last day book review luanne rice

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by Luanne Rice ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2020

A long buildup culminates in a climax that’s not as satisfying as the rest of the story.

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.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5420-1820-3

Page Count: 412

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019

SUSPENSE | THRILLER | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE

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BOOK REVIEW

by Luanne Rice

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Max Brooks ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.

Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).

A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.

Pub Date: June 16, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine

Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

GENERAL SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SCIENCE FICTION

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by Max Brooks

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BOOK TO SCREEN

THEN SHE WAS GONE

by Lisa Jewell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2018

Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.

Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.

Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s ( I Found You , 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.

Pub Date: April 24, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | SUSPENSE | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | SUSPENSE

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by Lisa Jewell

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Book Review: Last Day

Sometimes what’s forged by blood ends in blood. Such is the case with Luanne Rice’s 2020 book, Last Day . Like an intricate painting — a theme throughout the book is art and its immersive, and alluring, power — Rice’s brushstrokes here are masterful and poetic, detailed and rich with symbolism, and like the best art, necessitating a second look at what was missed.

Kate and Beth are two sisters bonded by more than their sisterhood: the trauma of being literally bonded to their mother, who died from choking on the gag two art thieves put on her. Worse still, their gambling addict father is the one who paid the art thieves. More than 16 years later, Beth is brutally murdered in what appears at first to be both a sexual assault-turned-murder and another art theft of the same painting, no less. The same detective from the earlier case is on this case, too, Conor Reid. He almost has tunnel vision from the get-go that the culprit is Pete, Beth’s narcissistic (he’s constantly going on about his IQ and his Mensa score) and cheating husband. He had an affair with a younger graduate student working at their art gallery and impregnated her. In turn, Beth, when alive, had an affair with a younger artistic man, Jed, who she met while in prison visiting with her father at that same prison. She was pregnant at the time of her murder with Jed’s baby.

So, Pete was clearly a red herring thrown in by Rice, akin to an object at the forefront of a painting to obscure something else (and in this case, more sinister) in the background. But to Reid’s credit, with wise counsel from his Coast Guard brother, Tom, and new evidence coming to light, Reid turns his attention to other suspects, including Jed, Martin Harris (a sexual deviant in parole and who knew Beth through a soup kitchen she volunteered at), and Pete’s young lover.

Kate meanwhile and in contrast to Beth, turned cold after the tragedy that shaped their young lives. She turned off completely from anything romantic and instead took to the skies, quite literally, as a pilot. Now grounded by her sister’s tragic murder, she’s trying to help Sam, her niece, who cuts herself, and navigate whether she really knew her sister, at least as well as Lulu and Scotty did.

You see, Kate, Beth, Lulu, and Scotty were the “Compass Rose,” friends since childhood, who christened their friendship with a blood oath to stay together forever and with a promise of no secrets. Yet, secrets are bountiful among friends who maturate beyond the naïveté of youth. Beth didn’t tell Kate about Jed, or that it was Beth and Lulu who stole the painting as a way to reclaim some ownership, of a kind, from Pete. And also I think it’s clear Lulu loves Kate in a romantic way, but has never and still doesn’t reveal as much to her. Then, there’s Scotty, who also has an older daughter, Isabella, Sam’s best friend, who is rebelling, a husband who beyond the metaphor is running away from their marriage (he goes running for hours at at time), and a young daughter, Julie, with an intellectual disability. Scotty’s also drinking too much, and pitying herself over her comparison to Beth’s seemingly perfect life: the art gallery, the money, the perfect husband and daughter, and even the charitable efforts, like at the soup kitchen, which Scotty does, too (and where she also met Harris). Then, Scotty learns that it’s all a façade; Beth is cheating, she stole the painting, and Sam isn’t perfect, either.

That’s why Scotty is the one who killed Beth and made it seem like a sexual assault to probably make the cops think either Pete or Harris did it.

There are three reasons I started suspecting Scotty was the killer fairly early on: 1.) Like the artistic misdirection I mentioned earlier, a fact that wasn’t dwelled on, but was revealed , was that Scotty was also at the scene of the crime, Beth’s house, on her “last day.” 2.) Rice was spending enough time on developing Julie’s character, particularly how nobody had the patience to listen to her observations, that I figured she was going to be the key to the whole mystery, i.e., that Julie overheard and/or witnessed something crucial about Beth’s murder, and she did, with her mother. 3.) Harris knew details about Beth’s murder he could only have known if he was the killer, if he witnessed the killing, or if the real killer told him those details. Who else knew Harris besides Beth from the soup kitchen? Scotty; ergo.

