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“Will keep you up. In a ‘can’t put it down’ way. It’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ with XX chromosomes.” —The Skimm
Read The Last Mrs. Parrish before you pick up the new, instant New York Times bestseller, The Next Mrs. Parrish!
A mesmerizing debut about a coolly manipulative woman and a wealthy "golden couple," from a stunning new voice in psychological suspense.
Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.
To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.
Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.
With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.
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ISBN-10
0062667580
ISBN-13
978-0062667588
Print length
416 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Harper Paperbacks
Publication date
July 02, 2018
Dimensions
5.31 x 0.94 x 8 inches
Item weight
2.31 pounds
I was learning that emotional intimidation could be just as unsettling as physical.
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She saw the origin of her mother’s cheerless demeanor and poverty of imagination.
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Amber needed order—disciplined, structured order. And now, finally, she was the master of her world. And of her fate.
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ASIN :
B01N4QZ0KW
File size :
3898 KB
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“[A] wicked debut thriller… you’ll relish every diabolical turn.” (People)
“‘The Last Mrs. Parrish’ by Liv Constantine will keep you up. In a ‘can’t put it down’ way. It’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ with XX chromosomes.” (The Skimm)
“[A] haunting psychological thriller. . . . Engrossing.” (Real Simple)
“Utterly irresistible. . . . The Last Mrs. Parrish pivots on an enormous and satisfying twist. . . . the pages keep flying, flying, flying by.” (USA Today)
“If you like your thrillers with an unexpected twist, this one’s for you.” (New York Post)
“‘The Last Mrs. Parrish’ Should Be the Very Next Book You Read.” (Huffington Post)
“Fabulous. . . . I read this book in a flash, devouring every twisty delicious detail.” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
“This deliciously naughty novel of psychological suspense is perfect for fans of Daphne du Maurier, L.S. Hinton and Jessica Knoll.” (LitHub, “5 Crime Must-Reads Coming in October”)
“One compulsive read. . . . It’s a terrific debut, and I look forward to seeing what the Constantine sisters do next!” (Book Reporter)
“Think: a female Tom Ripley. . . . sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine, writing as Liv Constantine, build momentum with short, cliffhanger chapters racing toward a satisfying denouement.” (Shelf Awareness)
“The Last Mrs. Parrish is an addictive and twisty debut.” (Karin Slaughter, New York Times and international bestselling author)
“Captivating. . . a deliciously duplicitous psychological thriller that will lure readers until the wee hours and beyond. With a plot equally as twisty, spellbinding, and addictive as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train, this is sure to be a hit with suspense fans.” (Library Journal (starred review))
“Constantine’s debut novel is the work of two sisters in collaboration, and these ladies definitely know the formula. A Gone Girl-esque confection with villainy and melodrama galore.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))
“To the pantheon of Gone Girl–type bad girls you can now add Amber Patterson, the heroine of this devilishly ingenious debut thriller. . . . The reader watches with shock and delight as Amber cold-bloodedly manipulates Daphne and Jackson and lays waste to anyone else who stands in her way. . . . To say any more would spoil all the twists that Constantine (the pseudonym of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine) has in store along the way to a surprising and entirely satisfying ending. Suffice it to say that readers would have to go back to the likes of Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying or Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley to find as entertaining a depiction of a sociopathic monster.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
“The twists keep coming in this psychological roller coaster from debut author Constantine, the pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine…this is a satisfying thriller that offers a window into the darker side of glamorous lives and powerful men.” (Booklist)
“Wonderfully plausible, hypnotically compelling, and deliciously chilling and creepy—some of the best psychological suspense you’ll read this year.” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author)
“A wonderfully clever story, filled with suspense and a shocking twist, that kept me turning the pages.” (Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Sunshine Sisters)
“The Last Mrs. Parrish is an extraordinary debut and gripping psychological thriller that is full of unexpected twists. Readers will become obsessed with these chilling characters who pull you in and refuse to let go.” (Sara Blaedel, Denmark's award-winning internationally bestselling "Queen of Crime")
