A gripping thriller involving the lives of 3 women who do not know eachorher but have a joint hatred for Ellis Cobain, and for food reason too. But who is responsible for Ellis' murder? Kept me guessing until the end!

Three seemingly unconnected women, Celia, Juliette and Nadia, meet at a boutique hotel on the Cornish coast. Initially unaware they are connected by the very rich Ellis Cobain who, in public, is a great philanthropist, on track to receive a knighthood for his good works. Out of the public eye Cobain is an arrogant man who torments each of the women in different ways. A plan to blackmail him is hatched between them, however this goes wrong and Cobain is found dead and very quickly declared murdered. None of the women knows which one of them has killed him and all three are desperate to cover their tracks.

The Last Time I Saw Him is the fourth in the Detective Stephanie King series and the first Rachel Abbot book I have read. Usually I would try and read a series such as this in order to understand the back story of the main character, however this book works really well as a stand alone novel. The references to previous storylines are subtle and wouldn't spoil any enjoyment of reading the others out of order.

The plot moves along at a good pace, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. It is skillfully written and kept me guessing right to the end. Thoroughly enjoyed reading my first Rachel Abbott thriller, looking forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for this ARC. The publication date is the 15th August! Where do I begin?! Another fantastic nail biting thriller by Rachel I adore this authors writing style she always keeps you guessing until the very last line!

This book was a twisty plot with many twists and turns that kept me engaged until the very end! Overall, I’d highly recommend this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars!

A really gripping read & I was engrossed the whole way through - a real page turner. For me, the ending loses a star as I found it a little disappointing, but that may just be personal preference.

What a great book by Rachel, lots of twist and turns and hooked to the end. All of Rachel's book are a must read for me.

[TW Domestic Violence] I’ve read all of the books in this series. Set on the south coast of England, we follow Detective Stephanie King, as she investigates a murder at a fancy hotel, mere days after she stayed there. The plot is intricate and I was left cheering when the victim was found dead. The questions are - who did it? Will they be brought to justice?
Have tissues on hand for this one.

Thank you Headline/ Wildfire and NetGalley for this E-ARC of The Last Time I Saw Him by Rachel Abbott.

This is the fourth in a series , but I read it as a standalone and , it can be read as a standalone.

I loved the plot, the premise of three women who have a lot of trauma in common due to one man and now are implicated in his murder. The twists keep coming and truly I found the end took me completely by surprise. I loved this psychological thriller and I immediately went and bought the first three in the series .

Rachel Abbott never disappoints, this book has it all, murder, suspense, grief, love, twists.
The story hooks you from the beginning, characters to pity and champion, character to despise and amongst it all a detective team working together to solve a murder.

If The Other Woman and Bad Sisters came together and the outcome was a psychological thriller. We get three perspectives, so I'm not sure why Juliette's is in the first person, but definitely a page turner. And even though the denouement is where many thrillers can fall short, this ending did not disappoint.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I've not read any of the series and will now be going back to previous ones. The twists and turns of this whodunnit had me gripped and made me keep reading to find out who, how and why he was murdered - the why more obvious but the who and how far more complicated.

A great read but not the end I wanted.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

First things first, I really disliked Nadia’s character. I think she was meant to be a woman in charge, fierce in a good way, but to me she came off as really rude and disrespectful which kind of put me off. I also get that she was a woman who was in pain but it still did not justify her rudeness.

The premise was good. I liked most of the characters but for me the pace was off. Took too long to start, was repetitive at points and felt slightly too convoluted for my taste. Most of the characters I did like, Stephanie, Gus, Russell, and Juliette.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending, it has some good aspects and some bad ones.

**from Goodreads**

This was my first Rachel Abbott read. This book is the fourth in a series and I had not read the earlier 3. I usually find this troubling and prefer to read the earlier ones in the series but I did not have time to do so. However, I didn't find this a problem as the story can easily be read as a standalone story.

The plot follows four women, the three protagonists and Stephanie King investigating. Three women, Celia, Juliette and Nadia all have one man in common, Ellis Cobain, and he has ruined all three women's lives. When he is discovered dead on his yacht one morning, we follow the three women and their stories in the build up to the day of the murder with devastating consequences.

I enjoyed this book overall. I like thrillers and I like mysteries. This book had a good amount of twists and turns and a decent ending. However, like some other reviewers, I found it at times to be a bit slow. I felt that it was probably about 50 pages too long and that it could be condensed down. It was quite repetitive at times and the chapters jump around without an indication as to whose chapter it is until you read down the chapter. This means you have to stay engaged with the book or you risk getting lost.