So, while Rice didn’t fool me, I did get goosebumps when the moment was revealed to Kate (and Lulu). That’s indicative and representative of how well-handled the plotting, character-building, and reveal was by Rice. Phew, that was quite the scene, and just … sad. It wasn’t even a moment where you were hoping Kate decked Scotty in a fit of rage or impulsive revenge. It was just sad and tragic, which is what I think Rice was aiming for with her story.

And Rice even pays off Kate’s icy character arc by having Kate gingerly and lovingly take care of a rabbit nearly killed by a hawk, and them imbuing that metaphor with how Beth was a hungry ghost, lingering in the world of the living, until justice was done and Kate was okay, and then when she (and the rabbit) were done justice and healed, they were let go. Beautiful.

The best paintings, in my humble opinion, make you think and feel in equal measure, and to the latter, often in an aching way, evoking the pain innate in something beautiful. That’s what Rice achieved here with, Last Day . This was my first Rice book, and I’m happy to see how prolific she is, because it will not be my last.

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Last day by luanne rice [book review].

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Title: Last Day

Author: Luanne Rice

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publish Date: February 1, 2020

Genre: Mystery Thriller

My Rating: 3/5

From celebrated  New York Times  bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss. Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting  Moonlight  and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on. Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and  Moonlight  goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu. Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi—but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of  Moonlight ? Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate—and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession . . .

When Beth and Kate Lathrop were teenagers, they suffered a tragedy that left their mother dead and a valuable painting stolen. Now, Beth and Kate are grown, and it seems life is repeating itself when Beth is found murdered and the same painting is once again missing.

There are a lot of characters and points of view in Last Day , though the story is primarily from Kate’s POV. Kate discovers her sister Beth has been murdered. Conor is the detective working the case, and he has a link to the sister’s past. Pete is Beth’s husband and a primary suspect in her death. Nicola is Pete’s mistress. Sam is Beth and Pete’s daughter. There are also a lot of friends mentioned throughout the book.

Last Day was a disturbing and mysterious thriller. This book hooked me at the start, but disappointed me in the end. It’s a good mystery, and I imagine a lot of readers will enjoy it. For me, the number of characters and their various stories bogged down the novel. While some tangents were entertaining, the primary mystery was the only thing I was interested in.

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2 thoughts on “ last day by luanne rice [book review] ”.

This is one I want to read. Nice review Darinda.

Thanks, Carla! Hope you enjoy it! 💜

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• About the Book

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister, Kate, suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi --- but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight ?

Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate --- and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession.

Last Day by Luanne Rice

• Publication Date: February 1, 2020
• Genres: Fiction , Mystery , Psychological Suspense , Psychological Thriller , Suspense , Thriller
• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
• ISBN-10: 154201820X
• ISBN-13: 9781542018203

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The First Stop for Literature Lovers

“Last Day” by Luanne Rice – Promises to the Fallen

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

• Short Summary

Luanne Rice has been pumping out quality novels since the mid-80s at a staggering rate, but it certainly hasn’t dulled her edge as we can see in her latest work, titled Last Day . Taking us to a small seaside community, we follow a detective who failed to keep his promise. Twenty years ago, he swore to protect two sisters whose mother was taken, along with a famous Moonlight painting. Now, one of them has been murdered, and the painting has gone missing yet again.

Table of contents

Luanne rice unveils her tragic detective, the consequences of a tragedy in last day, the horrific puzzle of death, the final verdict.

In recent decades, the murder mystery genre has seen a somewhat peculiar overall trend in regards to the gravity of death and its consequences. While this isn’t a unilateral and all-encompassing observation, on the whole I very much have the impression the more modern the literature we examine, the more the spotlight tends to be taken away from the human suffering in favour of unveiling the mystery like a puzzle. However, some authors swim in the opposite direction of the common current, Luanne Rice being one of them with her novel titled Last Day .

The story begins by taking us to a small seaside community where a family is struck by a great tragedy. Two sisters, Beth and Kate, see their mother mysteriously disappear, along with a famous Moonlight painting. Few answers are ever found to this case, despite the persistent investigating of detective Reid. Unable to find the girls the answers they so desperately need, Reid vows to, at the very least, watch over the girls and keep them safe… which he does for twenty years.

Today, both girls have moved on from the tragedy of their youth, with Beth running a family art gallery and Kate being a pilot. Just when all seems perfect, Beth is found strangled to death in her own home, and once again, the Moonlight painting has gone missing.

