How do you predict what your friends will be doing in 20 years time? A group of university friends write down their thoughts which are saved for a reunion 2 decades later. Some have been more successful in terms of wealth or relationships but all have issues to face . They question friendships and loyalties as each prediction starts a new chapter and reveals old tensions and new intrigue. A nail-biter of a novel that maintains suspense throughout.

I liked the concept of this, a group of university friends made predictions of where they would all be in 20 years time. 20 years later and it is time to reunite and see who was correct, but is all as it seems? The plot was slick and as the it progressed, clearly full of secrets as well. I was gripped by it and keen to keep reading to unearth what would happen next. I did find the writing a bit confusing and it was not always clear what perspective I was reading from. However I persevered and it did become clear.
I liked the characters, they are an interesting group with different personalities to discover. It was interesting to see their relationships at the beginning of the read and how this changes as the book unfolds.
Overall I was hooked by this read and would recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing UK for an advance copy.

I really enjoyed this story about a group of friends on a reunion. Lobe these stories. Chalk Full of secrets and lies. Highly recommended xx

If you and all of your friends (minus the one that died), when you were 20, all wrote predictions on where you would be in 20 years, what would it look like? Passive aggressive? Naïve? Hopeful?
Or would they be riddled with desperation for the truth to come out?
The Last Truths We Told is about the unveiling of these ‘truths’ over the course of a weekend at an old haunt of theirs, an opulent manor owned by one of the men in the group.

I couldn’t put this down, it was so good. Ego’s at large, poignancy regarding who we are and what we could have been, and reflective of historical issues of patriarchal dominance and manipulation, even of those who are deemed intellectually superior. It just shows how nobody is exempt from coercive behaviour.

I would love to do similar predictions, even now, if only for 10 years. I’m all over it!

This is a good book, but a rather confusing one! It's told between now, then, and fiction, with the fiction being predictions that the characters have made. This is what made it confusing. There was no distinct indication between the real and the fake, and that was how I ended up giving the book 4 stars.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from Netgalley. Unfortunately after much perseverance, I couldn't finish this, finding it slow and the characters unlikeable. The concept was interesting and Watt juggles different narrators well, but unfortunately this didn't click with me.

The Last Truths We Told is a gripping and cleverly crafted read that delves into the intricacies of friendship, ambition, and the haunting nature of truth. Set against the backdrop of Wintercross, an ancient stately house in Devon, the story unfolds over a weekend gathering of nine university friends, who have come together not for a joyful reunion but to confront the shadows of their past.

As an investigative journalist, Maggie narrates this thrilling tale, reflecting on the predictions made about her friends’ futures—some have achieved great success, while others have settled into quieter lives. But the gathering is shrouded in tension, especially with the recent death of their friend Lily, whose unsettling behaviour in the weeks before her passing raises questions that must be addressed.

With an atmosphere thick with mystery, betrayal, and suspense, the book takes readers through the grand halls, secret staircases, and hidden corners of the Fitzwilliams’ ancestral home. The author masterfully weaves humour and intrigue into the narrative, ensuring that I was hooked from start to finish. The twists and turns kept me guessing, and the whodunnit aspect added an extra layer of excitement.

I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a compelling story filled with secrets and revelations that will leave you questioning everything until the very end.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.

I can just imagine going to a reunion and thinking about the promises and predictions I made at uni. In the novel theres a group of people who meet up again and think about the one who is not there. What happened? It's a slow reveal as we meet everyone and then try to work out why that one person is not there.

Had a Donna Tartt mood to it and the character study is quite something!

This was a really fun concept and I was gripped from the start. That said, it got a bit too much by the end, for me it could have benefited from being a few chapters shorter and more succinct.
3 stars.

Best friends from university, now in their early forties gather for a weekend to celebrate their enduring friendship and open the predictions they all made about each other twenty years previously. It was at a dinner party at the end of their final year at Cambridge when Maggie, Elizabeth, Ivo, Jude, Lily, Ayda, Rory, Finley and Ollie agreed to secretly write down what they thought each other would achieve – or not. Over the years, the friends stayed in touch. Elizabeth and Ollie married and divorced. Maggie, now a journalist, and workaholic lawyer Ayda became closer as did actress Jude and NHS doctor Lily. Ivo was a jet-setter multi-millionaire, Rory a high profile MP, Ollie an estate agent and Finley an army man. At Wintercross, Ivo’s lavish stately home in the remote wilds of Devon, the gang arrive under a cloud. Lily died tragically a few months before. She fell in front of a tube train during rush hour. The coroner decided it was death by accident or suicide. But Jude has her suspicions.
Events unfold from Maggie’s point-of-view, and as the close friends drink, eat, hang out and reminisce, everyone takes turns to read out predictions at random. The revelations range from kind and generous to uncomfortable, cruel and mysterious. Maggie is taken back to her college days and through various episodes, triggered by the game, we learn about each of the characters and how they become the people they are today.
Over the course of the weekend more truths are revealed than each of the friends bargained for in Holly Watts page-turner thriller. Her characterizations are polished, and she writes tension as well as she shows us the various friendship dynamics. This is a sophisticated crime thriller with an ensemble cast of complex and well developed characters, about ambition, lies, romance, jealousy and control – and the lengths a group of friends will go to, to protect each other and safeguard secrets. Highly recommend.

