Cole Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It's all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with. He grew up in New York, where there crime was all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction. His stories will have you reading through the night--they are very addictive!
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This was a fun who done it that I read in a night. William and Carlotta and married and their relationship is not at a good point. I guess it wouldn't be because William cannot stop cheating on his lovely wife and the girls are young interns at his place of work.
When one of them winds up dead, there are only two suspects..William or Carlotta.
Jamie is the detective who must figure it all out. The murder happened at the happy couple's HOUSE where the victim was apparently thrown from a window in the middle of the night. Both of the suspects claim they drank to much the night before and neither can remember even seeing her, let alone killing her or at least that is what they SAY..
This was a fun little thriller that is a really fast read and is filled with deception and lies. It is a good read with good writing and if I had one complaint it is that it really is not that hard to figure out. I also never got a sense of who this couple was. I mean William..he was an obvious misogynist but I'd have liked to see his nice side so I could understand how all those women were drawn to him. He also came off as to sour and mean a person to root for.
I think I'd have enjoyed the book more if the two central characters had been developed a bit more and also if I got a glimpse of their relationship before it turned so bad.
Overall though, it was a good and fast read that I think Domestic mystery fans would really enjoy.
Pheww I seldom read a book and give 2 stars. I was being kind with this book. I kept waiting for it to improve. It didn’t. Nothing like able about any of the characters. An unforgettable book. I wasted several hours of my day.
I was gifted a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed that the book alternated between different perspectives with chapters told from the point of view of different characters. It did mean though that I found myself liking certain chapters more as I enjoyed the way some characters were written more than others. This definitely wasn’t the most exciting crime/mystery book I have ever read. I am all for the suspension of disbelief but I really struggled to suspend my disbelief to the point where I could accept that not one, but two, of the characters Carlotta and William were so drunk that they had absolutely no memories of the previous night or of how a murdered woman ended up at their house. Despite this, I did enjoy seeing how the story progressed. Anthony Lee’s narration definitely made this book worth reading. His narration is the reason this book did not receive a lower rating as the way he narrated this book really helped to improve it. I loved that Lee gave every character a unique way of speaking as it made it so much easier to keep track of all the characters throughout the novel.
What happened last night. Was a book filled with plenty of suspense and passion.
What seems to be a typically bored self important married architect named William who has a self inflated ego boosted by the many affairs he has been having with the young interns through the company he works for.
Carlotta is his wife who has recently found out about his recent affair with Candy another intern, and is enraged by his behaviour.
What happens next is the start of a suspense filled series of events that show what really happens behind the darkness of ano onesided marriage.
Waking up to find a 19 year old Candy dead in their garden bed at the bottom of their two storie smashed bedroom window.
A detective, a distraught father, and a married couple. I enjoyed the storyline the characters were good the storyline was captivating and kept me engaged.
What Happened Last Night By Cole Baxter Main Characters: Carlotta and William I voluntarily and honestly reviewed this book without bias or persuasion from the author. 4 out of 5 stars This was a well-plotted physiological suspense story. It involves a married couple Carlotta and William who end up with a dead 19-year-old girl in the backyard. It is up to Detective Jamie Del Rey to find out which of the two people involved actually killed her. This story has an unhappy marriage, cheating, lying, angst, drama, mental illness, drinking, drugs, etc. It will have you trying to figure out who committed the crime right up to the end. And even then I didn't foresee what was going to happen. The only redeemable character was the detective in my mind.
The story was not very interesting. Once I finally got thru to the end, by skimming the final chapters, I could just about picture the whole as an actual story or movie. There were so many typos and extra long, oddly worded sentences. The use of the F word was so forced, like it got added as an after thought..."know what? Let's make em curse!" There were no real personalities, so didnt help reveal their emotion; and when used by Carlotta, was such a mismatch to the suddenly devout Catholic we found out she was. Guess only a small sample of ppl have read it... the reviews indicate good to very good. This was 'ok' at best.
Didn't finish this book. It was such a stretch to believe both William and Carlotta were so drunk that neither of them remembered how a young girl was laying dead on their front lawn and their bedroom window was crashed open. Then William starts to remember in a dream. What? It was so stupid and he kept it up.
The Bottom Line: A spellbinding crime thriller bolstered by a razor-sharp audiobook performance. Perfect for Michael Connelly fans looking for another dose of LA noir.
In this twisty whodunnit, LAPD detective Jamie Del Rey investigates the death of 19-year-old Candy Xavier. Her body was found on the lawn of a Hollywood Hills home belonging to William and Carlotta Alden. Judging by an apparent knife wound, she may have been dead before the fall.