I would read another Rachel Abbott but I wouldn't feel the need to revisit the earlier books in the series now.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC version.

This is my first book by Rachel Abbott and I can see why she amassed so many fans.
It was a good read, some great gripping thriller moments and quite enjoyable.

The Last Time I Saw Him by Rachel Abbott is another gripping story in the Stephanie King police series. This storyline features three women, Celia, Juliette and Nadia who all have, unknown to each other, one man in common, Ellis Cobain. He is a wealthy philanthropist who believes he is in line to receive a knighthood. Ellis’s public persona is unblemished but underneath his smooth public face is a nasty, unpleasant, arrogant man.This veneer is only known to the three women whose lives have been blemished by this deeply flawed individual. They are brought together in this small boutique hotel by the sheer arrogance of this man. He will gets his just desserts when the three women get together and pledge to blackmail Ellis and free themselves of his malevolent influence. Ellis is found murdered the next morning after the blackmail scheme is accomplished but no-one knows who killed Ellis Cobain.
Highly recommended

Ellis Cobain is an enigmatic philanthropist, full of wit and charm. He also happens to be sadistic and cruel with a mean streak a mile wide. When he’s found dead on his yacht the main suspects are his wife, his mistress and his ex lover who all had more than enough motive to want him dead. The story follows the investigation and in true Scooby Do style, unmasking the killer (s).

This is one of the Stephanie King series although I didn’t know this until I’d read the book as it works as a stand alone.

A solid read but not many twists and certainly ones you see coming. I felt like the first half of the book plodded slightly and was a little repetitive. Having said that I did enjoy it but wouldn’t be looking to read any of the others in the series. Fans of the series will probably enjoy this. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

This book is no. 4 in the DS Stephanie King series, which I wasn't aware of before reading as the author is new to me. This can be read as a standalone.

It was a bit slow to get into but once it got going it was a good read. I felt for a couple of the characters, not all of them though!! The murdered Ellis Cobain is completely unlikeable and not missed! You really wonder who was responsible as they all had motives, some interesting turns to keep you reading, and at one point I did have tears in my eyes for one of the characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline Wildfire for the ARC in return for an honest review.

#TheLastTimeISawHim #NetGalley

I enjoyed this book, it kept me gripped to the end and concluded well, albeit with a poignant twist. I’ve not read anything by this author previously but really enjoyed the writing style so will look for her other books. This is the fourth book in a series but stands alone and can be read without reading the others. The book leaves you wanting to know more about the detective, Stephanie King, and I will look forward to the next instalment please Rachel.

This was enjoyable to read. However I wasn’t really liking the 3 women involved. It somehow felt kind of dated to me.

Wow! Wow! Wow!
This book kept me gripped to the end. I'd no idea who killed Ellis but agree this nasty character was better off dead. 🤗
Plot twists a plenty and great characters. What would you do?

A millionaire is found alone and dead on his yacht moored at a Cornish seaside hotel's harbour in suspicious circumstances. The boat that takes passengers to and from the yacht is tethered to it from when the victim travelled to the yacht the night before, and you can't get to it by foot. So who committed the murder, and how did they get onto and then off the yacht? A-ha, a "locked-room" mystery. The suspects are the wife, the married lover, and the ex-lover. All have solid alibis, but also very strong motives. The more you find out about the victim, the more you wonder why nobody had killed him before. To say he's beyond contempt is an understatement, and I almost wanted to give the killer(s) a medal for services to humanity.

This is a Stephanie King mystery, which I wasn't aware of before I read it, bearing in mind this was a new-to-me author. The book nevertheless works as a standalone, and I could still read it without feeling like I had missed out on anything that had taken place in previous books. The pacing is fast, there are a lot of flashbacks, and it kept me guessing throughout. There's also a shocking ending, as well as no guarantee that the murderer (or is it murderers?) will face justice. And to be honest, it really wouldn't bother me if they got away with it.

The book itself isn't published until 15th August by Headline Books . I read an ARC for NetGalley, which was the first time I'd ever done that, and I want to thank them for allowing me to read and review this book. I have to say I really enjoyed both the experience and the story, and I would absolutely go and read Abbott's back catalogue after this. If you like murder mysteries then give this one a go when it's published.