A bit of a slow burner with an interesting premise. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing all through the book but the ending was just too rushed and disappointing. I did not realise it was part of a series but was fine as I stand-alone .. I will give her next one a chance .Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Another thriller in the Stephanie King series.
Ellis Cobain is murdered on his yacht.
He is a wealthy man who believes he is the best and always right, but underneath he is an arrogant mysogynist.
The suspects are the wife, the mistress and the ex mistress.....or someone else?
All are staying in a high class Cornish hotel.
Each chapter is told by Stephanie or one of the suspects.
It is not until very near the end that the murderer is revealed.....along with other unexpected twists and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley and Headline books for this ARC.

3 women end up linked together by the death of the one man they all have in common. It was an ok read but not a book I would reach for again. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters and I was expecting it to be more exciting

Who killed Ellis Cobain?

The Wife. The Mistress. The Ex-Mistress.

Or was it somebody else entirely?

In a boutique hotel on the Cornish coast, 3 women have a chance meeting that will change all of their lives.
The one thing they have in common is Ellis Cobain. A wealthy philanthropist to most people, however, for the women in his life he is an oppressive and spiteful man.

As the story unfolds you are given small pieces of evidence and more insight into each person involved. These characters will get under your skin.

This is my first time reading a Rachel Abbott book and this is the 4th book in the DS Stephanie King series. I can say that I will definitely be reading more of Rachel’s books in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Headline/Wildfire for the ARC

‘The Last Time I Saw Him’ is book four in the Stephanie King series, and having read the previous three, I was keen to get my hands on it. In this instalment, we have three women, who discover they have a complex connection forged by their relationships with Ellis Cobain. Ellis is a truly despicable man, and together the three women want to exact revenge on him – an intriguing plot! The writing style is, as always with this author, captivating, and I liked that the tale was told entirely through different POVs, however, at times I found it hard to keep up with who was speaking, as this changed so frequently. Simply adding their name at the beginning of each chapter would have made things so much clearer. The three women are all very different and I think the author did a grand job of creating three such diverse, female characters, in addition to Stephanie King. Although well written, with strong characters, and a few twists and turns, I’m afraid I found the book to be verbose and repetitive, with a somewhat rushed and unsatisfactory ending. Sadly, this is not one of my favourites by this author.

Three women all with strong motives to want Ellis Cobain, a calculating misogynist dead. Who did the dead proves to be the puzzle for DCI Gus Brodie and Stephanie King.
A tight detective thriller set in an upscale hotel. Detective Stephanie is staying with her mother, but is immediately taken off guard when she witnesses an interaction with a couple (Russel and Juliette Dalton) and mystery male companion (Elis Cobain). He can't seem to keep his hands to himself. Later that evening Stephanie bumps into Elis' downtrodden, nervous wife Celia who quickly returns to her secluded suite, despite saying she was looking for her husband. Nadia the engaging singer for the hotel seems off. Russell Dalton is there to sign her to his record label yet she disappears after her second set.
Fast forward a week and Detective King and her boss Gus are summoned back to the hotel- Elis had been found murdered on his yacht. As the suspects play cat and mouse we see how the three women all had reasons for murdering him. There are some provoking topics covered namely domestic abuse, suicide and blackmail. Abbott is a master at creating suspense and mystery. The end was a twist I never saw coming.
While this is part of a series it can be read as a stand alone.
Highly recommend this as a summer read. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Celia, Juliette and Nadia, are three strangers, all staying at a beautiful Cornish hotel. These women are all very different, with one thing in common…Ellis Cobain, a very wealthy, arrogant, and egotistical philanthropist, who just so happens is staying at the hotel with one of the women…his downtrodden, second wife, Celia.

These three women have all been wronged by Ellis, and they make a pact to blackmail him…but then, he is found dead!!

This was a very good, twisty “whodunnit”, with secrets being revealed throughout.

