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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780380810246
ISBN number: 0380810247
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: September 01, 2003
Publishing house: Avon
Release Date: August 26, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 113209
Studio: Avon
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Five lives in the Baltimore area have been brutally destroyed over the past six years -- five unsolved homicides, seemingly unconnected except for the suspicion that each death was the result of domestic violence. In hot legal water -- and court-ordered therapy -- Tess Monaghan accepts an assignment with a local nonprofit organization, agreeing to review police documents on each case for inconsistencies and investigative blunders. But curiosity is leading the disgraced P.I. off the paper trail as she follows scant leads and intuitions into the most remote corners of Maryland -- where a psychopath can hide as easily in the fabric of a tiny fishing community as in the alleys and shadows of Charm City. Because a single common thread to five senseless murders is beginning to emerge with shocking clarity to tie the loose ends together into one bloody knot -- and the link is Tess Monaghan herself.
Amazon.com Review:
Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan knows what to do with a jerk who prowls the Internet looking for love in all the wrong places: pretend to be smitten, slip one of his own date-rape drugs into his drink, cover him with depilatory cream, and leave him in a public place so he'll be too ashamed to do it again. It's hard to follow an opening chapter like that, but Lippman manages it nicely, putting her smart-mouth series sleuth in court-ordered anger-management counseling. The sessions with her shrink spur a most uncharacteristic—-for Tess--reflection on five cold-case homicides she's investigating for a foundation lobbying for increased funding for domestic abuse programs. They don't seem to be connected, but with the help of the retired Toll Facilities cop who discovered the head of one of the victims in the middle of his bridge, Tess discovers a serial killer no one even knew existed--until he made Tess his subsequent target. This is the seventh outing in a lively, original series that keeps getting better and better. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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I am a Lippman fan; have read all but 2 of her books; but, I don't see how she could improve on this one. Great story, great writing, twists and turns, and a definite "I can't put it down" type of book. I highly recommend it.
Rated by buyers 
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I love Laura Lippman's writing style. My introduction to her work was What the Dead Know -- an incredible emotional ride of a mystery novel. The Last Place was the very first Tess Monaghan novel I'd read (actually listened to as an audiobook read by Laurence Bouvard).
I thought Ms. Lippman did a great job presenting the personality and deranged thought process of the serial killer, juxtaposed against the inexorable logic of the private eyes determined to find him out. I thought the ending was justifiably exciting and violent, and quite satisfying. The author worked up to it in admirable fashion. I like Tess Monaghan as a protagonist. She's smart, practical, fun-loving, tough, sounds like a real person. Her boyfriend, Crow, however, comes across as a bit of a wimp and an airhead, and not quite up to her caliber. Their relationship seems almost entirely based on sex, which is hard to accept considering what a complex person Tess is.
The issues I had with the book, maybe because I enjoyed it as an audiobook rather than a read, are that I couldn't quite understand why the bad guy serial killer would want to get caught by revealing the list of his murders to Tess and why he would be stalking her in particular as she didn't fit the mold of one of his victims. It was necessary for the story to work but it didn't quite make sense from the point of view of "reality".
Minor issues. This book held my attention from the very first page to the last.
Rated by buyers 
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A short way into Chapter I, we have "...the world had such a large supply of girls, and an even larger supply of perverts." Really? More perverts than girls? A few pages later, Tess, our heroine, drugs one of these perverts with his own Rohypnol, strips him of his clothes, except for his "briefs and socks", and throws his clothes in a dumpster. But in the subsequent sentence "she arranged his wallet, keys, and pager in a pile subsequent to his head and draped his jacket over him." Without bothering to retrieve the jacket from the dumpster. There are more examples like these.
When a writer has so little control over the world she creates that absurdities and oxymorons populate it more densely than her characters, I stop reading pretty quickly. So in fairness I have to say that I only read the very first ten percent of this book. Maybe it improves later.
Rated by buyers -
Laura knows her stuff. I'm not talking about reporting or the ins and outs of a being a working PI but writing novels. Not just novels but damn good novels. Here, Laura knows her stuff. Very, very well.
The Last Place is excellent. If you've never read her before, you are going to be surprised. Actually, if you've never read her before I would say go back to the beginning with Baltimore Blues because you need to read the progression of her character. Tess doesn't start off this tough as nails, sharp as a tack PI but as a reporter looking for work. Not only will you see the progression of the character but also the writer. Laura keeps getting better. With every book she takes what she learned from the last one and builds upon it. Her narration gets stronger, her descriptions more detailed, her plot tighter, and her books keep getting better. Laura knocks me side the head with each new novel and The Last Place is no exception.
Actually, it's better than that. I put this book down with a sense that I had just read something amazing and strong and the tip of an iceberg. I put this book down very pleased and for that I quite indebted to her. Thank you Ms. Lipman.
Rated by buyers -
With out giving a a synopsis of the story, I'll say this is one of the best series going. I picked up EVERY SECRET THING, really liked it and started to read the series. The stories are excellent. THE LAST PLACE is a real page turner, the writing is above average and the story kept me interested to the point I finally gaveup trying to do anything and finished the book. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
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