A terrible accident. A killer among friends. A woman risking everything for answers. Every year for a decade, five college friends spent a weekend together at the atmospheric Chateau du Cygne Noir. Then, tragedy struck. Ten years later, Laurel Muir returns to the castle for the first time since the accident, hoping to reconnect with her friends and lay the past to rest. When a murderer attacks, … friends and lay the past to rest. When a murderer attacks, it rips open old wounds and forces the women to admit there’s a killer in their midst. The remaining friends make a pact to unearth the truth, but suspicion, doubt, and old secrets threaten to tear them apart. Unsure who to trust, Laurel puts herself in harm’s way, risking it all for friendship and long-delayed justice.
Praise:
“A compelling and richly textured tale of obsession, murder and friendship. Psychological suspense at its finest.”-Deborah Crombie, New York Times bestselling author of Garden of Lamentations
“This stand-alone novel . . . is well plotted, its mystery compelling, and its outcome unexpected.”-Booklist
“DiSilverio’s signature easy-to-follow plotting draws readers in.”-Kirkus Reviews
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A tangerine envelope begins an adventure for five
women that had been college friends ten years ago.
That was the last weekend they had been together.
Every year when these women were college friends,
they had traveled to the picturesque Chateau du
Cygne Noir for vacation until a disaster occurred.
Now after ten years, a tangerine envelope with an
invitation is about to reopen the consequences of
that weekend.
This is a fast paced mystery with plenty of twists
and turns complicating the gripping storyline.
It is plotted impeccably with chilling and compelling
happenings that will keep the reader on the edge of
their seat until the last word.
The characters are well rounded, colorful, three
dimensional all having ulterior motives for the
mysteries and puzzles presented throughout the
story.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys
a well crafted, suspenseful and thought provoking
story.
I volunteered to read The Last Weekend. Thanks to
the author via The Cozy Mystery Review Crew for the
opportunity. My opinion is my own.
That Last Weekend by Laura Disilverio is a intense, suspenseful mystery that reminds me some what of an Alfred Hitchcock story.
Ten years ago 5 friends were together for the weekend when something terrible happened. Now ten years later these same friends receive invitations to go back again to the place they were on that last weekend. Murder leaves them shook up and wondering who among them is a murderer. Can you ever really escape your past? Can friends stay friends after all that has happened? Who can be trusted and who among them should they be afraid of?
I found this book slow and hard to get into at first but if you stick with it the story picks up and it turns creepy at times and suspenseful. The plot is an edge of your seat thriller that is full of surprises with strong characters. Even the cover gives you a sense of the dark, heart pounding, thriller that is this book.
If you like a good suspense novel with a lot of suspects, a perfect setting .for the intense mystery and strong characters you will like this book.
I received this book for my honest opinion and review
I highly enjoyed That Last Weekend, it could easily be the best book I’ve read in months, possibly all year. Initially I was a little put off by “the getting to know you” introductions to the main characters. It felt a little bit draggy for a few chapters, but it also piqued my curiosity and drove me to continue reading. I am glad I did. The story is about Laurel, Ellie, Geneva, Dawn and Evangeline, 5 women who met in college and continued being friends as they matured and moved forward with their lives. They had carried on their tradition of visiting the Castle of the Black Swan or Cygne in North Carolina for ten years until there was a tragic incident that left Evangeline permanently wheelchair bound and the rest as suspects in the attack, needless to say, it damaged their friendship and crushed their trust in each other. Ten years later four of the women receive invitations from Evangeline to Cygne, and despite their trepidation, they all accept. They will be the last guests at Cygne, it has been sold and is being turned into a retirement home, leaving the managers and maid unemployed. It doesn’t take long before their memories and mistrust in each other start to surface, as hard as they try 10 years have elapsed and things are different. These feelings are made worse when their hostess Evangeline, the victim of the accident 10 years prior, is found dead in her room. Just as before they are all suspects and this time Sheriff Judah Boone isn’t letting the women go home without having the guilty party in custody.
I have never read a book that had so much suspicion placed on so many and with such valid and strong evidence against so many characters.
I simply couldn’t get into this book. It starts out with a brief introduction of the four main characters. Each receives an invitation to a reunion and all of them are reluctant to go. A decade ago (that last weekend) during the last reunion something bad happened that changed their lives forever. Each decides to go anyway, clearly against their better judgment. Tragedy strikes again during this reunion and the four friends are possible murder suspects and decide they need to investigate to find out who the real killer is.
It sounded like a good plot but so many things didn’t work for me. The focus jumps from character to character frequently and it took me a third of the book to keep each character straight. I think this was because I never felt like any of them were truly flushed out. The book focuses on Laurel, who seems to be the main character, and she was the only one I got a true sense of in regards to who she was. Usually, by the end of a book, I have a clear sense of the characters, how they might act, and even what they probably would look like in real life, but in this book there was simply not enough detail to bring any of the characters to life. Furthermore, I didn’t think of them were very likable. Couple that with the lack of action and this book became very difficult for me to get through. Finally, there was an added element of a possible ghost which seemed unnecessary.
This was not one of my favorites but I would be willing to give this author another try.
That Last Weekend is a suspense novel by Laura DiSilverio. Laurel Muir, Dawn Infanti, Geneva Frost and Ellie Ordahl are surprised when they received a tangerine colored envelope with an invitation to a weekend at Chateau du Cygne Noire near Asheville, North Carolina. They have not been back since the “event” ten years prior. Laurel is hoping to finally get answers as to what happened that night. The second morning, Laurel goes to check on Evangeline and discovers her dead. The four friends agree to remain at the B&B until the truth is revealed. Laurel works with Sheriff Judah Boone to get the answers they need. Did one of her friends commit the crime or was it someone working at the chateau?
That Last Weekend is a slower paced novel that had extreme difficulty getting into. There are five main characters and the POV switches between four of them (Laurel, Geneva, Dawn, and Ellie). The transitions between POV were abrupt (rough). It would take a moment to realize that the POV had switched to a different character and figure out which one was talking now. That Last Weekend did not have real suspense until the last ten percent of the book. I wish the rest of the novel had the same pace and life as this section (my attention was finally captured and it was held until the end). Many readers will be surprised with the outcome of the main mystery. I was happy that the author included a good twist (only the best armchair sleuths will figure this one out). My rating for The Last Weekend is 3 out of 5 stars. I wish the author had told the story from Laurel’s point-of-view and had ramped up the pace in the first half of the book with more action.
I just could NOT get into this one. I loved the concept (a reunion after a girls’ weekend gone horribly awry, with a new huge whodunit element thrown in), but the characters completely destroyed this one for me. I did not like ANY of them, they all felt like caricatures of female stereotypes (the mom, the professional, the artist, the mean girl, and honestly the fifth was so bland I don’t even remember her – and I just closed the book five minutes ago) with no real personalities, just a collection of overplayed tropes… When I can’t connect with any of the characters, I have a very hard time getting into a story, no matter how good or well-written it may otherwise be. Add in the jumble of character-switching opening chapters/sections, a back-and-forth-in-time narrative, and what felt to me like heavy-handed attempts at generating suspense where no suspense was yet to be found, and the result is that I struggled almost from the get-go and put the book down when I was about 25% in… This one was just not for me.
My review copy was provided by NetGalley.