Thanks to the author, and NetGalley for providing me with this free ARC, of which I leave a voluntary review.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story is about a man who dies, but who murdered him? He appears good on the surface, but the three women who became close to him begin to understand how he’s not nice at all. So, did one of the three do it? Certainly, all three want some form of retribution against the man, but how far might one or more of them go. They do admit to blackmailing him, but all three claim innocence for the murder. Will they, together, or the police, solve the whodunnit? As you turn the pages the tension increases. Was the coincidence of the lead detective, staying at the hotel, a mitigating factor? The writer gives us so many questions and it’ll take you right to the end to know the answers. Personally, I prefer one point of view for a novel, but for this story, you’ll get three very different options to consider. A good book by the clever writer.

Three women have a common bond formed by Ellis Cobain. Ellis appears to be a good guy on the surface but is a despicable man in reality. The three women want their revenge. Although well written it was long winded and not the best of Ms Abbott’s books. An ok read. Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC.

Celia, Juliette and Nadia all have something in common - Ellis Cobain.
All of them have been victims of his cruel narcissistic behaviour and all would like to see him dead.
When they meet they decide to take matters into their own hands and blackmail him.
However, he is found dead and none of them know who did it..
Can the Police solve the mystery. Who will crack first?

It was okay. I had no feelings for any of the characters and didn't really care who did it.
And what was that bit with Gus all about at the end?! Really don't understand why that was the way the author went with the story. Just felt wrapped up too quickly..

Juliette, Celia and Nadia meet at a boutique hotel in Cornwall, complete strangers to each other, but all connected to the same man. Ellis Cobain, is a Philanthropist, on his way to receiving a knighthood. Publicly he is a great guy, behind closed doors he torments the women he is involved with. The three women conspire to take him down in a blackmail plot, but something goes horribly wrong and Ellis ends up dead. The police declare it murder, which one of them did it?

This was a really enjoyable novel, with plenty to keep your mind wondering what's going to happen next. The tension built up as the story progressed, it had me gripped. The ending was the only part I was a little disappointed in, I expected more. However, it didn't ruin the book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Stephanie King visits a costal inn with her mother and observes some strange behavior from other guests. A few days after her departure, she is called back because one of the people she observed has been murdered and she is assigned to the case. There were three women staying at the hotel who had good reason to want him dead.

Rachel Abbott is a must read for me and we books are usually 5 stars. This one is a 4. It wasn’t quite as compelling as usual and I found myself a little confused between the flashbacks and the current day and the reality of what actually happened. I didn’t dislike the book at all I just don’t think it was her best but the bar is really high. I look forward to her next novel.

Rachel Abbott's books are always so readable! Within seconds you are invested in the story and it's characters. 'The Last Time I Saw Him' is the latest in her excellent Stephanie King series so I was really looking forward to a book I could get my teeth into. Unfortunately to my surprise this wasn't it. I really didn't recognise this as a Rachel Abbott book. It took a long time to get going and was very confusing in the middle. Admittedly the plot had a lot of twists and turns and the ending was totally unexpected but I'm glad this wasn't my first Rachel Abbott book as I might not have been the fan I am. Sorry!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Not bad as a whole, but not the best I've read.
It started out a bit slow, to then keep me gripped until the last pages when I got disappointed on how it ended.
I'm not going to spoil it, but why did it have to end that way?
The writing style was captivating, and I liked the different POVs, although I would have preferred to have the name of the person speaking at the beginning of each chapter to get less confused.
The story itself is not bad, the way those three women actually come together to destroy one man, but the ending is somewhat disappointing.

I love Rachel Abbott and her new Stephanie King thriller didn't disappoint. Starting in a country hotel where everyone seemingly knows Ellis Cobain, an arrogant philanthropist with a sleazy side, when he turns up dead who is to blame?

Right from the start you can tell that each of the women's POV will take you down different paths and that they will all have had a dealing or two with Ellis. Unreliable witnesses, twists at every turn and the peeling back of the character intersections kept me nailed to my seat.

I don't need to write much as this author speaks for herself.

