The Last Breath [Import] [Mass Market Paperback]

Denise Mina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2008

Paddy Meehan is home alone when there’s a knock at the door. It’s the police and they have bad news. Former boyfriend Terry Patterson’s naked body has been found in a ditch. He’s been tortured, hooded, then shot through the head: all hallmarks of an IRA assassination.

Paddy is devastated: Terry was her first lover; the sort of journalist she’s always aspired to be. But why have the police come to her? Although she and Terry have had an on/off affair since they first worked together, she hasn’t seen him for over a year.

She is therefore horrified to find that not only has Terry named her next of kin, but he has left her a huge Georgian house in Ayrshire and several suitcases full of notes.

What was Terry trying to tell her? As Paddy begins her investigation into his death, she realizes that if the secret he was about to expose was worth killing for, she is next in line.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Mina infuses the city with human warmth and social realism; dialogue is convincingly street-witty and Paddy is an endearing heroine.”
— The Times

“Uncompromisingly real. . . . Another fine book from Mina, and in Paddy Meehan, she has created a touching and loving heroine.”
— Sunday Telegraph

“Paddy Meehan is the most unlikely, and most realistic, investigator in recent crime fiction . . .”
— Wall Street Journal


From the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

Glasgow, 1990. Paddy Meehan thinks she might have it all: flash car, flat, job as one of Scotland’s leading newspaper columnists, and a giant packet of biscuits all to herself. But her relaxed Saturday night in front of the TV is shattered when the police knock on her door. Someone close to her has died, they tell her, smiling sympathetically. She prepares herself for the worst – and is staggered when they tell her who it is. Terry Patterson has been found naked in a ditch, executed with a shot through his temple. He was her first ever lover and her hero, the sort of journalist she always aspired to be. Paddy chucked him months ago, but she’s down as his next of kin. He has also left her everything in his will: a house in Ayrshire, boxes of notebooks, and a folder. What was Terry trying to tell her? As Paddy begins her investigation into his murder, she realizes that if the secret he was about to expose was worth killing for, she – and those closest to her – are in terrible danger ... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055381950X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553819502
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,823,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Denise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. Because of her father's job as an engineer, the family followed the north sea oil boom of the seventies around Europe, moving twenty one times in eighteen years from Paris to the Hague, London, Scotland and Bergen. She left school at sixteen and did a number of poorly paid jobs: working in a meat factory, bar maid, kitchen porter and cook. Eventually she settle in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients.
At twenty one she passed exams, got into study Law at Glasgow University and went on to research a PhD thesis at Strathclyde University on the ascription of mental illness to female offenders, teaching criminology and criminal law in the mean time.
Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead.
'Garnethill' won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasy Dagger for the best first crime novel and was the start of a trilogy completed by 'Exile' and 'Resolution'.
A fourth novel followed, a stand alone, named 'Sanctum' in the UK and 'Deception' in the US.

In 2005 'The Field of Blood' was published, the first of a series of five books following the career and life of journalist Paddy Meehan from the newsrooms of the early 1980s, through the momentous events of the nineteen nineties. The second in the series was published in 2006, 'The Dead Hour' and the third will follow in 2007.
She also writes comics and wrote 'Hellblazer', the John Constantine series for Vertigo, for a year, published soon as graphic novels called 'Empathy is the Enemy' and 'The Red Right Hand'. She has also written a one-off graphic novel about spree killing and property prices called 'A Sickness in the Family' (DC Comics forthcoming).
In 2006 she wrote her first play, "Ida Tamson" an adaptation of a short story which was serialised in the Evening Times over five nights. The play was part of the Oran Mor 'A Play, a Pie and a Pint' series, starred Elaine C. Smith and was, frankly, rather super.
As well as all of this she writes short stories published various collections, stories for BBC Radio 4, contributes to TV and radio as a big red face at the corner of the sofa who interjects occasionally, is writing a film adaptation of Ida Tamson and has a number of other projects on the go.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same book as Slip of the Knife, April 5, 2009

By 

Kenneth Sullivan "author of The Psychotic State" (The South) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Breath (Mass Market Paperback)

For those seeking all of Denise Mina's books, Slip of the Knife and The Last Breath are the same. So too are Sanctum and Deception. Apparently she publishes with different titles in Great Britain vs. USA.

Ms. Mina has two series with plucky female protagonists and gritty plots. All her books show respect for the reader and reward us with intelligence, intensity, and some humor. The first - "Garnethill Trilogy" - might seem a tough slam with a background of sexual abuse, exploitation, and betrayal mixed with the murders, but the path is wise and her "Resolution" includes, thank goodness, some redemption by the end (well, and some more killing.)

The second series is more accessible with a less troubled lead in Paddy Meehan. However, in all her writing Ms. Mina is tough and she expects us to be as well.

The novel Deception (Sanctum) stands independently. It is presented as journal entries, and we decide whether they are accurate. It is perhaps more a tour de force than a treat.

The voices are Scottish with rolling vowels and twirling consonants. The city of Glasgow breathes fog and ice and steam, presenting tenements and alleyways that threaten and beckon. Denise Mina gives us biting fiction.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Last Breath by Denise Mina, June 5, 2008

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Breath (Paddy Meehan 3) (Hardcover)

This is the third of Denise Mina's novels to feature Paddy Meehan, the feisty reporter first introduced in `The Field of Blood'. We rejoin Paddy in 1990 where she is now a leading newspaper columnist with a flash car and a flat. Just as Paddy settles down on a Saturday night, intent on relaxing in front of the television in a comfortable pair of pyjamas, a knock on the door changes everything. Terry Patterson, her first lover and journalistic hero, has been found naked and executed in a ditch.

Who killed Terry and why? Paddy has been named as his next of kin, and he has left her everything in his will. Paddy believes that the answer to his murder is contained in his past and as she seeks to unravel the case, she realises that she and those closest to her are also in danger.

Paddy Meehan is an unlikely hero. She is brash, abrasive, doggedly determined, likeable and so very human.

While this novel can be read alone, I'd recommend reading the novels in order. The development of Paddy's character in the earlier novels is an important part of the backstory. Many of the other characters have also been introduced in the earlier novels, and their relationships with each other are as much a part of the novel as solving the murder is.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

2.0 out of 5 stars Completely implausible story, February 4, 2010

By 

T. Eagan (Bergen, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Breath (Mass Market Paperback)

I was rather let down by this book. Writing is fine, good humor, nice Glasgow atmosphere, descriptions of events fine. But the story... The contradictions kill the joy of the book. The whole premiss for the mystery ** spoiler alert ** is that Paddy is right about who the villain is. But the villain comes to her - first - for no plausible reason - and keeps leading her towards him. Of course, if not there wouldn't be much of a mystery, but it is annoying reading on with so many illogical events. One waits for it to come together meaningfully, but it really doesn't. I'm sorry, but this was a completely implausible story.