This pulse-pounding series debut is destined to be “your new favorite procedural” (Bustle)—for fans of Julia Keller, David Bell, and unflinching thrillers Sometimes, the journey home is the most harrowing. And it’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Investigative journalist Laura Chambers is back in her tiny hometown of Hillsborough, North Carolina, the one place she swore never to return. Fired … place she swore never to return. Fired from the Boston Globe, her career in shambles, she reluctantly takes a job with the local paper. The work is simple, unimportant, and worst of all, boring—at least until a missing girl turns up dead, the body impeccably clean, dressed to be the picture of innocence.
Years earlier, ten-year-old Patty Finch left home and never made it back. But for the people of Hillsborough, Patty was just the beginning. Child after child disappeared, a reign of terror the town desperately wants to forget. Now that terror has returned to seize another girl. And another. And another.
This is the story Laura’s been waiting for—her one last chance to get back onto the front page. She dives deeper into a case that runs colder by the second, only to discover the truth may be far closer to home than she could have ever imagined. Powerful, intricate, and tense, Last Girl Gone will have you looking over your shoulder long after the last page.
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Starting off this review by saying it’s right around 4.5 stars for this one… Everyone once in a while, a writer truly catches you off guard with either a story arc or a plot twist. It’s especially powerful when it’s a new writer you’ve not experienced before. And that’s what happened when I picked up Last Girl Gone: A Laura Chambers Mystery by J.G. Hetherton after it was provided to me earlier this year by the publisher, Crooked Lane.
Laura Chambers, a reporter who’s been fired from a big-time Boston paper for doing something bad, is the main character in this suspense thriller series. Eventually we find out what happened, and all I have to say is… yikes, we better revisit that story as it doesn’t feel like it’s quite over yet. She returns home to a North Carolina town where she has been working at a local paper for about a month. She’s being treated poorly by a real jerk of a colleague, has a horrific mother, and now a serial killer is fascinated by her reporting. But it doesn’t start there… we open with a young girl being kidnapped nearly 40 years earlier, then we figure out we’re decades forward in Laura’s story. It’s connected somehow, but it takes 2/3 of the book to get there. And when it does, you’ll definitely enjoy the connection. But trust me, that’s only the beginning!
For some reason, this book really talked to me. I felt Laura’s pain given how everyone treats her (tho she can give back with full force). Writing quality is strong. I’m not sure how much I particularly like Laura, or understand why she is still living at home / tolerates her mother (other than money), but I’m hoping it’ll get fleshed out in the next book in the series. The book has a bit of everything and quickly pulls you into the action. It also ends with a bang and a very twisted story. It’s the perfect genre with an out-there-over-the-cliff-edge plot, yet I totally see it happening in a weird sorta way one day.
I look forward to reading more from the author. He builds creepy characters and creates rousing suspense, especially when Laura goes after the killer basically on her own. And the title is such a play on words — always like seeing that when the book is over and being analyzed. Kudos and thanks to Crooked Lanes for sending me this book. Definite spot-on read for me!
This was a solid 4 star read for me right up until the end. It slipped to about a 3.5 with a random out of nowhere twist that in my opinion didn’t benefit the story all that much and it wrapped everything up a little too easily for me. I won’t get into the details because I don’t do spoilers but what I will say is that I liked the first 3/4ths of the book very much. The main character isn’t the most likable person which I found refreshing in this case. She doesn’t mind using people to get her job done which I felt was true to character and it always progressed the storyline when she did those things so it worked in that context. It’s a big time reporter shamed into “going home” type story so it walks a familiar path but also doesn’t hesitate to take detours along the way with twists and turns. Like I said, a solid mystery and well worth a read (or a listen since I got it in audible plus).
It was ok about a reporter who had to go back to her home town was dating a cop a bunch of little girls kept dying and it was kinda long and it didn’t need to be.
Last Girl Gone by J.G. Heatherton
Laura Chambers Mystery #1
Debut authors are hit or miss but I do believe J.G. Heatherton has a good future if this, his debut novel, is a sample of what he can do.
I have to admit that I did not much like investigative journalist Laura Chambers and how she went about getting her story but will say she was relentless in pursuit of finding facts for her article. She had no trouble using people to get what she wanted and sometimes it did create trouble for her and for others.
At times I found myself skipping ahead trying to find out what would happen but if I had not done so I do believe that the serial murderer would have been a huge surprise. I am a person that reads the end of a book first then find out how the story unravels or is narrated and if it holds my interest then it is deemed a very good story. And, this was a good book though I felt it was a bit slow at times.
I am definitely interested in finding out what Laura will do in the future. Will she stay in Hillsborough? Will she go back to the big city? Will she solve another case in town or somewhere nearby? Will she and FBI agent Timinski work together in the future? I guess that since I am curious and have questions that require books in this series the author has done his job in creating a character I am willing to invest more time with.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4-5 Stars
It started with the disappearance of a ten-year-old girl 20+ years ago. This little girl had tried 3 times to run away from an abusive home. Something had gone wrong each time, until evidently it worked. She wasn’t the last girl to have gone missing over the years. No one knew there was a serial killer roaming their neighborhoods.
Present day — Investigative Journalist Laura Chambers is back in her home town after swearing she’d never be back again. Unfortunately after being fired from her last job, she had no where else to go. Now working for the local newspaper, she has hopes of getting back into the ‘real’ world of reporting.
A missing girl turns up dead .. and then another. This is the story Laura’s been waiting for―her one last chance to get back onto the front page. She dives deeper into a case that runs colder by the second, only to discover the truth may be far closer to home than she could have ever imagined.
Very well written, this psychological thriller will have you hanging on to every twist and turn. Just when you think you know where it’s going, the author yanks you in another direction altogether. Surprises hide behind every dark corner.
This is a debut novel, the beginning of what promises to be an exciting series.
Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books for the advanced digital copy of this Psychological Thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.