“Liv Constantine’s The Last Mrs. Parrish is a beautifully constructed set piece, an intricate narrative that doubles back and folds in on itself like a Mobius strip, revealing secret upon secret, and layer upon layer, with a seductive ‘just one more chapter’ urgency that will keep readers up all night. Giving new meaning to the adage ‘be careful what you wish for,’ The Last Mrs. Parrish proves that the worst that can happen just might be when you get what you want. Addictive!” (Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King’s Daughter)
“Gillian Flynn meets Joy Fielding in Liv Constantine’s The Last Mrs. Parrish. In an age of great anti-heroines, comes the most unlikeable one yet, the coldly devilish Amber Patterson. This thriller delivers the most satisfying ending since B.A. Paris’ smash hit Behind Closed Doors—and a victorious romp of revenge.” (Jenny Milchman, USA Today bestselling author of Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, and As Night Falls)
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Part I
Amber
One
Amber Patterson was tired of being invisible. She’d been coming to this gym every day for three months—three long months of watching these women of leisure working at the only thing they cared about. They were so self-absorbed; she would have bet her last dollar that not one of them would recognize her on the street even though she was five feet away from them every single day. She was a fixture to them—unimportant, not worthy of being noticed. But she didn’t care—not about any of them. There was one reason and one reason alone that she dragged herself here every day, to this machine, at the precise stroke of eight.
She was sick to death of the routine—day after day, working her ass off, waiting for the moment to make her move. From the corner of her eye, she saw the signature gold Nikes step onto the machine next to her. Amber straightened her shoulders and pretended to be immersed in the magazine strategically placed on the rack of her own machine. She turned and gave the exquisite blond woman a shy smile, which garnered a polite nod in her direction. Amber reached for her water bottle, deliberately moving her foot to the edge of the machine, and slipped, knocking the magazine to the floor, where it landed beneath the pedal of her neighbor’s equipment.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” she said, reddening.
Before she could step off, the woman stopped her pedaling and retrieved it for her. Amber watched the woman’s brow knit together.
“You’re reading is magazine?” the woman said, handing it back to her.
“Yes, it’s the Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s magazine. Comes out twice a year. Do you know it?”
“I do, yes. Are you in the medical field?” the woman asked.
Amber cast her eyes to the floor, then back at the woman. “No, I’m not. My younger sister had CF.” She let the words sit in the space between them.
“I’m sorry. That was rude of me. It’s none of my business,” the woman said, and stepped back onto the elliptical.
Amber shook her head. “No, it’s okay. Do you know someone with cystic fibrosis?”
There was pain in the woman’s eyes as she stared back at Amber. “My sister. I lost her twenty years ago.”
“I’m so sorry. How old was she?”
“Only sixteen. We were two years apart.”
“Charlene was just fourteen.” Slowing her pace, Amber wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. It took a lot of acting skills to cry about a sister who never existed. The three sisters she did have were alive and well, although she hadn’t spoken to them for two years.
The woman’s machine ground to a halt. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Amber sniffed and shrugged. “It’s still so hard, even after all these years.”
The woman gave her a long look, as if trying to make a decision, then extended her hand.
“I’m Daphne Parrish. What do you say we get out of here and have a nice chat over a cup of coffee?”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt your workout.”
Daphne nodded. “Yes, I’d really like to talk with you.”
Amber gave her what she hoped looked like a grateful smile and stepped down. “That sounds great.” Taking her hand, she said, “I’m Amber Patterson. Pleasure to meet you.”
Later that evening Amber lay in a bubble bath, sipping a glass of merlot and staring at the photo in Entrepreneur magazine. Smiling, she put it down, closed her eyes, and rested her head on the edge of the tub. She was feeling very satisfied about how well things had gone that day. She’d been prepared for it to drag out even longer, but Daphne made it easy for her. After they dispensed with the small talk over coffee, they’d gotten down to the real reason she’d elicited Daphne’s interest. “It’s impossible for someone who hasn’t experienced CF to understand,” Daphne said, her blue eyes alive with passion. “Julie was never a burden to me, but in high school my friends were always pushing me to leave her behind, not let her tag along. They didn’t understand that I never knew when she’d be hospitalized or if she’d even make it out again. Every moment was precious.”