Her death seems utterly senseless, driving detective Reid to the edge of madness as he devotes himself body and soul to solving this case, and with a whole lot of luck, maybe close the book on his failure twenty years ago, perhaps finding some semblance of personal salvation.

As I mentioned at the very beginning of this review, this is a murder mystery which places a rather big focus on the effects of a tragic murder on the human mind and a small community, to the point where I would say it actually takes precedence over the murder mystery itself for good chunks of the book. While the questions as to who did it and why are constantly roasting in the background and beckoning us, Rice doesn’t rush us there and ensures we understand the profound implications of the murder.

There are a fair number of passages simply dedicated to describing the town and taking glimpses here and there at the internal worlds of its inhabitants. Though we don’t exactly spend a lot of time with most of them, the various elements we learn about the characters all feel very plausible and realistic, to the point where I think many of us will be able to relate them to people we know in the real world, if not ourselves. Even if we don’t exactly care about these characters, they still represent small yet revealing pieces of the big puzzle.

Rice obviously puts a lot of effort into coloring and fleshing out the town’s inhabitants to make it feel like a real, living place, and I believe it’s largely for the purpose of ensuring the tragedy can actually have a believable and tangible effect on them. In other words, the more we know about what they feel and think, the more profoundly we can examine their relation to the events, their varying perspectives on them, and witness the repercussions some of them are enduring. I found Rice did a particularly great job with detective Reid, describing in harrowing depth at times the tortured workings of his inner mind, weighed down by his immense failures.

As far as the actual murder mystery itself is concerned, from a purely “puzzle” standpoint, I thought the premise was simply excellent, presenting us with a mystery already spanning multiple decades and having multiple layers of complexity from the very beginning. Personally, I was very much hooked by the mysterious motivation behind the crime, but especially by the significance of the Moonlight painting. While the elements this mystery introduces are by no means revolutionary or anything new, they are cobbled together in a way where they all complement each other and add layers of complexity.

As far as the development of the investigation goes, this is where I feel Last Day will present the greatest challenge to some readers. As I mentioned before, the so-called “human” aspect does take precedence over the murder investigation on the whole, and there are numerous occasions where it all but comes to a halt.

Personally-speaking, I didn’t mind this type of pace in the slightest, especially since the breaks we take from the investigation are nearly always insightful about the world the story takes place in, and truth be told, they’re just well-written in general. Nevertheless, if you’re strictly looking for a purely straightforward murder investigation, this book might present some challenges.

There is also one thing I would like to remark on, and it’s the general tone of the book, or overall atmosphere if you will. Like many books in this genre, Last Day deals with some fairly gruesome and heavy subject matter at various points, like the death of an unborn infant.

These are the sorts of passages which tend to stay with you, and even if I believe the author intended them with a more profound purpose, I can completely understand how they would be seen as there for shock value more than anything else. Once again though, different people are bothered to varying degrees by darker topics, so it would be something to carefully consider before reading the book.

Last Day by Luanne Rice is a rather moving murder mystery with a very compelling promise and a methodical development focusing more on the characters and the effects of the murder on the small seaside community. While it does have some heavier themes and a slower pace than what we’re generally used to in the genre, I do believe this book is very much worth reading if those elements don’t really bother you.

Luanne Rice

Luanne Rice is an American novelist with over thirty published works to her name, translated in twenty-four languages. She holds an honorary degree from Connecticut College, an honorary doctorate of human letters from St. Joseph College, not to mention the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award in Literary Arts for excellence and lifetime achievement.

Her debut novel, Angels All Over Town , was published back in 1985, and some of her better-known works since then include Crazy in Love , Blue Moon , and Silver Bells .

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David Ben Efraim (Reviewer)

David Ben Efraim is a book reviewer living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and co-owner of Bookwormex , as well as the Quick Book Reviews blog, along with Yakov Ben Efraim. With a love for literature reaching across all genres (except romance), he has embarked on the quest to share its wonders with the world by helping people find their way to books which truly speak to them, whether they be modern sensations or relics from a bygone era.

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Last Day by Luanne Rice

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the ...

Introduction

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi—but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight ?

Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate—and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession . . .

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From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi―but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight ?

Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate―and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession…

• Print length 412 pages
• Language English
• Publication date Feb. 1 2020
• Dimensions 13.97 x 2.54 x 20.96 cm
• ISBN-10 1542016355
• ISBN-13 978-1542016353
• See all details

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Product description

About the author.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-four novels that have been translated into twenty-four languages. In 2002, Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree, and she also received an honorary doctorate from Saint Joseph College. In June 2014, she received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence as a literary artist.

