Sphere The Last Party: The twisty new mystery from the Sunday Times bestseller

I didn't want to finish this novel because I loved the characters so much, yet I was reading faster and faster because of the twisted plot. The setting is a small town near the border of Wales and England where a new upscale housing development has disturbed the community's tranquility. The main character, Ffion, a local detective constable, has just had a wild New Year's Eve celebration where she met a man in a bar, had too much to drink, and went home with him. Early on New Year's Day, she creeps out of his apartment.Ffion is called to work later in the morning because a man, Rys Lloyd, a famous singer, has been pulled from the lake in front of The Shore, a group of five vacation lodges built for the ultra-rich. She is assigned to work with a detective constable from England because The Shore is on the English side of the lake, and the police officials don't know who have the jurisdiction at this point. She walks in to meet her new partner, and he turns out to be the man she just had a one-night stand with. Since they have no choice, Ffion and Leo, her new partner on the case, try to put their awkwardness aside and get on with the investigation.As it turns out, Leo has a very different working style from Ffion's. He is reserved and more inclined to follow procedure, whereas Ffion acts rashly but often has brilliant insights. They agree to pretend that their encounter never took place with varying degrees of success. They interview all the people around Rhys on New Year's Eve and learn to their dismay, that it was practically the whole town. Lloyd owned one of the lodges, and he and his business partner, who owned another lodge, hosted a party for The Shore and invited the local community.Ffion and Leo find that virtually everyone has a motive to hurt Lloyd. He knew most of the people in the town as he grew up there before his singing career took off. Lloyd had managed to make many enemies because, appearances to the contrary, he was not a nice man. Lloyd had some bad habits involving money, drugs, and women. Ffion and Leo have the challenge of sifting through the suspects to find someone angry enough to kill him. For Ffion, this means being suspicious of some of those people close to her.This story engaged me from the start. The author, Clare MacIntosh, does a masterful job of presenting her characters' points of view. For example, Ffion, having grown up swimming in the lake, views The Shore as a complete eyesore and intrusive to the natural beauty. On the other hand, Leo lives in a dismal rented apartment that is plain and bare. To him, the lodges are aspirational. Every character has well-delineated motivations, agendas, and fears. These come through in the writing and make it more compelling than many murder mysteries. Another reason I was glued to the book was the plot. The twists come fast. The only negative I could find is that at the end, perhaps there were one too many twists, but it was a riveting conclusion, nonetheless. Readers who enjoy Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware will love this one.

Normally I don't like books which switch backwards and forwards between times and people but with this book It worked well.A good read which keeps you guessing

And has given us a fantastic new thriller, introducing a wonderful new female detective and a delectable male one as well...And also had the added benefit of introducing me to Wales, where I have never been. Told from various points of views the plot twists and turns and has many surprises up its sleeve. And the eye to detail is superb! Can't wait for the next installment!

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.

I gave 3 stars to this novel because it is extremely well-written. There are a lot of characters and Clare Mackintosh did an excellent job at characterizing them. Little by little, their past is unveiled and we get to know them better.However, getting to know them better is of little use in the resolution at the end. Most of them had a good reason to be the perpetrator, and this is the most common trick used in whodunnit novels so this was not very original to say the least. As another reviewer here put it, the story drags on and on and in the end, I just didn't care about who the actual murderer was...So despite the superb writing, I didn't find the story particularly gripping and was not as enthralled as I was by her other books like Hostage, I Let You Go or I See You.