A group of University students made predictions for each other as to where they would be in 20 years time. Twenty years later they met up in the ancestral home of one of them for a week-end party and review although missing one, Lily, who had died. It took a while to sort out the characters and I found them rather boring to be honest. It did pick up with the reveal of the predictions although discussion of these were very choppy - sometimes two words, sometimes several pages of not always relevant material. Quite early on there was clearly something going on in the village with blue lights everywhere and Maggie, now a reporter, discovered that a body had been found. Phew, I thought, this is where the 'thriller' promised in the description came in. Wrong. Just back to the predictions amongst a lot of drink, frailties, nastiness, greed and revenge. Everything tied up in the end, including the odd body in the village but I'm afraid that I mainly felt relief at having made it to the end. The descriptions of Dartmoor were really good though, making the outdoor scenes feel real and sometimes spooky; and who doesn't love an old house, secret passages and mines. 2.5* rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

Eight University friends reunite 20 years later and what follows is a pacy thriller.

They all made predictions as to where they would be in their later lives. Were they correct and what secrets would be divulged as their weekend develops.

I loved this book. It is a a drama filled read that is weel written with well developed characters and is a tale worthy of being a TV drama.

I did not guess the ending so for me this was really enjoyable read.

University friend's reunite for a weekend. During this weekend they reveal predictions that they made 20 years ago. There's one friend missing from the table, Lily.
I really liked the character Maggie and enjoyed the pace of the book, yes there's over 70 chapters, but they are short (each chapter is a prediction)

A good read with a whodunnit! Definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Holly Watt and Raven books for this copy to review x

I couldn't do it. I read 60% and put it aside. Not my cup of tea; I couldn't get into it and was terribly bored.

I was attracted to the premise of this book with the reading of predictions penned by a group of university friends twenty years earlier. And there were many good things about the thriller - not least the ending which picked up pace dramatically.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I struggle when there are too many characters, resulting in never really engaging with any of them or caring about their outcomes. As a result I had to force myself to finish the novel. This is a very personal opinion and I’m sure other readers will feel differently. And although the predictions were fun, I felt there were too many of them which reduced their impact. I did however enjoy the spooky setting and beautiful descriptions.

Thank you to Holly Watt, Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for my advance copy.

Holly Watt has done it again! I absolutely love her books, she’s one of my favourite writers and I can see this one being HUGE. I was hooked from page one and could barely put it down!

I love novels about class reunions or meeting up with people from eons ago and this was the perfect blend of thriller and mystery. Holly’s a fantastic writer and I can’t wait to see what she does next because it’s always incredibly exciting!

The last truths we told follows eight friends over three days as they get together to read the predictions they wrote on each other twenty years ago when they were all at university. Over the three days several of the predictions reveal twists and turns I honestly did not see coming resulting in a tense stand off between the group.

The pacing is steady until about the last one hundred to one hundred and fifty pages where it really picks up. During the steady pace, the constant twists and revelations makes you not want to put the book down and I found it to be a really unpredictable read. Even the few times I thought i predicted I did not predict in full.

I will say the sometimes constant short sentences do occassionally pull you out of the story at first. The constant focus on the words "i'm scared" and the pushing of a sense of forbodding for what felt like half of the book did feel a bit overused but this is obviously personal preference.

Overall a very enjoyable read that keeps your gripped.

I was slightly disappointed by this book, on the surface it was a great plot but I found there were so many characters and you were thrown into it so quickly that it became a little confusing. There were times when it was eerie and fast paced but it became a little repetitive and I struggled with the writing style. I want to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and please do read it for yourselves this is just my personal opinion.

This wasn't really what I'd expected. From the blurb, I was anticipating a pacy thriller with a strong 'whudunnit' element. Instead, I found myself reading a novel about a group of university friends reuniting in the aftermath of the supposed suicide of one of their group. The story meandered slowly forwards but lacked any sense of pace. The writing was lovely and the descriptions - especially of the beautiful house where they're spending the weekend - was excellent. But I'm still bemused why this one is being clearly marketed as a thriller ('unputdownable page turner... from an award winning thriller writer').

I really enjoyed this book the only downside was I did feel like it was overly descriptive at some points making the book longer than necessary. Some people may enjoy this but personally I like thrillers to be a little more fast-paced