Lenaribka

3,5 stars rounded up.

I got this book from NetGalley a while ago, and when I decided at last to read it and checked the rating, I was...totally shocked. You know how it is: a book that gets a bad first review/rating could deserve it, but sometimes it is just a bad luck. A book that gets more than one bad review/rating is doomed to fail. One reader can be wrong, but more than one? In this case, I normally trust other readers and I would have most likely skipped it, if I had not made a positive experience with the publisher. I enjoyed those few books I got from Oceanview Publishing, they were always different and they were always good, so I decided to give it a go.

I started to read it late in the evening, and it was a big mistake, because the story grabbed my attention immediately. You might blame the author for many things, but not for the lack of suspense.

The plot:

Dexter Vega, a former star reporter and now an unemployed journalist, with many problems, among others his financial situation, becomes an accidental witness of a bad fight while drinking in a bar (his other big problem). Because of his innate sense of justice, Dexter cannot look away and takes the side of an older man who seems not to be able to protect himself. It came out that Nick Zavala, a wealthy retiree, knows who Dexter is. As a thank-you he invites Dexter for a drink in his villa and offers him a job – to find his missing daughter. Dexter is suspicious. The whole story sounds not quite kosher, and Dexter instinct smells something foul, but the job is well paid and he needs money. The things get complicated when the very next day his new employer is brutally murdered in his villa, and Dexter fingerprints are over the place. He has to find the mysterious daughter not ONLY because he owes it the victim, but because it is the only way to find out who is the real murder and to absolve himself of a blame...

It was a quick read for me, not that the novel is short, but I finished it within 2 days, because I read every minute I got during my working day. The story kept my attention from the very beginning through to the very end. There are not a huge amount of characters, it is why the number of suspects is manageable, but I was undecided almost up to the very end. Every time when puzzle pieces seemed finally to come together, the case collapsed on the next page and everything started over again.

The writing is very simple, and I MEAN it –short sentences, not overloaded with adjectives and metaphors. Normally I prefer another style, but it suits the story line and its quick pace perfectly.
And the ending positively surprised me. Not your usual mystery ending, but a very satisfying one.

All in all, I really enjoyed this mystery novel. The Last Girl is not a literary masterpiece - I doubt it was the author's goal - but it is a very entertaining read, and for sure much better than its rating at the very moment, and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Recommended for all mystery's fans.



**Copy provided by Oceanview Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**