The Last Act of Adam Campbell by Andy Jones is a poignant and powerful novel that explores the themes of love, loss, and redemption. The main character, Adam, is a successful actor who has everything he ever wanted, except for the one thing he can't have: his wife, Anna, who died in a car accident. When he receives a mysterious invitation to relive one day with her, he jumps at the chance, hoping to find closure and peace. But what he discovers is that some things are better left in the past, and that some choices have unforeseen consequences. The book is well-written, engaging, and emotional, with realistic characters and a twisty plot. It will make you laugh, cry, and think about the meaning of life and love. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good drama with a touch of fantasy.

This is a book about people who are suffering from a terminal diagnosis
This has an amazing cast of characters and the book is so beautifully written.
This is a fantastic piece of writing.

I really enjoyed this novel.

It is clear from the title and the opening scenes that this is a book about death... but it is also about life in many ways.

And it’s not just about Adam Campbell - there is a whole cast of characters behind the scenes.

Adam Campbell is no stranger to death, He lost both his parents at a young age. But receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis and facing his own mortality, he is referred to a support group for people living with cancer.
When the group find themselves without their facilitator (no spoilers), not wanting to disband, they decide to put on a show, inspired by the page of Shakespeare quotes they were given on joining the group.

Each of the cast has their own battles to fight, illness related and otherwise, and the connections they make with each other feel real and honest.
The parallels to Shakespeare and theatre are perfect for fans of the stage and the bard, but even if you’re not, you will still enjoy this heartwarming novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

The Last Act Of Adam Campbell was an absorbing read which manages to be both heartbreaking and heart warming at the same time.

The story follows a group of people Adam meets at a self help group and I found it very emotional to follow their stories. All of the members are sadly dying and watching them having to come to terms with that was very poignant. I can only imagine how hard this must be to come to terms with and I found I had a lump in my throat whilst reading. As a parent I found Adam’s story particularly hard as I realised how much he would miss if his daughter’s life.

This was a really absorbing story and I quickly found myself absorbed in the group. The reader is given access to the character’s inner most thoughts so I felt I was going on their hard journey alongside them. Although there were some emotional moments in the story there was also a little bit if humour which helped the story not become to bogged down in sadness.

i thought the ending was very well done and hit just the right note for me. This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I’d definitely be interested in reading more from him in the future.

Huge thanks to Jenny from Hodder for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

Crying by the end of this I was so engrossed in the lives of everyone.
So pleased that there was an epilogue which finalised everything and tied up any loose ends.
A real thought provoking novel that has really hit home in 2020. Life is precious. Enjoy every moment.

I enjoyed the characters and their stories in this book and the way their illness bought them all together. It was a beautiful read.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book.

Simply beautiful, this heart wrenching novel had me hooked, only stopping reading to compose myself. One of the most beautiful books I’ve read this year.

