The eye-catching cover for this one caught my eye, and the blurb sounded so promising that I dove right in. The first chapter was quite compelling, but things rapidly declined from there. Yes, there are secrets, lots of secrets, and everyone is suspect. However, instead of a gripping psychological thriller, the story became more like women's fiction. A who's cheating who group of thirty something women who desperately need to grow up. We do have a murder thrown in, but with so many points of view from characters who aren't particularly likable, it was hard to care much about the outcome. There is a twist at the end, and I'll admit that I didn't figure this one out, but after setting the book aside so many times, it was too little, too late. To sum it up, The Last Night Out was more an exercise in frustration than the gripping thriller I was hoping for.

The phrase “you can’t trust anyone” rings true in this mystery novel by Catherine O’Connell.

Six friends go out for a night of fun to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of their dear friend, but only five make it home. When the police start digging to find the suspect behind the murder of their friend Angie, it would appear that more than one of the ladies have a secret to hide. These hidden secrets make it a a bit harder for the two detectives on the case to recreate Angie’s last movements and we watch as all their perfect facades crumble.

I don’t usually love stories that have so many different viewpoints happening throughout, but O’Connell managed to make each story flow into the next and help unlock unknown knowledge along the way. The Last Night Out was like a carefully constructed puzzle you bit your nails waiting to see how it all pieced together. The characters held enough mystery to keep them interesting, but we were filled in to backstory as the story progressive, giving us more understanding of the scenarios playing out.

The one thing I did not completely love was the very ending of the book. After the conclusion was found and the story wrapped up, O’Connell added a “What happened to them” section at the end. It basically told you how the 5 remaining girls lives played out. Then, there was a final twist at the end that kind of made me feel like everything I had read was not really how it happened and there was more to the story. I’d rather have had that little snippet of information be part of the actual ending and not a footnote like add on at the very end after you’ve read how all the girls lived their lives. Almost like a “just kidding” thrown in. It didn’t make sense and kind of left me with a taste of disappointment at the very end.

I have never read a Catherine O’Connell book before, but after reading The Last Night Out I would be very interested in checking out more. Any lover of mystery, thriller, or suspense novels would love her work.

This book was alright. Not a single character was likable, and it didn't exactly blow me away, but it held my interest throughout. Plus the ending was actually a surprise and caught me off guard, so kudos for the author on that point. So yea, I don't really have much more to say about it. *shrug*

Six friends, Maggie, Angie, Carol Anne, Suzanne, Kelly, and Natasha all enjoy a night celebrating Maggie's Bachelorette party. When the nights draws to a close, Maggie, Angie and Suzanne decide to carry on the fun in a bar in town. Fast forward to the next day, Angie is found murdered in a park and Maggie wakes up with a strange man in her bed. Life as the five remaining friends know it will never be the same again.
Catherine O'Connell's, The Last Night Out, grabbed my attention from the start and didn't let go until the end. Great book.

It’s a hell of a bachelorette party when you wake with a stranger in your bed. Then hell gets even hotter when you remember you are the bride. But the guy is hot, so maybe it ain’t all bad. Wait, wait, what are you thinking?
But then hell really turns up the flames when you get the phone call telling you one of your dearest friends, Angie, is dead, murdered type dead. Well at least you have an alibi, but not one you want to use under almost any circumstance.
In The Last Night Out; Suzanne, Carole Anne, Kelly, Angie and bride Maggie are the closest of friends. They celebrate Maggie’s upcoming nuptials to wealthy and socially prominent Flynn at Carol Anne’s house, and afterwards Maggie, Suzanne and Angie decide to finish the night at a Rush street bar. It is refreshing to read a mystery set in Chicago rather than L.A or New York.
Maggie is the lucky bride, and the “author” of this “manuscript” that comes into Kelly's possession years after the events, so there is an epilogue and a postscript. It is an interesting concept of the author and works well.
I liked the different POVs, even though they are Maggie’s creations for the manuscript.
I enjoyed the twist and turns of this story, I thought Catherine O’Connell did an excellent job with her plotting and characterizations.
The five women are far from perfect; for some, their sins would keep a priest in shock for a long time, especially in 1988 when all this takes place. A few of the other women are more sinned against than sinning,
I also thought The Last Night Out was an original story and I was caught by surprise several times, although O’Connell’s steps were logical.
There was one plot twist I either missed or misunderstood. I’m going to blame the author for not being clear enough.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange of a fair and honest review.

