From the 'An absolute belter of a novel' ELIZABETH HAYNES 'A sensational novel!' GILLIAN MCALLISTER You come to SoulShrink to be healed. You don't expect to die.
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From the 'An absolute belter of a novel' ELIZABETH HAYNES 'A sensational novel!' GILLIAN MCALLISTER You come to SoulShrink to be healed. You don't expect to die.
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Fine in Fine jacket. 1st Printing. A fine UK first edition, first printing hardback in a fine unclipped dustjacket-All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days)-SIGNED, INSCRIBED & PREPUBLICATION DATED BY THE AUTHOR-Pictures of the book are available upon request.
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New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 400 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 400 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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New in new dust jacket. SIGNED by the author on the title page (signature only). 1st UK edition, 1st printing, complete number line. New, unread copy with dust jacket in protective mylar sleeve. There is a dent at the top of the spine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 400 p. Audience: General/trade. Mystery by the Portsmouth Book Award-, Dead Good Books Hidden Depths Award-, Capital Crime Readers Award-, and Warwickshire Year 9 Book Award-winning author of "Every Move You Make" and "The Guilty Couple". Rare signed. Where possible, all books come with dust jacket in a clear protective plastic sleeve, sealed in a ziplock bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, shipped in a box.
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Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 400 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
This starts off at a steady pace while the characters are introduced and gradually increases as the story develops culminating in break-neck speed. There a quite a few characters and past and present timelines so you have to keep your wits about you but this added to the suspense and tension.
The story is told from three points of view - Fran, Kate and Jenna. It took me a while to warm to Fran but the more I read, the more she grew on me. Kate - nope, not a likeable character at all but worked well for the book. Jenna - still not sure how I feel about her.
The plot is interesting - not particularly plausible but if you can't suspend reality in a fiction book, then when can you? There are plenty of suspects to keep you guessing and although I pretty much worked out what was going on pretty early on, it was fun seeing how it all played out.
Overall, a fun read and my thanks must go to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
KindigBlog
Apr 29, 2021
Another great read from CL Taylor
I feel like C.L Taylor and I share very similar interests in true crime topics! Taylor has written so many books that I have really enjoyed and something I really admire is that they are all on different themes - she isn't afraid to step out of her comfort zone and push to find a new way of telling an interesting story. Her Last Holiday really reminded me of a podcast I listened to recently called 'Guru' by Wondery which tells the true story of Arthur James Ray - a self help guru who went to prison after killing people in a sweat lodge as part of a retreat he was running. There is a lot of similarities here, with fictional Fran trying to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared at a similar retreat where others had died.
The story is split into pieces - we have a past and present timeline between the two sisters that alternates and then there is also a perspective from Kate who is dating the Guru himself. There's a lot of twists and turns (I'd expect nothing less!) and quite a few surprises that I did not expect throughout. The flashbacks could have gotten confusing but this is not the case here with assured writing which keeps the pace up throughout. We got a lot of background into the drama happening at the past retreat but I would have perhaps liked to see a little more build up to the sweat lodge and the experience itself as it's not really spelt out what in particular causes the characters to die.
Our main character Fran is interesting - she is a no-nonsense teacher in her 50s who is posing as her retired mother in order to access the retreat. Although some interactions with her were quite refreshing as she struggles to navigate social conventions, I felt like this could have been pushed further in places. I kept picturing her as around 30 years old instead of 50! It perhaps doesn't help that her sister is so much younger than her though.
At least two characters are pretending to be other people in the book and this does sometimes make things confusing. There are times when a character is yelling the other person's real name outside their door which I thought was a little unrealistic as anyone could have heard them. In the ARC that I was given there are also some major mistakes where a character refers to someone as the wrong name to a character that would have had a large reaction if they had known the truth. This made the prose jarring as I was first shocked they had given the game away or slipped up but then there is no reaction from the other person so it seems to have just been a mistake in the editing - I have flagged this to the publisher and hopefully it will be fixed by the time of publication.
Overall Her Last Holiday is a gripping read and another great read from C.L Taylor - I look forward to the next one! Thank you to NetGalley & Avon Books UK for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