She written it well and once again and it speaks for it self.

The Last Time I Saw Him was my introduction to Rachel Abbott and is number four of her Stephanie King series. It is possible to read as a standalone and not having read the first three books did not detract from enjoying it.

It was a clever plot; well told with good character development of the three woman who were strangers connected by one man. I love police procedural novels and I was disappointed that Stephanie King and her partner / boss were actually very minor characters.

The book set off at a great pace and was a real page turner. However, I felt it did slow and become repetitive in the middle, with the ending then coming up quite abruptly. It was a brave ending which I liked but I admit to feeling a bit shell shocked (not always a bad way to end a book!)

I will definitely read more of Rachel Abbott’s books and hope there are further books in this series which will involve Ms King more - she’s an intriguing character who deserves more time spent on her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for an ARC of this book.

The book was off to a good start. However, from around page 55 onwards it couldn't hold my attention consistently, unfortunately. Being hopeful it would pick up, I persevered. Unfortunately, I couldn't give it more than 3.5 out of 5.

What did I just read? I mean ... It was one of those kind of books. The ones that leave you reeling. That take time to get over. Prepare yourselves. That is all I am saying about it but ... gah. My flabber was well and truly gasted.

Anyhoo - if that hasn't piqued your curiosity, then, well, there is no hope for you. The last Time I Saw Him is classic Rachel Abbott novelisciousness, a story of a police investigation where we hear not only from the Police, largely by way of the series heroine Stephanie King, but also from the prime suspects in what is very quickly determined to be murder. And, unlike some other books in the series, or even the author's other, equally brilliant, Tom Douglas series, there is not just one suspect, or key witness, but three. Yes - three very important, very different women, all of whose lives intersected that if the victim, and all of whom may have had good reason for wanting him dead. But the question is why now, and what was so bad about him that murder was thought to be the only choice?

Well ... not going to lie, Rachel Abbott has done a superb job here of creating a victim for whom I felt not an ounce of pity. He is the kind of guy you take an instant dislike to, and it hardly came as a surprise that he might meet his maker. What was more of a surprise was the where and the how of it all, and what remained a complete mystery until just the right moment was the who. It was a strange experience reading this book as while I felt a certain amount of sympathy for the three women, I also didn't. It not hard to see how they got swept up into the world of Ellis Cobain, how they may have been tempted. And the more we learn about them, their lives and their pasts, the easier it is to accept their behaviour, at least in terms of falling for Ellis. It is perhaps his long suffering wife I felt for most, and while it is easy to judge, Rachel Abbott has actually made her a very sympathetic character and her personal situation is reminiscent of far too many women who are trapped in a situation over which they have no control.

There is a lot of misdirection in this book, and quite a bit of misinformation from some of the 'witnesses', or suspects as they are moe rightly known. It was hard to know who to trust, and where the lies ended and the truth began. Little is as it seems, but there is an underlying, pulsing, tension right from the very beginning. In a twist of fate, Stephanie finds herself caught up in the case in a way she definitely could not have been expecting, that adds a very different perspective on the investigation as she has, to a degree, met both the victims and suspects before, when staying as a guest at the same location the murder takes place. But what she thinks she saw, and what she can actually prove, are entirely different matters, and Rachel Abbott leads us, very skilfully, through the various twists and turns of an investigation that can, ultiamtely only lead to tragedy.

The setting of the book, the Cornish coastline, provides a contrast that really elevates the investigation, and also lends itself to the rising sense of jeopardy that I felt as we hurtled towards the end of the book. In fact, the conclusion comes at a more abrupt pace than even I was expecting. There is an escalation of tension, a showdown and, whilst I could see the direction the story was heading, it still led to one of those jaw-dropping moments (see paragraph 1) that I just wasn't ready for. Did the ending fit the book? Sadly, it did. Was justice served? Well ... you'll have to judge for yourselves when you read it, won't you. If yo love the series, you will love (and possibly hate) this book too.