The Last Act of Adam Campbell (2020) is British author Andy Jones’ fifth novel. This book approaches a difficult and delicate subject – cancer – in a cheerful way that is nonetheless compassionate and respectful. Andy Jones’ writing is hilarious, even when its subject is so delicate. I’d never heard this many cancer jokes – tasteful and respectful cancer jokes, which I wasn’t aware was a thing at all – and I’m here for it. For example, when the group of terminal cancer patients gains new members, one of the characters says they’ve metastasized. I laughed my butt off.
The author is sensitive to the seriousness of the subject, but his characters aren’t just victims. They have just as many qualities and quirks as anyone else, but they’re also going through the painful experience of dealing with a terminal illness.
Adam Campbell led a perfectly normal and happy life: he had a good job, a nice home, and great relationships and Heather and their daughter, six-year-old Mabel. But he ruined all of that when he cheated on Heather. And things took a turn for the worse when he found out he has cancer and only about twelve months left to live.
To make the most of the little time he has left, he joins a therapy group for cancer patients, which quickly becomes a theater group. The Rude Mechanicals then write their own play, Shakespeare in Therapy, in which they act out Shakespeare’s best and most famous deaths within a narrative where Shakespeare tells his psychiatrist about his fixation with death. An adulterer (Adam), a former drug addict, a nun, a high school girl, a train rider, a mom and a Scottish man who finds himself among a bunch of English folks become Romeo, Juliet, Macbeth, Desdemona, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Cleopatra and more.
It’s impressive how well Andy Jones knows Shakespeare’s works and the way he gracefully implemented his knowledge into this story to show its characters that death is an essential and inevitable part of life (and it’s not something you should fear or that should keep you from living) is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. Life is faced as if it was theater: it’s either a comedy or a tragedy, but no more than that. In Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet didn’t have to die; they could’ve survived. But they died – just like the Rude Mechanicals will.
The book’s title comes from that connection to theater: in spite of only being in his forties, Adam Campbell has reached his life’s final act. Like many people, he always thought he’d live to be an old man and that right now he’d be somewhere in act two. What happens when we suddenly must cram a ton of information into a writing project we didn’t bother to outline and that has surpassed the word limit? What can we do when we no longer have the time to live the life we always thought we could start working towards someday down the road?
The Last Act of Adam Campbell shows you how cancer progression and its treatments affect patients physically and emotionally. Adam can’t bear to look at his own body, at the hair and weight he’s lost, at his swollen knees, at his sore feet, at his peeling skin… He’s no longer the person he was not that long ago. The treatments for which he’s so grateful cause terrible side effects that keep on coming. Are they worth it? Why does it seem like his doctors don’t have any answers? And why do we live in a society in which we spend so much of our lives working when we could be spending that time with our loved ones? Why do we take everything we have for granted? Why did Adam do the things he did? How do you live knowing you might be doing everything for the last time? In the midst of all this uncertainty, Adam is certain of one thing: he needs to work on his relationship with the family he’d disappointed.
The story follows mostly Adam’s illness and journey, but the rest of the Rude Mechanicals are very well-developed characters as well. Tom, for example, is young man who has recently gone off drugs and he believes his risky behavior caused his illness. But he’s grateful for his cancer, in a way. His life is better than ever now that he has it. Because of his diagnosis, he was given a place to live when he was homeless. Thanks to cancer, he’s sober. Also thanks to cancer, he’s met the Rude Mechanicals and Laura, the first person to truly love him, believe in him and challenge him. Now, he even has goals: he wrote down a list of Shakespeare plays he wants to read before he dies, which is undoubtedly a better hobby than looking for people who might sell him questionable drugs.
Laura hasn’t even finished high school yet, but her life might be nearing its end. Should someone like her worry about getting a tattoo she might regret in thirty years’ time? Should she care about getting into college? Do you get to be a normal teenager if you’re constantly in the hospital and your parents make a big deal out of everything because their precious little daughter has cancer? Laura also has goals, and her main one is to have sex (“She has been well and truly fucked by cancer. But so far, by nobody else.”), perhaps with Tom, if everything goes well.
Pat’s storyline, the one of a nun who’s rapidly losing her mental abilities (that damn cancer, huh?) while struggling with her faith and with a love she never got to live, is one of my favorites, but I don’t want to write while crying right now. What will happen to her dog when she dies? Try thinking about that without sniffling.
I believe very few people will feel indifferent to The Last Act of Adam Campbell. I laughed, cried, put off reading the ending and wished some miracle would cure these characters. But that wouldn’t have been fair, and it didn’t happen. This book follows the journeys of seven people who must learn to accept the fact that their illness is terminal and incurable. It’s realistic. However, even during what could’ve been the saddest part of the book (the last part of this final act), Andy Jones kept a positive outlook and wrote the perfect ending, under the circumstances. This entire book is practically perfect.

This could be a 5 handkerchief out of 5 as I cried a lot and loved this story.
It's poignant, realistic and moving.
The well thought characters are faulted but you cannot help loving them while reading their ordeal and how they face cancer.
The plot is well crafted and kept me hooked. I loved the style of writing and the empathy of the author toward his characters.
It was an excellent read and I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions

It's a beautifully written book, very touching because it's about loss, cancer and love.
It's one fo those you'll need tissues. Really compelling, loveable characters.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

I have become a big fan of Andy Jones, he writes with such heart.
This novel centres on a small support group of cancer suffers, who decide to put on a play of Shakespearian deaths to raise money for the local hospice.
I met and fell in love with all of these characters and their foibles. Each one was so relateable and their stories told with such compassion.
I don’t want to go into the characters as it’s their story to be told.
Loved this one and thank the publisher and Netgalley for a copy to read.

A beautifully written novel about love and loss. About life and about one of life’s taboo subjects. Cancer.

A charming, thought provoking, happy and sad tale

Difficult, upsetting but a rewarding compelling cry out loud story that will live long in the memory,

This story, whilst focusing on Adam, also lets us in to the harsh realities other cancer patients living with a terminal diagnosis are facing. Meeting in a cancer support group, friendships are quickly formed, and it’s these, as well as their own individual stories, that we really follow throughout the pages.

