#BlogTour The Last Friend by Harvey Church

My thanks go to Caroline Vincent of Bits About Books for inviting me to read Harvey Church's novel The Last Friend and be part of the Blog Tour which has stopped here at Sandie's Book Shelves today.  I'm not generally a fan of US fiction but this book went beyond my expectations and has made me reconsider.

Book Description

The Knock on his Door...That Changed his Life

Fifteen years after Donovan’s daughter is abducted, Monica Russell knocks on his door. She claims she knew his daughter while in captivity and says she made a promise to tell him about their friendship.

The Last Friend to hold His Daughter's Hand

When Monica claims to know where his daughter’s remains are buried, Donovan is immediately committed to doing whatever this last friend needs from him, regardless of the warnings from his family and friends.

The Friend Who Can Help Him Seek Vengeance

And when Monica claims to know where he can find the man who abducted, assaulted, and murdered his princess, Donovan knows he will stop at nothing to get his vengeance.

What Cost Will He Ultimately Pay?

Monica claims she can show Donovan a lot of things about his daughter, but what price will Donovan ultimately pay the young lady who claims to be the last friend to know his daughter?

My thoughts:

US fiction isn't my first choice especially when it comes to crime fiction/police procedurals as I am unsure of the legal hierarchy and who's who in the ranks.  Fortunately this did not create any issues for me in the reading of this heartbreaking novel.

Donovan's daughter Elizabeth was snatched on a family day out as he waited in line to buy candyfloss for her on the pier.   Every day since Elizabeth was taken Donovan has made it his mission to find her and bring her home, whatever the cost.  Sadly that cost was that his wife, overcome with grief and with Donovan withdrawing into himself to search for his daughter, could no longer cope and took her own life.  The added sense of her loss merely made him more determined.

He has spent hours and many sleepless nights chasing leads and researching possibilities - some of which have almost cost him his liberty and financial security - all of which have proven fruitless.  Until one night fifteen years after the abduction a woman with wacky hair turns up on his doorstep alleging that she was held captive with Elizabeth.  Despite serious doubts something about this woman suggests to Donovan that she is genuine.  The main thing that makes him question her validity is her request for a large sum of money in return for information leading to Elizabeth's whereabouts.

The author leads us on an intriguing journey of people, places and scenarios which first of all confirm to the reader that Monica is genuine, then puts doubts on every word she says.  Some of her associates leave a lot to be desired and one wonders whether she is part of the criminal fraternity involved in Elizabeth's disappearance or a victim of their activities.  You can genuinely feel the depth of Donovan's desperation to know what happened that day and where he can find his daughter.  

I really was hooked into wanting to get closure for Donovan and read this book quite quickly, as despite the harrowing subject matter there were some witty one-liners and sarcastic put-downs between Donovan and the various cast of characters, particularly the detectives who had failed him over many years.

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to and would now be far more likely to tackle more US crime fiction that I would previously have considered.  

My thanks to Caroline Vincent, tour organiser, and the publisher for the advance copy of the book and the opportunity to feature on the blog tour. My review has not been influenced in any way by this.

Review Quotes
"An unexpected and exciting series of events that will grab readers." -The Booklife Prize

"The short chapters and fast pacing coupled with an intriguing storyline made this a page turner that I could not put down." - novelgossip.com

"There's no way to read this and not feel the gravity of it." 5-star review, an Amazon reader

"You know it's a 5-star book when you can't put it down and stay up way too late reading!" 5-star review by an Amazon reader

"This book was a fast read . . . if you like psychological thrillers, then this will be right up your alley!" Goodreads Reviewer

"The plot hummed along at an incredible rate." 5-star review by an Amazon reader

Buying Links

Amazon UK: bit.ly/AmUKtoTheLastFriendHarveyChurch
Amazon US: bit.ly/AmUStoTheLastFriendHarveyChurch

About the author

Harvey Church has a background in finance, which is how he found himself writing about the people and ridiculousness (sometimes the same thing) of that field in his Edwin Burrows light mystery series. Although he considers himself retired from that field (aka not working), he's planning another three Edwin Burrows novels for 2018.

His first "serious" novel, The Last Friend, is a Kindle Scout writing competition winner and was published by Kindle Press on January 9, 2018. The BookLife Prize called it "an entertaining read for mystery and thriller fans alike," and said it is "an unexpected and exciting series of events that will grab readers." Harvey plans two sister novels to The Last Friend in 2018, one titled The Last Night (Spring 2018) and the other tentatively titled The Last Survivor.

For fun, Harvey likes to practice street magic and spends hours engineering tricks to wow his audiences. He is also an avid hockey fan (Go Leafs Go). He has a wife and two kids. His favorite color is blue, but he drives a black car because he read somewhere, back in the 90’s, that radar detectors have a tough time seeing them. Interestingly, he never speeds because he's too busy singing like nobody's watching, or maybe it's that everybody is deaf.

He's a supporter of double-chins, double-dates, and double-dipping (though never on double-dates), and obviously enjoys writing about himself in the third person, in the voice of the narrator from The Royal Tenenbaums.

Connect with Harvey Church by searching Harvey Church Mysteries on Facebook, at @hashtag_harv on Instagram, and @harveychurch1 on Twitter. You can also find him wandering the streets of Chicago, Toronto, Montreal or the Lido deck of a Princess Cruise ship. If you ever meet Harv, ask to see a magic trick!

Don't forget to sign up for his email list at AListHarvey.com

Harvey Church Online:

Website:         harveychurchmysteries.com
Twitter:           twitter.com/HarveyChurch1  
Instagram:     www.instagram.com/hashtag_harv/