The Last Mrs. Parrish

I have mixed feelings about The Last Mrs. Parrish. I went into it expecting a suspenseful domestic thriller but it was more of a guilty pleasure type of read -- a 'Dynasty-esque' romp through the lives of the rich and wicked, if you will. It has the Dynasty Trifecta (betrayal, manipulation, and super rich people) and it was fun to witness their deceit, treachery, and heinous behaviour but it lacked suspense.

I liked the shift midway which took things up a notch and made things interesting. But it takes half of the book to get to this point and I still wouldn't call it suspenseful. It's more of a bird's eye view into a bunch of conniving and despicable people with some gratuitously explicit (and sometimes disturbing) scenes thrown in.

Normally, I'd put a book down if, at the halfway point, I'm not engaged. But this shift gave me hope that things would pick up. The first half of the book is from Amber's POV who is focused on getting what she wants at all costs, but her story was slow-going, repetitive and predictable. After the twist, you see how things fit together a bit better (it's an 'Ooookay, I see what you're doing here' moment). I liked this new shift and stuck with it to see how things would end and while the ending was satisfying, I found the journey to get there just okay.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is a story about obsession, jealousy and manipulation that would be a good pick if you're looking for an easy, guilty pleasures kind of beach read peppered with nasty characters and lots of scandal. It's alllll that and a bag of chips! But if you're looking for a nail-biting suspenseful thriller, this might not be a good pick for you.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Liz Constantine

Genre: Suspense

Type: eBook

Source: Local Public Library

Publisher: Harper

First Published: October 17, 2017

Opening Lines: Amber Patterson was tired of being invisible.

Book Description from GoodReads: Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.