Amber leaned forward and did her best to look interested while she calculated the total worth of the diamonds on Daphne’s ears, the tennis bracelet on her wrist, and the huge diamond on her tanned and perfectly manicured finger. She must have had at least a hundred grand walking around on her size-four body, and all she could do was whine about her sad childhood. Amber suppressed a yawn and gave Daphne a tight smile.
“I know. I used to stay home from school to be with my sister so that my mom could go to work. She almost lost her job from taking so much time off, and the last thing we could afford was for her to lose our health insurance.” She was pleased with how easily the lie came to her lips.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” Daphne clucked. “That’s another reason my foundation is so important to me. We provide financial assistance to families who aren’t able to afford the care they need. It’s been a big part of the mission of Julie’s Smile for as long as I can remember.”
Amber feigned shock. “Julie’s Smile is your foundation? It’s the same Julie? I know all about Julie’s Smile, been reading about all you do for years. I’m so in awe.”
Daphne nodded. “I started it right after grad school. In fact, my husband was my first benefactor.” Here she’d smiled, perhaps a bit embarrassed. “That’s how we met.”
“Aren’t you preparing for a big fund-raiser right now?”
“As a matter of fact we are. It’s a few months away, but still lots to do. Say . . . oh, never mind.”
“No, what?” Amber pressed.
“Well, I was just going to see if maybe you’d like to help. It would be nice to have someone who understands—”
“I’d love to help in any way,” Amber interrupted. “I don’t make a lot of money, but I definitely have time to donate. What you’re doing is so important. When I think of the difference it makes—” She bit her lip and blinked back tears.
Daphne smiled. “Wonderful.” She pulled out a card engraved with her name and address. “Here you are. Committee is meeting at my house Thursday morning at ten. Can you make it?”
Amber had given her a wide smile, still trying to look as though the disease was first in her mind. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
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Liv Constantine
Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Lynne and Valerie are New York Times and international bestselling authors with over one and a half million copies sold worldwide. Their books have been translated into 29 languages, are available in 34 countries, and are in development for both television and film. Their novels have been praised by The Washington Post, USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. Their debut novel, THE LAST MRS. PARRISH, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection.
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Customer reviews
4.3 out of 5
68,752 global ratings
Susan Bousquet
5
Couldn’t Put It Down!
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2024
Verified Purchase
Wow! I feel like I just went on a roller coaster ride! This book kept me riveted from the beginning with so many twists and turns! Very well written and left me wanting to keep following Daphne’s story!
3 people found this helpful
Maxmisa
5
Not what I expected!
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2024
Verified Purchase
Such a great read that held my attention and I couldn’t wait to finish the book. So many twists and I didn’t expect it at all.
school teacher
5
The Last Mrs. Parrish
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
This is a good book. It's long but I enjoyed the story line. I kinda figured it out but it's still a good read.
Attwoman
5
Wow what a story
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2024
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I started reading this book around 230 today And I just finished it 4 hours later And it couldn't put it down kept going further and further wondering what the hell was going on and the ending is fabulous Grass is not always greater on the other side of the street!
Nicole M Whisner
4
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine 4.5 /5 ⭐️
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine 4.5 /5 ⭐️
I re-read The Last Mrs. Parrish in preparation for The Next Mrs. Parrish. I first read this book back in 2018. Even the second time around, the book did not disappoint. There were plenty of twists that I had forgotten and did not see coming. The book is divided into three parts. In part one, Amber befriends Daphne and infiltrates the Parrish house and life. Part two is from Daphne’s point of view. Then in part three, the two perspectives come together. The change of narrators is crafted very well, filling in details as the mystery unfolds. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading this book and can’t wait to read the sequel.
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