A dark tale of friendship and rivalry. Old friends have a pre-arranged date to gather together 20 years on from university days. They had all filled in predictions of what they would all be doing 20 years later.
However what starts as a great catch-up turns into a darkness amongst them.
Set on the wilds of wintry Dartmoor, you need to wrap up warm for this one.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was an interesting, different, premise.
I liked the predictions and the fact it's about old friends.
It's the first I've read by this author and based on this, I'd read more.
It was easy to read, kept me interested, and a good, solid story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book.

Firstly, the premise was great - a group of university friends meet 20 years later and read out predictions they made for each other, in light of murder and deeply buried secrets. The book was very fast-paced with short chapters which I love. It felt quite Freida McFadden in its tone. Great varied characters.

What I would have liked was more development at the end and diving deeper into how Maggie understood what Ayda/Ivo had done. I still don’t really understand how she uncovered the subtleties of their crime.

Even a while after finishing this book I have thoughts... wavering between 3 and 4 stars...
I think I quite liked the premise of this book but I feel, for me, it fell a bit short in execution and I got a bit bored along the way. I think also the fact that I didn't really care about any of the characters didn't really help either.
So... we start in the present with 7 friend from university reconnecting after the death of one of the friends, some 20 years after they first all met. Apparently, as you do, they made some predictions about where they would be, what they would become, after uni.
This is what I found intriguing and even though I am not in contact with the people I went to uni with, and actually never think about them, I wonder what they might have had me doing now - I can bet that they would have never put me where I actually am though!
But I am afraid that I found myself really not caring about any of the "friends" and what they should have been doing compared with what they are doing. I guess it added conflict into a situation that found them brought together unnaturally. I mean, if they were meant to ave stayed friends, they would have? There are reasons that aren't bosom buddies anymore... And then when you throw in Lily's death, it all gets a bit convoluted and eye-rolly.
All in all, not really one for me. But I guess we can't win them all, and at least I got to the end and, thankfully, it all did come together nicely. Although I am not sure it was worth the journey...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A group of friends get together in a house in Dartmoor for a weekend to read their predications they wrote about 20 years ago. This leads them to reminisce about their time together and their past actions. It was full of nostalgia whilst they remember what they wrote about each other. It was unputdownable and a page turner of a read to discover how they are in the present compared to their past predications of each other. The story comes to point where they understand what happened in the past and how their future will be.

The Last Truths We Told is a story of a friendship group who have a 20 year reunion to share predictions that they'd made about each others lives and where they'd landed. Only one of them is missing. Lily had been hit by a train and killed, the friends are steeped in suspicion, lies and deceit which does make for an interesting read.

This is where I wish half stars counted in ratings because I'm not sure it deserves 3 stars but couldn't rate as a straight up 4 star book as in the beginning, I wasn't gripped in the way that I would hope to be when picking up a thriller. The last 30% of this book will have you staying up to finish it though, so be warned not to pick it up around that mark if you need an early night.

I was quite impressed that I'd worked out the who of this read but couldn't quite get the why, so as the story unfolded and we hit the fast paced section in the latter part of the book, I was really pulled in. Overall quite a good thriller read! .

Thank you to NetGalley and Raven Books for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The betrayal and secrets was so well done, it was an addictive read with so much intensity and danger throughout.

A group of university friends gather for a weekend reunion on Dartmoor to reveal the predictions they made about each other twenty years ago. However, one of their number, Lily, is dead after tumbling from a tube station platform. Was it an accident? Did Lily take her own life? Or, is someone responsible?

So many elements kept me reading this at speed. The characters are well drawn, and the decision to head up each chapter with a prediction is an original way to dripfeed information about the subgroups, alliances, and petty jealousies. Discovering what their friends wrote down in the past ignites past tensions and makes the characters question how well they know each other, and whether they like these people they share a history with. The house itself, complete with priest holes and secret passages, and the wider landscape of the moor with bogs and disused mines adds to the unsettling atmosphere.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is the first book I have by this author and I was really impressed.
Twenty years ago a group of university friends, shining bright about to take their place in the world make a list of predictions about their futures now they are all gathered together again for a weekend. Did their futures pan out as predicted?
This book is the epitome of a pageturner, it pulled me in from the opening chapters and its quick pace , twists and turns and cast of characters insisted I read this quickly.