Cole Baxter’s novel is told with a steady cadence of alternating points of view, beginning with Jamie, then Carlotta, then William. It’s clear from the get go that William is a serial philanderer who works as an architect when he’s not sleeping with younger women. Carlotta is a bitter but somewhat dutiful wife, and in the audiobook version, narrator Anthony Lee effectively spits venom-laden narration as Carlotta casts any female within proximity of her husband as a “gold-digging little whore.”
Did one of the Aldens kill Candy, or was it one of William’s other love interests?
Both William and Carlotta are raging drunks, which makes the chapters told from their point of view tantalizingly unreliable. In contrast, each section from Jamie’s purview is a breath of fresh air. He’s a rock solid crime solver in a city filled with chaos. It’s a pleasure to ride along with him as he slowly increases the pressure on the Aldens. At one point, he gets up in William’s grill even as he’s recovering from a car accident. The tension rises off the page, and Lee deftly switches tone between the two characters as their mutual frustration grows.
Baxter’s setup is simple, but with the glitz and grime of LA as a backdrop, What Happened Last Night builds into an effective mystery that has more than a few surprises up its sleeve. Highly recommended, with the Audible version is a particularly good listen.
Very predictable and repetitive. The voice of the narrator was very dry and there was no characters development. It was a rather short read so, I toughed it out but I was not at all impressed.
William and Carlotta’s marriage has been on the rocks for a while. When they wake up one night to find his mistress dead on the lawn, things are going to take a dramatic turn for the worse, and it’s up to LAPD detective Jamie to figure out which of the two were responsible.
I’m going to start this with the positives. I loved the story. It was twisty and suspenseful and kept me listening until the end. I couldn’t wait to see how the situation would resolve, and I was on the edge of my seat until it did.
On the negative side though, the characters got on my nerves. I liked Carlotta slightly more than William, but they were both so unlikeable, that I really hated listening to both their POVs. William was so whiny and repetitive that I fast forwarded through his parts often. I kept hoping that Carlotta would get a backbone and stand up to him, but she just let William continue to walk all over her, and it was a little disappointing.
By far, Jamie was my favorite character because he was so down to Earth and straightforward.
These are my personal hang-ups. Other readers may feel differently. Like I said, I enjoyed the story itself but feel it could’ve been more enjoyable with at least some growth in the characters themselves.
Narration was not bad.
This book was given to me for free at my request, and I provided this voluntary review.
I enjoyed this murder mystery. William, is a wealthy married architect, who has an inflated ego and tendency to blame others, especially his wife, for any of his shortcomings. He continually has affairs with young women interns who work for him. Carlotta, his long-suffering wife, is constantly belittled and criticized by William. She is a successful and well-known artist who has put up with her husband’s cheating for years, but she finally demands William end his latest fling when the 19 year old intern, Candy, shows up at her home, insulting Carlotta and demanding she step aside so that William can make a life with her and their unborn baby. A few days later, Candy’s dead body is discovered in the garden below William’s and Carlotta’s second-story bedroom windows. A young detective, Jamie Del Rey, is sent to investigate the murder, questioning William and Carlotta, who claim that after a night of heavy drinking, they were both too drunk to remember what happened. Morrie Xavier, Candy’s father, insists Jamie arrest William for the murder, and the detective tells him he needs concrete evidence before any arrest can be made. Morrie is enraged and continues to harass the young detective until the crime is finally concluded in a violent way.
I really enjoyed the novel. I started piecing it together just as the author was about to reveal the information, but it took so many turns and I was unsure of how it would end. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the novel. I couldn’t put it down at times!
The only issue I have with the novel, which actually falls on the editor, is that throughout the entire novel “where” was used when “were” should have been. Obviously it was a type, but come on! Clearly someone dropped the ball. It was seriously misused about a dozen times and irritatingly so. At one point, near the end, you’ll also notice a repeated action. I can’t say what because I’ll risk giving away the ending. I find it just takes a bit away from the novel to have all the errors and repetitions.
I would highly recommend this novel, despite the errors, though. It was definitely worth the read!
William and Carlotta may have loved each other.....once, but that love is long gone. In its place is manipulation, disrespect, neglect and cheating. And when a young girl that is William's latest fling becomes unhinged, there are finally consequences to his behavior, for both of them. Although the majority of the story revolves around these two and their disintegrating relationship, Detective Jamie Del Rey is assigned the case to determine who killed William's latest distraction. Cole Baxter always gives us twists turns, drama, and a huge surprise or two. This book doesn't disappoint, you are kept guessing till the end. I received an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.
I can't recall ever reading a mystery quite like this one. It made it all the more suspenseful for me. There was one very glaring discrepancy early in the story, though: It has to do with which officers interview which witnesses. Other than that, the characters, although not particularly likable except for the detective, are well drawn and believable.
