4.25 Stars. I was blown away by Helen Fields’ novel One for Sorrow (DI Callanach Series) and so was excited to read her new standalone crime thriller The Last Girl to Die.

Feisty protagonist Canadian PI Sadie Levesque is about as gutsy as they come, but she is also a deeply empathetic soul.

Sadie’s strong emotional drive makes her a passionate advocate for clients (and anyone else she sees at risk) and a likeable and engaging character lead. It’s this passion that quickly draws into her orbit some beautifully characterised second-tier characters that I adored – and dare I say it, could feasibly spawn other series. But on several occasions, Sadie is just a little too reckless with her own safety, which certainly makes The Last Girl to Die a high suspense rollercoaster read. Continue reading: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2022/09/the-last-girl-to-die-helen-fields-r... ( )

I was not expecting that ending!

I loved the twists and turns throughout this book, each time I thought I had it figured out, I found out I was wrong. I am very much looking forward to reading more of Helen's books in the future. ( )

With The Last Girl to Die, Helen Fields takes a small town setting, legends and folklore to craft a story about the tragic death of a young outsider and the PI who is tasked with finding out what happened to her.

Sadie Levesque is a Canadian, brought to Mull by the missing girl's family to try and find her. Find her she does, but she's dead in a cave and there are some things with her body that are disturbing. From there it's a question of who to trust, who isn't what they seem, and as Sadie finds out more about the island's past, simply a question of why?

Sadie, telling the story in the first person, was not the easiest character to take to and her role as a private investigator basically meant sniffing around in other people's business and being extremely reckless which felt a little hard to get behind at times. She did grow on me as the story progressed though and there's no doubt she was an extremely brave and strong heroine. It got to the point where I didn't want to put this book down, so engrossed was I in the investigation that Sadie was conducting, and the situations she was putting herself in which almost had me wanting to read through my fingers. There are plenty of red herrings in this story and I didn't see the outcome until it was right in front of me. Fields is an immaculate plotter and always manages to keep me guessing. The overall ending was definitely unexpected!

I loved the fact that a few characters from Fields' other books featured in this one. It gave it a kind of authenticity, in a way almost like it was a real-life scenario. I'm always glad to come across such great characters. I also really liked the Scottish island setting, one of my favourite settings to read about in fiction. The whole suspicious community feel was so strong, coupled that with the superstition that abounded there, that I could easily imagine eyes following Sadie everywhere she went, speculating about her sticking her nose in where it wasn't wanted.

Whilst The Last Girl to Die felt slightly different to this author's other books, I really enjoyed it and found it a riveting and gruesome (trademark Fields) read, full of twists and turns and excitement galore. ( )

The Last Girl to Die by Helen Sarah Fields

This is a story of myth, magic, madness, grief, beliefs, communities, and so much more. I will be processing it for a while. Finding words, the right words, to review this book is not easy. This book, like the other one by this author that I have read, made me think and care and wish things could have been different although if they had been different, the book would not have made the impact it did.

What I liked:
* Sadie Levescquee: Canadian PI, finder of lost teens, sister, daughter, soon to be aunt, puzzle solver, strong, resilient, client advocate, finds more than one body, someone I would have liked to know more about, sometimes does things that made me wonder why she was doing them…some might use the TSTL (too stupid to live)
* Nate Carson: pathologist, interesting and perhaps interested in Sadie
* Lance Proudfoot: journalist, followed earlier murder with similarities to Addie’s, resource for Sadie
* The island community’s closeness – both good and bad
* The history and mythology created for the story
* Being able to understand what the young, and older, women on the island might find in a community-coven of their own
* Remembering how difficult it was to navigate my teens and the years we moved during my teens
* That the murderers of the females in this story were disclosed before the end of the book
* That I was invested in the outcome
* Wondering “what if” more than once…if only this or that person had made a different choice…
* Considering what secrets were being withheld from Sadie and wondering why the local police were less diligent and vigilant than they could have been
* The reason the Clark family probably chose a rather obscure PI from Canada rather than one from the USA or Scotland
* On the fence about the bits that had to do with the thoughts of the dead as presented and that the island had a voice, too

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Knowing that people can be murdered for little reason and with little remorse
* Realizing that this is probably a one and done standalone novel instead of the first book in a series that I would have liked to read.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes and No – it left me unsettled
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to MidasPR for the ARC – this is my honest review.

4-5 Stars ( )