Reminded me of the old black and white mystery/comedy movies of the 1940's. It started off interesting, then went on too long. Maybe a little shorter would have been better.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

The premise for this book hooked me. Bachlorette party, group of friends for many years, one ends up murdered.
Unfortunately it just didn't sit well with me. I didn't like any of the characters very much. It skipped all over the place and it was somewhat predictable. I was not correct on who the killer was but that didn't even change my opinion. It wasn't bad, it just was okay. Maybe I have been reading to many thrillers and have become jaded.

I also am not a fan of the setting. Chicago is my least favorite city for a thriller. I have absolutely no reason for this, except I think it's second place to New York. When I am reading a book set in New York or L.A. or London, I recognize places mentioned. Chicago, I don't recognize anything but Wacker Drive and Lake Michigan. I even grew up four hours from Chicago. Petty, I know.

First of all, many thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb definitely drew me in.... a young woman murdered following her friend's bachelorette party, a possible attempt on another of the friends, and is someone lying about the events of the evening in question? Well, just about everyone in this story is lying about something, including the events of the night of the murder. Unfortunately, the characters aren't very convincing or likable, perhaps because the story skipped back and forth among the surviving women and none of the characters were well developed, and so I didn't find the story very compelling. I will say that this was a very quick read, and certainly no worse than many current novels. I also admit that I was wrong about the perpetrator. Overall, however, I found the novel unsatisfactory.

It’s the 1980s in Chicago where Maggie and her friends are celebrating a bit too much at her bachelorette night out. In the morning, when Maggie awakes at home there is a handsome stranger in her bed, definitely not her upper crust fiancé. Worse, she receives a call from one of her girlfriends. Another girl who was at the bar calls her with really bad news: one of her gal pals from last night has turned up dead. Different viewpoints and some background on each of her surviving friends casts doubt on what happened to their friend. The police are involved and suspect the women have secrets – and they do.

Although the premise sounds exciting, and the “reveal” at the end was a surprise, I did not connect with any of the self-centered characters. It was kind of a soap opera with too many bad decisions. But it is a fast read for those who want to spend a few hours in the 80s scene.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you Net Galley and Severn House for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Night Out is based on a woman about to get married, her life, and her friends. This is done through multiple narrators, I am generally a fan of books written in this style, and this one did not disappoint. The multiple narrators all had their own stories, own secrets, and really helped the story to fall into place.

The main story takes place in Chicago in the late 80s. Being a fan of Chicago it was fun to really be able to visualize the locations that were visited throughout the book,

Overall the story stayed engaging and was a very easy read. The ending was definitely a surprise. I thought for sure I had figured out the ending about 2/3 through, but I definitely didn't predict it. It was not the typical ending I read in a lot of thrillers and I was very happy about that. Without giving too much away the ending ties up everything, but does leave one question for the reader to answer on their own.

Some things I did not like. The main character complained too much about being fat in her younger years. When she revealed her prior weight it was an average weight for a lot of women and might be upsetting to some readers.

Also although the multiple narratives were very effective, unique, and kept this story going I think they could have cut down one of them as it did get confusing at one point.

4.5 stars!

First off thank you for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review. This book took me a little while to get into but once I did I couldn't put it down. I liked the whole thing! The plot was perfect, I even liked the way that the author counted down to the wedding. I thought I had it figured out and then twist! I really liked the last chapter in the book, it put things into perspective for sure. Read this book!!

These books first came out in 2016 and I read them then. This is one book with all four novellas. This one should be listed as a Christmas book as it is Christmas every day in Holly, N.C. This is a wonderful story about 4 siblings and I loved each character and their story line

Tis the era of female suspense thrillers. And there are so many of them out there, they can’t all possibly all measure up. This is one of those lesser ones. Bachelorette party and then one found dead. Too many characters and none are particularly fascinating or compelling. The novel utilizes the multiple narrative standard, the novel utilizes a lot of genre clichés actually, it just isn’t that interesting. In fact it’s essentially a female fiction drama with a murder in it, a tale of too many relationships without even a working concept of fidelity. And which one of these cheaters is responsible for the murder? Tune in and find out, or not…save yourself some time. The novel is told from a looking back perspective and set in the 1988, although the details don’t seem to matter. Maybe don’t have your character watching Seinfeld then, the show that premiered a year later. That’s a hugely popular tv show too and a really easy thing to check, seems like something the author or editor or proofreader should have noticed. But then again it goes well with the overall quality. The only saving grace here is the ending, where the author tries to be clever and throw in the prerequisite twist, but it isn’t really worth the 300 pages preceding it. And also, yes, 33 year olds were older and more mature on average in 1988 than nowadays, but to hear a 33 year old (then or now) repeatedly bemoaning middle age is infuriatingly tedious. Underwhelming, barely average genre read for undemanding audience with fairly low standards for their mysterious thrills. Readable, but that’s about it. Was an uninspiring selection made due to sleepiness and a reminder to be more vigilant with reading choices in the future. Thanks Netgalley.