Anthony Lee delivers an excellent performance. He gives distinctive voices to the characters, although his accents may not be totally authentic. Still, it's an exciting listen.
Note: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
This is the second book from this author I’ve read and I enjoy it. This time, involving a couple who wake up to find a broken bedroom window and a dead body on the garden below.
Who is to blame? Why can’t they remember? Detective Jamie Del Ray is determined to find out. Two suspects, but how to find the truth?
This was a well-written crime thriller filled with suspense and tension. The characters fitted well into the plot, although, the husband is particularly unlikeable – purposely misleading?
I liked the fast pace and the twists and turns. No spoilers, just a great read.
What Happened Last Night is a psychological thriller that had me on the edge of my seat wondering who did it. This is about William and Carlotta a married couple and the dead body found in their back yard of nineteen year old Candy. Just when I thought I figured it out something happened that threw me off. Cole Baxter writes the kind of psychological thrillers that you don't want to stop reading until you find out how it ends. Intriguing storyline, interesting characters and an ending that left me speechless make this an amazing read. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book.
A little too cookie-cutter for me. Cheating husband, jilted pregnant mistress, a murder... None of the characters in this book were likable. William was just an over-the-top rotten bastard, Carlotta was the pitied wife and Jamie was pretty much a generic detective.
One thing I thought was odd was that at the beginning of the book, a previous murder case that haunted Jamie and drove him from the job and country for several weeks, seemed as if it would play a bigger role. I figured at the least, the background would be given, but another word was never mentioned about it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Carlotta is married to William, a lying ,cheating, verbally abusive man. While Carlotta knows about William' cheating, she will manipulate anyone and anything to get what she wants. So who actually murdered Candy, William's latest affair? They were both stinking drunk and both have secrets to hide. Who's guilty... the serial cheater is the master manipulator? I had my mind made up pretty much from the beginning on who pushed Candy out the window. I wavered a little bit here and there. I was correct on who I thought was guilty, but the ending was definitely not what I expected.
A very intriguing murder mystery. Right from the start you know who killed the girl, sort of at least. There's is only 2 choices so Detective Jamie Del Rey has a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right without much effort. But that's not how he does things and he's quickly drawn into a string of lies he needs to untangle. The characters are unique adding to the suspense filled plot in this intriguing tale. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request, and have voluntarily left this review.
Oh. My. God. Cole Baxter knows how to weave a tapestry full of deceit, anger, and misplaced trust. He’s really outdone himself with What Happened Last Night...I couldn’t put this one down! The storyline is gripping; the characters frightening. The plot twists and turns will have your head aching, and your stomach in knots! There’s just something so shocking about evil unleashed... (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and was totally blown away by it!)
Could not put down !!! There is always CEO or upper management that tries to get away with sleeping with an intern. But do the really get away with it ? This book is all about a couple, William and Carlotta who proves that you can’t always hide everything. But do you choose love or lust ? Ohh and let’s throw a crazy pregnant lady with an vengeful father too !!!!!
Engaging, quick read, but I felt it even could have been shorter. There are some long drawn out scenes and I found it to be a little repetitive at points.
A whodunit scenario that I don’t feel like I read before so that added another layer of intrigue to the book.
A couple whose marriage is in trouble; the husband is a belligerent, cheating narcissist, and the wife is manipulative. Whew! Then a 19yo is dead at their house and both claim to have been too drunk to remember. It’s up to Detective DelRay and his team to decide which spouse is telling the truth. The ending is astonishing!
This was a fast read that started out slow but picked up quickly as we watch Carlotta and William’s bad marriage further disintegrate while they become prime suspects in a murder. Love that this is told from the perspective of not only the husband and wife but the lead detective on the case.
at first I wasn't sure what to make of this audio book but the more that I listened the greater understanding I got. I have listened to it a few times now and really do think it will help me in addressing life post long covid.
I like the way both the narration and writing brings you in. so many of these books can feel patronising or superficial this doesnt
This is one of the best novels I've read in a while. It had me guessing the whole way through, I usually know who the guilty party is, but not this time….. Beautifully crafted this is a fantastic read!
An edge of your seat murder mystery with a husband and wife as suspects, foggy memories, an intruiging investigation/investigator. Wonderfully gripping and entertaining.
Definitely a prefect case of he says --- she says. And who is more believable. Makes one think; when your back is up against the wall do you really think you can trust your partner. I'd hate to find out the real truth.
You got me. I thought almost to the end that it was the wife. I also thought the father would actually kill her. Anxious to read your recommended books at the end. Keep writing you are really good.