Perhaps but both Ellie and Rose are tasked with figuring that out. 

I really loved this book. It was very similar to another book I recently read (review coming soon) and the feeling of a mystery novel set in England is very enticing to me. It was cozy, interesting, and a page-turner but it wasn't gruesome or overly gory. There was even a paranormal twist-tied in which I loved! It was a little dramatic at times but what's a novel without a little exaggeration? 

"The Last to Know" was a great book with a great story and a very satisfying ending. You won't be able to figure out the mystery but you'll have a hell of a time trying!

I am of two minds when it comes to this book. On the one hand, the setting and atmosphere of the book were brilliant. The house of Hurtwood felt like it's own character and really contributed to the spooky Gothic vibes. But the story itself was very disjointed to the point where I questioned why much of the book's plot points were even included. 

"The Last to Know" is about Dylan and Rose Kynaston, a married couple who have been living as foreign journalists in Africa and are now moving back to Dylan's hometown in England. Dylan doesn't speak about his past much and Rose has never pushed him about it as she knows something difficult happened in his past. However, when they get there things are worse than she could have ever anticipated. Dylan's mother who still lives in the family home is a recluse, and seems to be suffering from a form of dementia, Rose's formerly supportive husband seems to be changing into someone more selfish and callous before her eyes, and virtually the whole town hates her family due to a past scandal.

You find out that a young boy died on Dylan's family's property when he was a teen and his dad was suspected of being involved in the death which is why the family is so unpopular now. Shortly after they return to Hurtwood the body of another young man is found on the property and questions once again start up about the Kynaston family and who is responsible for the deaths on the property. There is also a paranormal/gothic element in a local ghost story which Dylan's mother Gwendoline actively encourages and Rose herself starts to believe in after she notices more and more strange things happening. 

If the story had focused on just these elements then I think a very interesting, creepy story could have been told extremely well. As I mentioned above, the setting and atmosphere Jo Furniss creates are excellent. I was truly creeped out by some of the descriptions and had no idea what exactly was going on. I suspected many things, including the possibility that nothing at all was actually happening, and I enjoyed the atmosphere and mystery elements. The problem I had came from all the additional characters and subplots that were thrown in, seemingly at random. There was an ex boyfriend who is mentioned a few times for no discernible reason and whose actions have no impact on the plot itself and there are characters and subplots from the past which pop up and are there to cause minor problems but again, don't impact the story in a very meaningful way. 

I still enjoyed the overall product but I think this was a case of an author adding too many elements and then losing track of some of them which resulted in a rather disjointed final product. I think if you're looking for a story which deals heavily with personal/family drama as well as mystery elements then you will enjoy this.

Riveting! 

Wow! Jo Furniss works magic with her words! The imagery in this book is off the charts. I was completely immersed, gripping my kindle, soaking in each and every single word. Hang on tight, because the twists and turns in the book are definitely gonna take you on a ride. 

Thrilling, Suspenseful and CREEPY! I was completely glued to these pages. This was my first Jo Furniss novel, but it will not be my last. I’m scooping up all her books!