Full of deceit, secrets, sharp writing, layers of mystery and a deeply satisfying conclusion. Bravo, Recommend.

A twisty tale of secrets, lies, and the fragility of old friendships.
Watt weaves together a complex narrative with breadcrumbs and red herrings scattered throughout. Every reveal feels deliberate, and the puzzle pieces fall into place with a satisfying click. The pace is spot on—just when you think you have a moment to breathe, another layer of deceit is peeled back.

While the characters are interesting, I found it hard to connect with them emotionally. Perhaps it’s because they are all wrapped up in their own subterfuge, making them feel guarded and, at times, distant. Still, their flaws and desires drive the story forward, and Watt does a fantastic job of exploring the tensions and dynamics within the group.

The central mystery is gripping, and the exploration of how far people will go to protect themselves kept me hooked. Watt’s writing is sharp, and the themes of ambition, betrayal, and the weight of truth make this more than just a standard whodunnit.

If you love thrillers with layers of deception and an ever-present undercurrent of tension, this is definitely worth a read.

I enjoyed this book however not as much as I thought I would. It’s hard to describe and pinpoint exactly what it was but I just couldn’t get into it as much as I thought I would.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review

Nine university friends made a series of predictions about how their lives would fare. Twenty years ago, most of them meet for the weekend. For many, it’s a chance to reunite and catch up, for others, reliving those uni days aren’t the most comfortable. Besides, there are mixed fortunes: some have gone on to achieve much more than their peers anticipated but others haven’t quite lived up to expectation. One of them, Lily, is dead, telling one of her friends that something was frightening her. Maggie soon realises that everyone’s got a secret (or two) hidden from the people who were once their closest allies.

2.25*
I enjoyed the layout of the book with a prediction being at the start of each chapter giving it a topic for the characters to discuss. I also liked how this enabled the characters to revisit memories from 20 years ago which helps the reader understand them better. However, I felt it was very slow and repetitive with the characters constantly questioning why each other would have written certain predictions. I enjoyed the ending and I didn't see the twist coming. I don't think I was the right audience for this book but that wont stop me reading more of Holly Watt's work in the future.

Holly Watts has changed direction with her latest book. This is standalone about a group of university friends who reunite after 20 years but one of them Lily has died. The title refers to the revealing of predictions they each made with some accurate predictions and others suggesting unexplained events that have occurred. The lying starts and each of them become suspicious and their reunion turns sinister…The truth of course is revealed. I didn’t gel with the characters and found the old Cambridge University trope a tad tiring. Loved her previous books but just couldn’t get into this one I’m afraid.

If you can’t trust your best friends, then who? That is the question that Journalist Maggie has to ask herself when she meets her old University pals for a twentieth anniversary get together. And it seems that, when it comes to this particular group, trust is something hard earned and easily lost. The get together is already tinged with sadness following the recent death of one of their group, Lily, but given that she had tried to contact Maggie just before she died, the fear in her final message makes Maggie wonder if Lily’s death was really a tragic accident after all.

It’s a strange old world, University and the people we meet in Holly Watt’s latest novel are a very strange and diverse bunch. If it weren’t for the fact of that it is their reunion that introduces us to them, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether any of them could truly have been friends to begin with. Money and influence for some, just getting by for others. And so much tension between them all that aside from the nostalgia that Maggie clearly feels about her former years, I would wonder just why she stays at Wintercross at all and doesn’t just run for the hills.

I like how Holly Watt has framed this story, using the premise of the friends reuniting to read a bunch of predictions they had made about each other twenty years earlier and agreed to read together. It adds extra conflict to what turns out to be an already tense situation. Nothing explains the former, and present, dynamic between the group – Maggie, estate agent Ollie and his soon to be ex-wife Elizabeth, high flying lawyer, Ayda, the former actress turned bar staff, Jude, Tech Guru, Ivo, and brothers Rory and Finlay – than understanding all the petty jealousies and barbs that they wrote about each other in their youth. Some of the predictions simply came true. Others appear malicious and intended to cut deep. And then there are those which seem all too prescient and designed to spread distrust and fear.

