The premise of this novel was good but the idea soon tailed off. The predictions became irrelevant and the story turned into a murder mystery, with many secrets from the past coming into play. The group of friends were highly educated and many of them had illustrious careers, Others had fared less well. The women had more rounded characters than the men, who sounded interchangeable to me. It was OK but not very memorable.

A group of university friends from Cambridge, all clever and bright, have a dinner party and write down predictions about each other.
20 years later, they meet up for a long weekend, and the envelope is opened and the predictions read out.
Lots of history and memories are relived, and everyone's lives back then and now are slowly revealed.
Then things turn darker. How well do they really know each other? Is anyone what they seem or want to show the outside world?
And is a recent suicide possibly murder?
I was absolutely hooked and read through the night.
The characters are interesting and multilayered. What the world sees, what their friend sees, and what they feel inside are all different things.
The predictions take them back to when they were about to conquer the world and make all their dreams come true.
It is also one of those books that I finished and then read most of it again, now knowing what I know.

University friends reunite for a weekend. 20 years on they reveal predictions they made about each other 2 decades before.

As secrets are revealed old loyalties are put to the test.

Agatha Christie-esque with the country house gathering and reporter Maggie trying to get to the bottom of their friend’s recent death.

A great read!

Thanks to NetGalley , Holly Watt and Raven Books for the copy to review!

Ideal for fans of suspense stories with despicable characters, dark secrets, manipulation and misremembering. Lots of revelatory dialogue.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Really enjoyed this overall. I did think it was a bit slow to get going, but once it did I was captivated. Even though there is a "whodunnit" element, I found myself more focused on the characters' relationships to each other and the group history, than solving the mystery.
I wasn't particularly fond of Maggie. While she is the only likeable character she's also the least interesting, and a bit naive. I enjoyed reading the other characters even though most of them were not people I'd want to meet in real life (but I tend to like those sorts of characters!)
Thanks Net Galley and Bloomsbury for the chance to read and review this ARC.

A group of students at university decide to write a prediction about the other group members to be opened when they meet again in 20 years’ time. In that 20 years many things have happened, careers have prospered, money made, marriage, divorce and death – but was it suicide or murder and why are strange things happening at this twenty-year anniversary meeting?

The book took a long time before it got to the actual story, and I nearly gave up but it was worth persevering for the denouement and therefore I recommend this book. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

I was really looking forward to this book from reading the blurb, but unfortunately it wasn't for me. I struggled with this book from the every beginning. I found it was too dragged out and nothing much was happening. I feel as though there were too many characters introduced at once and I couldnt connect with any of them. I didn't find myself wanting to pick this book up and continue reading. I found the plot became boring and tedious, and I was just waiting for something to happen. The twist at the end was also quite disappointing and i think it lacked the build up of tension.

I liked this at first but then it became gradually more and more laboriously convoluted and confusing, until the ending which was just plain bizarre. Not a book for me, I’m afraid, but thanks to the publisher for access to this ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a book with a great plot - a group of seven friends from uni meet up after twenty years where they share the predictions each made about the others…. One of the group is already dead after jumping or being pushed in front of a train.
The book has lots of twists and turns but for me, the lack of characterisation was a problem. Everyone, except Maggie, the heroine, was awful - violent, aggressive or drink addled. It was hard to care about any of them by the middle of the book and any insights were rather cliched.
I struggled through the last quarter of the book but I do think the writer has potential.

I wanted to like this and i did until i didnt. Seemed to drag on with the predictions i just got bored. Love the idea but not the novel.

This is a fantastic new standalone thriller by the author of the brilliant Casey Benedict series. It's a simple premise - a group of uni friends made predictions about where they'd all be in twenty years, two decades ago, and are now gathering to go through their predictions, over the course of a weekend. But one of their number has recently died, and it seems there might be more to their apparent suicide than meets the eye...

Holly Watt manages the story expertly, delving into the secrets of the past while maintaining the pace in the present day with ease. It would be easy for a lesser author to rely too heavily on flashbacks, but Watt's storytelling is smoother and more sophisticated than that. I love her characterisation, its economical and astute, and the setting is well drawn. it's not easy to write a novel set over only a few days but Watt more than pulls it off. The tension builds across the weekend, with some fantastic set pieces taking place in the sprawling country estate where the friends are staying, and an exciting and satisfying conclusion.

