I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for brilliant and gripping psychological thriller The Last Stage by Louise Voss. Thank you to Anne Cater for the invitation and to Karen from Orenda Books for my copy of this fantastic book.
About the book:
At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now she lives incognito in a cottage on the grounds of Minstead House, an old stately home, whilst working in the gift shop. Her past is behind her and she enjoys her new life.
But a series of inexplicable and unsettling incidents have started to happen around her – broken china, vandalised gardens… And when a body is found in the gardens of Minstead House, Meredith realises that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is and who wants to destroy her…
A dark, riveting and chilling psychological thriller, The Last Stage is a study of secrets and obsessions, where innocent acts can have the most terrifying consequences.
About the author:
Over her eighteen-year writing career, Louise Voss has had eleven novels published – five solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards: a combination of psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction – and sold over 350,000 books. Her most recent book, The Old You, was a number one bestseller in eBook. Louise has an MA (Dist) in Creative Writing and also works as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at http://www.thewritingcoach.co.uk. She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime- writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.
My Review:
From the disturbing prologue right through to the final shocking conclusion, The Last Stage by Louise Voss is a tense and spine tingling psychological thriller that keeps you enthralled throughout. This is the first solo book I’ve read by this author, but it definitely won’t be the last. She writes strong and convincing female characters that are flawed, but all the more believable because of it. That, combined with an intricate plot that moves along at a cracking pace, means that The Last Stage draws you in from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the final, heartstopping page has been turned.
At the peak of her career as lead singer of a top 1980’s indie band, Meredith Vincent gives it all up and steps back from the limelight after an horrific incident that has left her not only physically but emotionally scarred. Now she lives a quiet, solitary life working as a gift shop manager at Minstead House, an old stately home in Sussex. With her past firmly behind her, Meredith loves her new life living and working in the beautiful grounds of the old house.
But then strange things start to happen and Meredith begins to feel uneasy, fearing that the past is about to catch up with her. With the discovery of a body in the grounds, she is terrified that her fears are about to become reality. And as the investigation into the mysterious death gets underway, Meredith becomes the prime focus as it soon becomes clear that the person responsible is personally targeting her and those closest to her.
In steps Gemma, a young policewoman who decides to try to find out more about Meredith and her past in a bid to solve the case. I liked Gemma from the outset. She’s a fascinating character who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, which is something that I loved about her. Assigned as Meredith’s Family Liaison Officer, she goes to stay with her in her lovely cottage located in the grounds of Minstead House and together they slowly begin to uncover the truth.
Told in dual timelines between the present day and Meredith’s past, the horrifying truth of what happened to cause her to turn her back on stardom and all that goes with it is revealed little by little, piece by piece. From her first meeting with Samantha on Greenham Common, to the devastating death of her father and her rise to fame as lead singer of Cohen, Meredith’s youth is displayed before us in glorious technicolour. She had the world at her feet, so what happened that was so terrifying it made her leave it all behind to live an ordinary, quiet life as a shop manager? Who is she so afraid of? And why would they want to hurt not only her but those closest to her?
The Last Stage is a brilliantly tense and chilling psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. What starts off as a murder mystery becomes so much more, with the sense of fear and foreboding increasing with every page. I’m usually quite good at working out which direction a story is going to go, but with this one I didn’t have a clue! It took me completely by surprise, which made it an even more thrilling and tense read than it otherwise would have been.
Louise Voss has written a superb thriller full of darkness and obsession, with fascinating but flawed characters that are brought vividly to life by the masterful writing. A cleverly plotted murder mystery tale, with many twists and turns along the way, The Last Stage is a book I would highly recommend.
The Last Stage by Louise Voss is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Check out what these other awesome bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Huge thanks for the blog tour support Cal x
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You’re very welcome, Anne! 😊 x
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