Reviews for Last day

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Beth Lathrop mother, sister, dear friend, wife, businesswoman was kind, generous, and universally loved in her small New England hometown. So why was she murdered in her bed on a hot July morning when she was six months pregnant? Detective Conor Reid gets the case, 23 years after he rescued Beth and her older sister, Kate Woodward, from the basement where they were tied to their mother, who choked on her gag and died, in a robbery at their family-owned art gallery. A valuable painting, Moonlight, which was stolen in the original robbery and again when Beth was murdered, may hold the key. The prime murder suspect is Beth's husband, Pete, who is in a long-term affair with Nicola Corliss, their gallery employee, with whom he has a two-month-old son. But Pete was on a boat trip with friends when Beth died and presumably intended to work on their marriage. Meanwhile, when friends gather on Beth's birthday, Kate learns that her mother kept an important secret from her. In a family drama that is suspenseful as it is empathetic, Rice again displays her ability to portray female friendship and the pain of loss.--Michele Leber Copyright 2020 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
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In this nail-biting mystery from bestseller Rice (Little Night), heiress Beth Lathrop has a loving husband, a 16-year-old daughter, and a baby on the way. The manager of her family’s prestigious art gallery in Black Hole, Conn., Beth is found one day by her sister, Kate, strangled in her bed with her head cracked open. In the bedroom, a valuable painting has been cut out of its frame and removed. The crime calls to mind a horrific event 23 years earlier, during which the same painting was stolen, and children Beth and Kate were gagged and bound for hours to their mother, who, also gagged, choked to death. Det. Conor Reid, who rescued the girls back then and who, unbeknownst to Beth and Kate, has been trying to protect them ever since, heads the investigation into Beth’s murder. Rice keeps the reader guessing as she gradually doles out long-hidden family secrets. Fans of intense family dramas will be rewarded. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Feb.)


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

History seems to repeat itself across generations when a murder and the disappearance of a painting lead a Connecticut woman to investigate her sister's private life.Marred by tragedy at an early age, sisters Kate Woodward and Beth Lathrop coped with their mother's murder and their kidnapping during an art heist in the family gallery in two very different ways. Beth married Pete Lathrop, started a family, and continued the family tradition of mentoring starving artists as part of the now-named Lathrop Gallery in the town of Black Hall. Kate was unmoored by what happened, becoming a pilot traveling through life with no connection to anyone except for Beth and childhood friends Lulu and Scotty. When Beth is six months pregnant, she's killed in her own home, and Moonlight, the Benjamin Morrison painting stolen in the first heist, once again goes missing. Detective Conor Reid couldn't be more shocked by the turn of events. He's kept an eye on Beth and Kate for years since being part of the team that investigated the first crime, oversight that Rice presents as sweet rather than stalkerish. Conor is certain that Pete killed Beth. After all, the marriage was on the rocks, and Pete already had a new child with Nicola, his paramour. But Conor's theory of the crime is harder to prove than he anticipates. Kate's just as desperate to learn the truth about Beth, and she finds that the more she investigates Beth's last day, the more she wonders whether she ever knew her sister at all.A long buildup culminates in a climax that's not as satisfying as the rest of the story. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When Kate Woodward was 16, she and her younger sister, Beth, were tied to their mother in the basement of the family art gallery in Connecticut while thieves stole paintings. Their mother died, and Kate has tried to shelter Beth ever since. Kate fled her past by becoming a pilot, while Beth took over the gallery, married, and had a daughter. Now, 23 years later, Kate forces the police to break into Beth's house, where they find her sister's murdered body. Although Kate doesn't remember him, Detective Conor Reid was the one who rescued them the first time. He has remained obsessed with the two women, and blames himself that he couldn't save Beth. The tragedy brings back memories for both of them as they search through the secrets in Beth's life that she kept hidden from her sister. Despite the atmospheric setting, and beautiful art in the story, there's a bitterness and anger that pervades the book. VERDICT Strong love overcomes pain in this latest from Rice (Pretend She's Here), which combines suspense with stories of surviovors, sisterhood, best friends, and small communities shaken by violence or death.—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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