Very good story, kept me enthralled to the end with al the twists and turns. Definitely recommended to those who like this type of thriller.

I really tried with this book. I could not relate to any of the characters and could not get into the story.

Excellent story line which was gripping from start to finish. Great characters. I would highly recommend this book.

Thanks Net Galley for the book. It's an interesting and quick beach read for the summer with a bit of a twist at the end. I did enjoy how this book was very easy to read and intriguing enough to want to read. I think the ending was a little unsatisfying but overall I enjoyed the easy read.

Gripping, thrilling, and a roller-coaster ride! I loved the book! This was my first book by Catherine O'Connell and I was very impressed!

Overall this book was a fantastic read, with compelling characters and an ending I didn't expect!

Gripping, thrilling, and a roller-coaster ride! This book is a must read for any fan of suspense, thriller type books. Wow! I loved this book! This was my first book by Catherine O'Connell and I was very impressed! It was so well written, and captivating, it pulled me in from the very first page - in face from the very cover of the book I was hooked! 

Six friends, an upcoming wedding, a murder.... What happen on the night one of them died? Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? Which lies are they telling and what do they have to hide?

This is a page turner of a book that will have you up reading into the late hours of the night as you want to keep reading more to find out what will happen next. I read this book in about a day and it was so hard to put down, it held my interest throughout. Never a dull moment in the book, a lot of shocking twists and turns, and a few finals oh-my-gosh moments at the end, this book was a pleasure to read and review. Just when I thought I had it all figured out I was proven wrong. Again and again. 

Overall this book was a fantastic read, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from cover to end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher Severn House Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow! Exciting from the first page to the shattering conclusions!
Catherine O'Connell really hit the mark on this one! Fast, exciting and lots of drama. Kelly Delaney is tight friends with a small group of rather well to do ladies. She is a runner; only this time she finds her close friend, Angie, who she had been at a shower with the night before - dead. There are already lookers-on and the cops around the body. Kelly is glad to tell the police what she knows about Angie. They had been friends for 20 years, Angie was going through a divorce, and had attended the same bachelorette party as her the previous evening. There had been 6 there; aside from Angie and Kelly were Carol Ann, Suzanne, Natasha and the bride-to-be, Maggie. Three of them went to Rush Street after the shower - that was as fay as Kelly could tell (she wasn't among the three). The same detectives then visited Suzanne and obtained a similar story. It seemed that since the cab let Angie off at her house before Suzanne was left off, that what caused Angie's death happened later that night. They deduced that Angie went somewhere after the cab left.
Carol Ann had thrown the bridal shower for Maggie the night before. When the detectives arrived to take her statement, she felt it best to say her husband came home at midnight rather than the truth: 5 AM. She and Michael, her husband, had been drifting apart. Could he be having an affair with Angie?
The day of Angie's funeral brings some clues as to what happened to cause her death. Albert, a close business associate of Angie's, said that he had seen Angie at The Zone, a gay bar, later the night she died. That as Angie was leaving the bar, she spoke with a tall, good-looking man.
Maggie had slept with Steven Kaufman (whom she met at a bar) two weeks before her wedding. She really wants to hide this information. (Also hide the very cold feet).
Suzanne is very wealthy. She is having an affair with uber rich Vince. Yes, Vince is married.
Just when you're wondering how all of this fits together - it DOES!!! The many characters introduced are closely knit in more ways than first meets the eye. Steven Kaufman is linked to Vince, Carol Ann's husband was the man at The Zone, Kelly tells the detectives about Maggie and Steven, Steven goes missing, Maggie's wedding looks to be in jeopardy and much, much more.
Vince's daughter finds out about his affair and plays a few tricks of her own. Meanwhile, the wedding rehearsal goes as planned and Steven shows up at Vince's house. A super roller coaster ride! Many, many twists and turns, VERY HIGHLY recommend!!!