The Last to Disappear by Jo Spain @SpainJoanne @QuercusBooks

Book Description:

A luxury resort. Three missing women. One body.

When young London professional Alex Evans is informed that his sister’s body has been pulled from an icy lake in Northern Lapland, he assumes his irresponsible sister accidentally drowned. He travels to the wealthy winter resort where Vicky worked as a tour-guide and meets Agatha Koskinen, the detective in charge. Agatha is a no-nonsense single mother of three who already thinks there’s more to Vicky’s case than meets the eye.

As the two form an unlikely alliance, Alex also begins to suspect the small town where his sister lived and died is harbouring secrets. It’s not long before he learns that three other women have gone missing from the area in the past and that his sister may have left him a message.

On the surface, Koppe, Lapland is a winter wonderland. But in this remote, frozen place, death seems only ever a heartbeat away.

My Thoughts:

Ooh, this was another fabulous read by the author!

Lapland usually has you envisioning Santa, reindeer and Christmas. This story made me realise just how cold this part of the world gets which adds an added chill to the story throughout as there is nothing comforting about this story. If anything the weather is just as threatening.

The story flicks between present day with Agatha and Alex in their hunt to find out who murdered Vicky, Alex’s sister. In the past we are introduced to a character called Kaya who is a registered missing person with the police. I do love a small town setting as it gets to the point that you never really know who to trust and mud very much sticks.

This feels like a crime thriller with Agatha being a detective who plays a big part in the story. I would love to see more of Agatha and could certainly see scope for a new detective series. It would also make a chilling series for television. Both Agatha and Alex have things going on in their personal lives which has them fighting their own demons. I enjoyed how through the story we learn more not just about the going ons in the town and getting closer to revealing the killer but getting to know these two characters better also.

The Last to Disappear has a very sombre and atmospheric feel to it. Readers of authors such as Will Dean and Ragnar Jonasson I think will especially love this book. Jo Spain has a way of hooking you straight into a story and not letting go. Each of her standalone’s I have read so far have been so very different in tone and style and I love that I never know quite what to expect when starting one of her novels. The author has vast become one of my favourites and she sure knows how to pen a compelling and thrilling read that had me turning the pages well into the night! Chillingly addictive!

My Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.