When you have a reputation for loading your book with twists and turns, it can make for a less pleasant reading experience for the reader because their sense are heightened and they know all the tricks.
Still, I was legitimately surprised at the way Clare Mackintosh’s The Last Party broke, both for the twist and for the reveal of the killer.
The setup made me roll my eyes: two people who slept together on New Years Eve don’t realize the other is a cop and are assigned to a murder the next day. But Mackintosh does a wonderful job of imbuing both characters with pathos and not letting a potential budding romance get in the way of plot.
You sense something is amiss with one of the detectives before the first big reveal is done but you don’t know what it is, even though on reflection, the book spells it out well enough in the first act. The tension ratchets once that happens but now there’s an added emotional dimension to the tale that pays off once the killer is revealed.
On top of that, it explored the fraught relationship of Wales and England, one I wasn’t aware of, adding another layer to the story.
There are things that still nag me about why I don’t read many of these kinds of series mysteries: every POV flashback chapter with one of the suspects ends with some version of “And he will pay!” Some of the twists lend into cliches.
But overall, it’s good and, for me, it accomplished a rarity: I want to read the second book.