The Last Truths We Told is a whip smart thriller perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Liane Moriarty. I loved it, and hope for more in the same vein from Holly.

Loved this book. I had never read anything by this author

I couldn't put it down thank you for the opportunity to review

University friends reunite, some of their predictions for the future came true, and some definitely didn’t.

I really liked the predictions before the chapters and I found myself really enjoying the writing style, but this is not really a mystery or a thriller, it is greatly entertaining but you won’t be surprised.

A great beach read

When a group of university friends whose lives have frayed at the edges gather to read predictions they made when golden futures lay ahead, things quickly start to get sinister: it's a thrilling premise with heart-racing execution. Watt keeps you second-guessing as you race through to the chilling denouement. Thought-provoking and unnerving, this is a smart page-turner with killer secrets and dark twists, populated with characters who you'll love to hate. Absolute book club dynamite - a must-read!

"The Last Truths We Told" tells the story of 7 friends that 20 years ago made predictions about each other with the promise that they would meet again to read them together. Now, 20 years have passed, and the recent death of one of them made the promised weekend somber.

The book is solid, good story pacing, easy to read, typical personalities. This is not a complex story, full of twists and turns, that leaves you thinking 'what did I just read?'. This is a book comfortable in its predictability. You can probably tell why and who is the murdered around half way. The motive is not unsurprising, even when the author tries to pull a couple of red herrings.

Maybe I have read way too many whodunnits, but even if the booked failed to surprise me, I still enjoyed it. Because, even if I had a theory of who did it, I still wanted to keep reading to see if I was correct or not, it still caught my attention.

There are two things I didn't like though:
1. some random predictions written in the middle of scenes that had nothing to do with the prediction written
2. how the Maggie character was written versus all the other ones.

First one was somewhat ok in the end. I accepted that some predictions were 'extra' and not really relevant to the current situation being described. But the second one I felt it was downright unfair. Maggie is perfect whereas all her friends are horrible with almost unforgivable sins. I was not surprised when I read that Holly Watt (the author) was, very much like Maggie, an investigative journalist working for a newspaper. When all your characters have flaws (totally normal for humans) but one is perfect and that one shares a lot of similarities with you... is not fair, at least not in my opinion.

Lastly, I don't fully agree with the (sub?) title 'Is not the lies that kill you, it's the truth'. While yes, the truth is what killed the people in the story, the motivation to kill was to keep the lies.

Trigger warning includes: murder, suicide, failure to conceive, death of babies, rape.

This book didn't tick all my boxes but I would still recommend it. Is an easy read with a whodunnit and a reunion plot intertwined.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Last Truths We Told will be published January 16th 2025.

A very entertaining and enjoyable read . Full of suspense with well developed characters. Nice and fast paced.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery; a fast paced and enjoyable read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

Twenty years ago a group of uni friends made predictions about their futures, who would be doing what
With one one the group dead the rest of the group gather for a reunion where the predictions are read out - this opens a can of worm's where peoples honesty is called into question with some of the number doing anything to keep their lies intact....
My favorite books are reunion books so i got so much from this book with its cast of unpleasant characters, except Maggie!
A thoroughly entertaining read

The Last Truths We Told is a novel in the reunion genre as nine university friends gather for a reunion 20 years after meeting at Cambridge.
20 years ago they all made predictions about each others lives and they meet up to read these predictions after the death of Lily, one of their group.
The novel starts off well, I liked the character of Maggie and the reader is then introduced to the rest of the group, some highly unlikeable and others I had some empathy for. The first half of the novel is well paced, as the reader learns more about the characters histories, the relationships between them and we discover more about what happened to Lily. However I soon began to lose interest as the only really likeable character is Maggie and the plot became quite tedious and I felt trapped with a group of people I did not like. Overall this novel was well written but lacked originality for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Sometimes you really don't know the people you consider close to you as well as you think you do.

Two decades ago, a group of university friends made various predictions about how they would all end up - who was likely to achieve what, and who might become someone.

Now one of their number has gone missing, and at a reunion where the rest are present, it is beginning to sink in that everyone may not have been entirely honest about their part in what has taken place. The thing is, people will sometimes go to great lengths to protect their version of events...

This is a suspenseful and entertaining read. Worth checking out for those who enjoy the reunion thriller trope.