Several of Rice’s novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love , for TNT; Blue Moon , for CBS; Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells , for the Hallmark Hall of Fame; and Beach Girls , for Lifetime.

Rice is a creative affiliate of the Safina Center, an organization that brings together scientists, artists, and writers to inspire a deeper connection with nature―especially the sea. Rice is an avid environmentalist and advocate for families affected by domestic violence. She lives on the Connecticut Shoreline.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (Feb. 1 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 412 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1542016355
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1542016353
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 408 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 2.54 x 20.96 cm
• #1,325 in Heist Thrillers
• #4,103 in Amateur Sleuths
• #6,849 in Family Life

About the author

Luanne rice.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 35 novels, which have been translated into 25 languages. The author of Last Day, Dream Country, Beach Girls, Pretend She's Here and others, Rice often writes about love, family, nature, and the sea. She received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement in the Literary Arts category.

Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and Beach Girls for Lifetime. Rice's four cats are her muses, and she speaks their language. She lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

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Follow the author

Last Day Library Binding – Large Print, January 1, 2021

• Print length 575 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Center Point Pub
• Publication date January 1, 2021
• Dimensions 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
• ISBN-10 1643587587
• ISBN-13 978-1643587585
• See all details

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Center Point Pub; Large type / Large print edition (January 1, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Library Binding ‏ : ‎ 575 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1643587587
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643587585
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.59 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
• #26,970 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
• #27,425 in Murder Thrillers
• #77,381 in Suspense Thrillers

About the author

Luanne rice.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 35 novels, which have been translated into 25 languages. The author of Last Day, Dream Country, Beach Girls, Pretend She's Here and others, Rice often writes about love, family, nature, and the sea. She received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement in the Literary Arts category.

Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and Beach Girls for Lifetime. Rice's four cats are her muses, and she speaks their language. She lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 50% 31% 13% 4% 2% 50%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 50% 31% 13% 4% 2% 31%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 50% 31% 13% 4% 2% 13%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 50% 31% 13% 4% 2% 4%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 50% 31% 13% 4% 2% 2%

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Customers say

Customers find the plot riveting, drawn in by relationships, and carefully constructed. They also describe the romance as delightful, lush, and emotive. Readers describe the writing style as excellent, very well written, and accurate. They find the emotional tone poignant and surprising. They describe the characters as rich and deep. Opinions are mixed on engagement and readability, with some finding it easy to follow and hard to put down, while others find it disappointing and an unnecessary distraction.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the story riveting, well written, and mindbending. They also say the ending is a twist that keeps them in suspense. Customers also mention that the relationships are interesting and easy to draw in. They say the jigsaw is carefully constructed, but the final piece does not fit.

"...it was hard to A down at times. . The aurhor is a great story teller , has a way with words and paints a picture so well you think your write there..." Read more

"This is a good novel about 2 sisters with a traumatic past who have gone separate directions in life...." Read more

"Good murder mystery with an excellent sister story . One of Luanne Rice’s top 10. Page turner to the final page." Read more

"...most of the book and the characters interesting and was drawn in by the relationships . But the more I read, the more disappointed I became...." Read more

Customers find the romance in the book delightful, entertaining, and lovely. They also say it's a haunting look at love, loss, and what is truly important.

" Great read a real page turner, lot a twists and turns. it was hard to A down at times. ...." Read more

"...And the red herrings made reading it even more fun ." Read more

"...Overall, lovely , talented writing!..." Read more

"... An enjoyable read ." Read more

Customers find the writing style beautiful, compelling, and exquisite. They also appreciate the details and historical facts that make the narrative believable.

"...The aurhor is a great story teller, has a way with words and paints a picture so well you think your write there living with them...." Read more

"...Rhode Island, near Connecticut border I found her descriptions to be very accurate . Could feel the seabreeze and the lovely landscapes...." Read more

"I couldn’t put this down! Well written and easy to like characters. The ending a total surprise! A must read!" Read more

"...Overall, a great start, then an extremely Frustrating and disappointing finish ." Read more

Customers find the characters in the book rich and interesting.

"I found most of the book and the characters interesting and was drawn in by the relationships. But the more I read, the more disappointed I became...." Read more

"I couldn’t put this down! Well written and easy to like characters . The ending a total surprise! A must read!" Read more

"...The murderer left you in suspense. Well written . Swept up in the characters even the rabbit." Read more

"Excellent writing! Fully fleshed-out characters !..." Read more

Customers find the emotional tone poignant, surprising, and genuine. They also mention that the grief they carry feels real. Customers also say the book is tragic and filled with emotion. They say the ending inspires hope and renewal for everyone.

