The Last Time She Died by Zoë Sharp (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

Title: The Last Time She Died

Author: Zoë Sharp

Publication: 20 October 2021

Format: Kindle eArc via Bookouture & NetGalley

Amazon Description: 

She came back on the day of her father’s funeral, ten years after she vanished. But she can’t be who she says she is…

When Blake disappeared as a teenager, on a cold dark night, her father never reported her missing. She is presumed dead.

Now, ten years later, a young woman with white-blonde hair sits comfortably in the family living room and smiles at the shocked faces around her.

“Don’t you recognise me?” she says. “I’m Blake.”

Detective John Byron isn’t sure whether she’s telling the truth. But as he investigates, he soon realises no one is happy to see her.

And the people who should be welcoming her back with open arms know she can’t be Blake. Because they killed her the night she vanished…

Didn’t they?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

After the first couple of chapters I was already giddy that this is the first in a new series because I was already hooked on the characters of Byron and Blake and excited to see how they go from being the investigator and the investigated to a duo of some sort. 

Blake went missing when she was 15 years old. Did she run away? Was she taken? Killed? There are those that firmly believe that she was the latter -- because they were the ones who had supposedly done the deed.

But.

Blake shows up ten years later on the day of her father's funeral and everything and everyone is thrown topsy-turvy -- particularly John Byron, a detective who is on leave from the force but comes to help investigate the death of Blake's father as he was a Member of Parliament and there are questions surrounding his accident. 

There are a lot of questions surrounding pretty much everyone in the story. I thought more than a couple of times that I knew some of the answers and I was quite wrong and quite pleased about that. It isn't often that I can be so enthrallingly stumped by a book. Even moreso, it isn't often that I can be so hooked on two characters so quickly. Blake is full of snark and Byron is full of purpose and they're both full of pain and secrets that I can't wait to see further explored as the series continues.

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two
of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews. 

"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two
from anywhere in the book currently being read.