There is an underlying mystery that feeds through the story, and the author uses the setting of the sprawling estate, the relatively remote location, and a mystery death nearby to build the suspense. Mix in the overwhelming sense of unease that oozes from Maggie, that suspicion of her friends that is fed and enhanced by the increasingly erratic behaviour of Jude, and the clear evidence that the group are hiding something from her, and there were some many question s floating around my head, I really needed to know what was going on. It all links back to a tragedy from their past, and is fed by the overwhelming sense of entitlement felt by some of the characters. To that end, Maggie really stands out, a woman from far more humble beginnings that it makes you wonder just how she ended up in this particular dysfunctional clique.

This is a creeping, atmospheric thriller, where the sense of threat slowly builds, but the understanding that deep dark secrets are being kept is ever present. Holly Watt has created a group of characters it was almost impossible to like, although I did feel a small amount of affinity for Maggie at times, and empathy towards Jude at others. It is a tragedy that slowly builds to a high stakes, increasingly tense showdown, and a reveal that has a certain amount of tragic inevitability about it. There is a certain kind of sociopathy that comes from some of the character which the author has portrayed perfectly, friends sacrificing the happiness of each other for personal gain. To see how that works out for them, you’ll need to read for yourself.

I’d like to thank Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Last Truths We Told’ written by Holly Watt in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

A group of nine university friends write down their predictions for the future, to be opened at a reunion to be arranged in the future. Twenty years later they meet at a manor house and each person reveals their predictions and whether they achieved them. One of their friends, Lily, isn’t present as prior to the reunion she appeared to be frightened then tragically fell in front of a train during rush hour – suicide or an accident?

‘The Last Truths We Told’ is a mystery/thriller with an interesting concept. From the description it sounded the type of book I’d enjoy but there were a lot of characters involved that I found difficult to engage with. The story was slow and didn’t really speed up until later but by then I was so bored that I’d lost interest in the characters and the plot and was glad to reach the end. This is the first novel I’ve read by this author and although it was okay it’s not one I’d remember or want to read again.

I was granted an ARC of this book on NetGalley and I really liked the concept of it. 7 university friends get together for a reunion weekend 20 years on, where they all share the predictions that they once made about one another’s lives. On the face of it I thought I would really enjoy reading this, however it unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations.

Nothing of excitement really seemed to happen until maybe 75% of the way through and I didn’t feel desperate to read on at any point throughout the book. The last 25% or so was more fast paced, however I still wasn’t blown away. Maggie’s character started off strong for me and I thought I would become very invested in her, but my opinion of this soon changed and at parts I found her to in fact be quite tedious.

I did enjoyed the way that the ending unraveled and I felt that no questions were left unanswered, however overall I didn’t love this book.

Set in a country manor on Dartmoor , a group of Cambridge University friends get back together after 20 years to read through the predictions they made about each other, only one of them is missing. The tension is there right from the start and old grudges rise back to the surface as the prefictions are read out. There are also a lot of secrets. My one criticism is that there were too mamy predictions and that part dragged on.The characters aren't particularly likeable, apart from Maggie, who seems sad and lonely. However, the writing draws you in to their complex and complicated friendships right until the end. Absolutely gripping.

Secrets Will Out..
A weekend reunion of old University friends brings secrets out of the woodwork in this well written, slow burn suspense. All those years ago, these friends made predictions of exactly where they would be in twenty years time and they have now gathered - some predictions have materialised and some have not, but one of the group is missing. Who among this group is lying, who is telling the truth and who is hiding something? Carefully and carefully plotted with a slow reveal of secrets, a well crafted cast of characters, an atmospheric backdrop with an underlying vein of menace and a deliciously executed denouement.

An absolutely cracking thriller from the excellent Holly Watt. Having very much enjoyed her series set in the world of investigative journalism, I was very much looking forward to this standalone, and it doesn't disappoint. As usual, the writing is excellent, the characters are fascinating and the plot intriguing. While they were at university nine friends made predictions about each other and they have come together twenty years later to reveal what was said. Many truths emerge and some revelations are shocking. Brilliant!