Book reviews

Book review: The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green


Book Cover

Title: The Last Thing She Told Me

Author: Linda Green

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Publisher: Quercus 

Publication date: 7th March 2019

My rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Summary:

“Even the deepest buried secrets can find their way to the surface… Moments before she dies, Nicola’s grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden. Nicola’s mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola’s daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty’s garden, it’s clear that something sinister has taken place. But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola’s family apart?

My review:

I stumbled upon this book on Netgalley and it immediately piqued my interest. After reading other readers’ reviews I was convinced that this would be a brilliant thriller and was excited to start reading it. However, I originally could not connect with any of the characters and was not immediately drawn to the plot either. The pace was slow at first and the interlocking past and present story lines did not seem related. It was Betty’s last words “There are babies at the bottom of the garden” that really motivated me to keep reading.

At around the halfway point into the book the plot started to thicken and new characters were introduced and I found that I suddenly couldn’t stop reading. It is also around this point where we start to understand how the letters and present day story line are linked and the appalling secrets are discovered. The author handles the rainbow of emotions extremely well and provides an excellent insight into each character’s feelings. However, I think that the challenge of addressing these issues over several generations was too demanding even though the impact was much bigger.

Overall, this poignant story was well developed despite the lagging first few chapters. I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading a family drama as I don’t agree that this book should be filed under the Thriller category.

The Last Thing She Told Me is out to buy tomorrow!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a free advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

6 Comments

  • Stephen Writes

    Nice review, Darina. It looks like this one is a good, slow-building book that has some powerful moments.
    I have read a few books that were billed as thrillers but unexpectedly turned out to be a family drama…

    • facingthestory

      Yes, this was definitely one of those. I think lately more and more family dramas are listed as thrillers because they have some elements of a thriller, but I still don’t feel it’s right.

  • Norrie

    Great review! I do love a good family drama, but yea, i think publishers (or whoever puts these into categories) are sometimes a bit overzealous when it comes to slapping a “thriller” onto everything…

    • facingthestory

      Thanks! Yeah, that seems to be the case for quite a few recent “Thrillers” that I’ve read. I sometimes think that they are wary of submitting a new novel under a wider market because it may not sell as well but narrowing it down to something it’s not impressive either!

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