"...The author does a fantastic job of "showing" deep anguish , rather than "telling."..." Read more

"Rice's characters are complex, but understandable. She conveys their intense emotions , intelligence, failings, and insecurities, as if she knows..." Read more

"...Really magnificant, exciting, compelling and deeply emotional ! I found this novel was mindbending and exquisite!..." Read more

"...The characters were interesting, and the grief they carry felt genuine . It was engrossing for me. The ending just fell on its face...." Read more

Customers are mixed about the engagement. Some mention that the book keeps their attention from beginning to end, is a great way to exercise their brain, and has an intriguing plot that captures them instantly. However, others say that it's very disappointing, disappointing with the motivation for the murder, and an unnecessary distraction.

"...I did like the storyline and it kept you reading . Enough suspense that you wanted to figure it all out. Totally didn’t suspect the ending." Read more

"...It seemed an unnecessary distraction . At one point I really had a chuckle and was pulled out of the story when the narration "uses" a curse word!!..." Read more

"...The story pulled me in quickly & kept my attention all the way through . The characters were interesting & I wished I couldknow most of them...." Read more

"...I wouldn't recommend this book. I thought it was boring . I just kept reading just so I could find out who the killer was. And when I did find out?..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the readability of the book. Some find it easy to follow and exciting, while others say it's hard to follow with missing information.

"...I would recommend this, especially the audiobook because it is easy to follow but very engaging. It's well-written...." Read more

"...Overall, a great start, then an extremely Frustrating and disappointing finish." Read more

"The characters and plot were well developed with a timeline that was easily followed ...." Read more

"This book was very hard to set down ...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the pace of the book. Some find it fast paced, while others say that it's slow and repetitive.

"...There was a lot of unnecessary padding, which slowed the pace at times and had me skipping instead of turning pages...." Read more

"...the initial information, the who's, what's and where's, it takes off with lightning speed ! Fascinating character definition and lots of suspense!..." Read more

"...The final reveal/confession felt clumsy and rushed . Motive was weak...." Read more

"...This is well written and a fast read ." Read more

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Last Day Kindle Edition

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice comes a riveting story of a seaside community shaken by a violent crime and a tragic loss.

Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what they thought would be the worst tragedy of their lives the night both the famous painting Moonlight and their mother were taken. The detective assigned to the case, Conor Reid, swore to protect the sisters from then on.

Beth moved on, throwing herself fully into the art world, running the family gallery, and raising a beautiful daughter with her husband Pete. Kate, instead, retreated into herself and took to the skies as a pilot, always on the run. When Beth is found strangled in her home, and Moonlight goes missing again, Detective Reid can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

Reid immediately suspects Beth’s husband, whose affair is a poorly kept secret. He has an airtight alibi—but he also has a motive, and the evidence seems to point to him. Kate and Reid, along with the sisters’ closest childhood friends, struggle to make sense of Beth’s death, but they only find more questions: Who else would have wanted Beth dead? What’s the significance of Moonlight ?

Twenty years ago, Reid vowed to protect Beth and Kate—and he’s failed. Now solving the case is turning into an obsession…

• Print length 413 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Thomas & Mercer
• Publication date 1 February 2020
• File size 3015 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product description

About the author.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-four novels that have been translated into twenty-four languages. In 2002, Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree, and she also received an honorary doctorate from Saint Joseph College. In June 2014, she received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence as a literary artist.

Several of Rice’s novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love , for TNT; Blue Moon , for CBS; Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells , for the Hallmark Hall of Fame; and Beach Girls , for Lifetime.

Rice is a creative affiliate of the Safina Center, an organization that brings together scientists, artists, and writers to inspire a deeper connection with nature—especially the sea. Rice is an avid environmentalist and advocate for families affected by domestic violence. She lives on the Connecticut Shoreline.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07R3QYGHY
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer (1 February 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 3015 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 413 pages
• #8,480 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery (Kindle Store)
• #12,306 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery (Books)

About the author

Luanne rice.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 35 novels, which have been translated into 25 languages. The author of Last Day, Dream Country, Beach Girls, Pretend She's Here and others, Rice often writes about love, family, nature, and the sea. She received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement in the Literary Arts category.

Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and Beach Girls for Lifetime. Rice's four cats are her muses, and she speaks their language. She lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 49% 32% 14% 4% 2% 49%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 49% 32% 14% 4% 2% 32%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 49% 32% 14% 4% 2% 14%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 49% 32% 14% 4% 2% 4%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 49% 32% 14% 4% 2% 2%
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