The author does a really good job of conveying the realities of living, and potentially dying, with a variety of cancers; from the hair and weight loss, to medication side effects and weakness. That said, he does not dwell unnecessarily and this couldn’t be further from a tale of doom and gloom. Despite the subject matter it is actually a very moving and uplifting read.

For me this wasn’t really about Adam Campbell, it was about all the characters, and on the whole I’d say the author does a very good job of developing their own individual stories. However, as is perhaps inevitable, there were times where I felt things were a little rushed, and events/situations skimmed over just so we can get to the next bit. Equally, there were times the narrative jumped so quickly, I was three sentences in to a paragraph before I realised we’d changed character. That was really confusing, and could easily be resolved with a bit more stringent editing/better layout. That said, those are my only two mild criticisms for a book that otherwise would have been a five star.

This was a beautifully written book, with a very heart-warming story. My biggest takeaway from it is that Andy Jones is a fantastic writer, and I will definitely be reading more of his work.

Adam Campbell had it all – a loving wife, adorable little girl, the perfect family – until he threw it all away with an old flame one drunken night. And now, given just 12 months to live, he is desperate to make amends of wasted moments and past regrets with the limited time he has left.

He joins a cancer support group - an eclectic bunch of people, each facing their own battle, bucket list and ultimate deadline. Together they help each other through their ‘last act’.

The characters, including a nun, an ex-junkie and a young girl desperate not to die a virgin, are likeable and well-rounded. Adam is complex – tragic events from his past affected his future, including what lead to his infidelity. His efforts to hide his illness from young daughter Mable is heart-wrenching.

This is a stunningly poignant story about making every moment count. Moving and life affirming, witty and sharp, Andy Jones is the master of tugging at your heart strings.

Aw, I loved this! "The Last Act Of Adam Campbell" is about life and death, second chances, redemption, the power of friendship and finding it in the most unlikely places. I really like Andy Jones' writing style and characterisation. I got completely lost in the book and found it more uplifting than I had expected. And, of course, in places I bawled my eyes out.

A thought- provoking story which had me invested in the characters, their lives and feelings. A group of cancer patients form a support group, and plan to put on. A play based on Shakespeare’s obsession with grisly deaths. Their personal journeys intertwine as they consider their pasts, families and lives, their present predicaments and of course their uncertain futures. A tragi-comedy with a lot of soul.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication date in exchange for an honest review..

I received a copy of this book from TBC Reviewers request- Thank you
What a tragically beautiful book, Andy has taken some of the most emotive subjects (cancer and death) and from the raw subject matter created something that was so moving as a reader I couldn’t help but weep. You cry for the what could have been, the moments that have been lost and the times that won’t come round. But beyond the tears you see the strength of the characters that Andy has created a truly beautiful work
Thank you

I love Andy Jones’ writing. Every time I think he can’t possibly better his latest book, he proves me wrong. The Last Act of Adam Campbell is astoundingly good. It takes a very dark subject and approaches it with warmth, wisdom and humanity. Nobody is a saint because of their diagnosis. No tragic characters here: just real, fallible people dealing with life and death. I loved the characters and the vivid way they were portrayed. It broke my heart but also gave me hope. Brave, wickedly funny and profoundly affecting. Wow!

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Thank you Jenny Platt for the invitation to the tour and for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Firstly, this book should come with a packet of tissues, I do not usually read books about death and dying but this one intrigued me. As soon as I started reading it I loved it, even though I knew that it would be emotional.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Adam has a counsellor, Dr Sam who persuades him to come along to a group of people who also have cancer, he is reluctant but goes and meets the other characters who feature in the story, Tom, Laura, Patricia, Vernon, Erin and Raymond.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>The story takes an unexpected turn and the group becomes important in all the characters lives as they set off on their journeys to sort things while they can. Whilst having to go through the treatments, side effects and realisations of their illnesses. I am not going to share too much as I think this is the best way to read this book.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>I liked Adam he has made mistakes but he really loves his little girl Mabel and he wants to make the most of the time he has left with her.&nbsp; As a Mum I found Adam's story the hardest to read but it is written in a sensitive, heartfelt and uplifting way..</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>You will need a lot of tissues, as it is funny, sad and touching and really shows the strength of human spirit and how even when everything seems hopeless you can find hope as the group all do in The Rude Mechanicals. A great but&nbsp; heart-wrenching read.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

A heart wrenching emotional box of tissues nearby read.A group of terminally ill cancer patients form a support group a group where they share all their feelings a group where they cry can be angry andalso have fun laugh.When they decide to put ion a play I could not put this book down.So moving so real characters you will not be able to forget,#netgalley#hodderstoughton