Catherine O'Connell | THE LAST NIGHT OUT

Plot (via Goodreads):

After drinking too much at her bachelorette party, Maggie Trueheart wakes to find a stranger in her bed. To make matters worse, a phone call brings the devastating news that her friend Angie was murdered some time after they parted ways the night before.

Kelly Delaney, who left the party early, is the first of Maggie's friends to face questions from Chicago homicide detective Ron O'Reilly. After taking a closer look at the other women who attended the party, O'Reilly concludes that at least some of them are lying.

As the clock ticks down to the wedding day and more shocking secrets are revealed, the murderer zeros in on another one of the girls. Can the killer be stopped before there is another victim?

Review:

The Last Night Out by Catherine O'Connell is the kind of entertaining and psychologically charged thriller that is reminiscent of some of the 90s thriller that I used to love so much. You know the mass paperback thrillers you find that are in grocery stores that have some hidden gems that are just so enjoyable that you wonder why more people aren't talking about them? I'm talking like the Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Jackson, the chilling thrillers that just blow you away. This story was 100% entertaining, full of twists and turns, and completely held me hostage the entire time. I was constantly battling myself with pushing through and getting to the ending and putting it down to absorb what I just read and slowly enjoy it because I didn't want it to end and there was so much to enjoy with this one.

One thing I found enjoyable was that this story took place in the 80s before technology took over and the characters are definitely more in a vulnerable place than they would be if this had taken place in present time. The story definitely starts off with a bang and the vulnerability of a brutal hangover as five friends wake to find out one of their friends was murdered after the bachelorette party from the night before. While we really get to know the murder victim and four of the friends that survived, I did find that the fifth friend was hardly in the novel and kind of felt this character went to waste or could have been eliminated altogether. The men in this novel were huge red herrings and it reminded me of the old slasher movies where every female is a potential victim and every male is a bit of a d-bag who should not be trusted. I loved every minute of that. O'Connell writes with cinematic gold as this novel just captivates its reader and exercises their imagination. The pacing was done perfectly and stunned me. As I embraced the insane finale, the twists and turns were intense and kept pulling me in different directions, which I loved. This had not one, but two chilling conclusions and I can honestly say, I cannot wait for whatever O'Connell crafts next.

Special thanks to Catherine O'Connell for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5