A gripping debut psychological thriller set on the east coast of Ireland. Atmospheric, twisty, and propulsive, Her Last Words is an edge-of-your-seat read about obsession and dark secrets coming to light.
The dead won’t stay silent forever
On a crisp spring morning Cass drops her husband, a respected university lecturer, at the beach for his medically prescribed swim. While waiting for him, something catches her eye. A young woman runs towards her husband and embraces him – until he holds his hand over her face and she falls down on the stones, dead.
In the backseat of the car, their seven-year-old son sits quietly. When her husband returns, he says nothing. Neither does Cass. Afraid to speak up in the immediate aftermath, Cass embarks on a solitary quest to unravel what has taken place.
Cass is quickly drawn into a web of lies that pulls her back to the previous autumn, when a beautiful Italian postgraduate student finds herself subsumed by an inescapable desire. It’s visceral. It’s destiny. But sometimes destiny can kill…
Reviews
Her Last Words is an assured, complex and highly readable debut, combining stylish prose with a truly gripping plot. E.V. Kelly's works will be a welcome addition to the Irish crime scene
- Sinéad Crowley, Irish Book Awards shortlisted author
Compelling... keeps you guessing to the very end
- Michèle Forbes
Breathtakingly paced... frighteningly plausible
- S.A. Dunphy
A chilling though magical read
- Patricia Gibney
The characters jump off the page in this tense, claustrophobic and absolutely absorbing thriller. An assured debut from an impressive new voice
- Sam Blake
Truly surprising... and original
- Emily Hourican
Kelly is a stunning writer... a fascinating novel that plays on the reader's assumptions and forces you to question your own story-making.
- Elske Rahill
A tale of twin compulsions... one that employs a deliciously skewed logic... to deliver a compelling and challenging thriller.
- The Irish Times
Had me in the palm of her hand for every single page
- Irish Examiner
Tautly wrought... the twisting plot leads the reader on a surprising journey.
- Dermot Bolger