My thanks again to Anne Cater, for organising this blog tour for Jo Furniss’s The Last To Know, published on 25th August by Lake Union Publishing.
Please follow the rest of the blog tour, lots of reviews and bloggers still to read.
A family’s past pursues them like a shadow in this riveting and emotional novel of psychological suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of All the Little Children.
American journalist Rose Kynaston has just relocated to the childhood home of her husband, Dylan, in the English village of his youth. There’s a lot for Rose to get used to in Hurtwood. Like the family’s crumbling mansion, inhabited by Dylan’s reclusive mother, and the treacherous hill it sits upon, a place of both sinister folklore and present dangers.
Then there are the unwelcoming villagers, who only whisper the name Kynaston—like some dreadful secret, a curse. Everyone knows what happened at Hurtwood House twenty years ago. Everyone except Rose. And now that Dylan is back, so are rumors about his past.
When an archaeological dig unearths human remains on the hill, local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan vows to solve a cold case that has cast a chill over Hurtwood for decades.
As Ellie works to separate rumor from fact, Rose must fight to clear the name of the man she loves. But how can Rose keep her family safe if she is the last to know the truth?
Our Author – Jo Furniss
After spending a decade as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, Jo Furniss gave up the glamour of night shifts to become a freelance writer and serial expatriate. Originally from the United Kingdom, she spent seven years in Singapore and also lived in Switzerland and Cameroon.
As a journalist, Jo worked for numerous online outlets and magazines, including Monocle and the Economist. She has edited books for a Nobel laureate and the palace of the Sultan of Brunei. She has a Distinction in MA Professional Writing from Falmouth University.
Jo’s debut novel, All the Little Children, was an Amazon Charts bestseller.
My Review – The Last To Know
Rose and Dylan Kynaston and their son Aled, have moved from the US, back to Dylan’s home town of Hurtwood and the history that goes with it. He hasn’t really told Rose about much of his previous life, parents or what made him leave. But its becoming clear to Rose that he’s not shared it for a multitude of reasons. None that great.
Hurtwood House is more like a mansion than a house, its cold, and imposing and Rose doesn’t feel welcome there. Gwendoline, his raging mother is struggling to keep on top of everything, and her ailing health doesn’t help. Add to this the rumors that surround the family and the estate and shes well and truly stuck in the middle of it. With Aled in tow, despite trying to get her journalism job back on the ground and Dylans too. That’s how they met, and both are hoping to break back into the jobs the love.
Sargent Ellie Trevelyan works at the local police station, for now. She’s just been told it will be closing soon, economy cuts. And this means her retirement, so she can look after her aging father, whose mind is slowing disappearing day by day. She is called in to investigate when a body is found by an archaeological team find in the Hurtwood grounds. Rumors abound again, and Gwendoline panics. Dylan’s dad Stanley was hounded after a young lad Kenny Bale, died twenty years previously, either pushed or committed suicide after claims of abuse and bullying were noted in his diaries. But his death was said to be by misadventure and no one was ever charged, though blame was placed heavily at the Kynaston’s door.
The chapters fly though with each characters part of the story, I say fly because once you start reading you won’t be able to stop. The characters are all well written and true to life. The way that Jim Trevelyan’s senility is handled delicately and how any grown child/parent relationship does a role reversal could change when a parent can’t cope alone anymore.
On top of this of course, is the plot and story – its got a real spooky old house feel to it, as well as the police procedural side too. Its a hard subject to include, pedophiles and child abuse, but Jo has handled this brilliantly and highlighted that its wrong and people won’t tolerate it. Great story, characters and plot all make this a 5 star from me.
@Jo_Furniss #LakeUnionPublishing @RandonTTours #TheLastToKnow
