Customer Reviews

The Last Noel (Import HB)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Last Noel was chosen for my book club's pick for a certain month. It was my first Heather Graham novel, so I was interested to see how it would be. I was pleasantly surprised, I enjoyed it very much.

The Last Noel was a page-turner from page #1. Each page was suspense laden...you could almost cut the tension with a knife as the hostage scenario played out. And through to the end, the story was well-written and thought out.

I think I'll check out more of her books in the future, as this one gets a thumbs up from me!

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

The O'Boyle family wants to spend one more Christmas together at their house in the mountains. The children are all growing up and before long will want to spend the holidays elsewhere. While Skyler is trying to make it a holiday to remember for her husband and children, danger is about to find them.

Not too far away, a robbery gone awry leaves the store owner dead and the felons escaping through the mountains, until their car crashes in a snow drift, stranding them within sight of the O'Boyle home. With a nor'easter blowing in, the felons seek refuge at the O'Boyle home, and thus usher the holidays in with terror.

Guns trained on her family, Skyler hopes and prays her family will find their way out of this living nightmare. Their only hope, daughter Kat has managed to escape and seeking help. But with the storm growing worse, will she be able to get to help in time? Or will this be The Last Noel for the O'Boyle family?

The Last Noel delves deeply into the bonds of family. Here we have a family that has grown distant from each other and has lost the true meaning of Christmas. No one except Skyler really wants to be there and some family members can barely get along. When their holiday getaway is invaded by criminals with a knack for terrorizing, the O'Boyle family learns the only way they'll make it out alive is if they remember what being a family really means and work together to erase the nightmare.

Surprisingly, the villains in the story add significantly to the story. Granted, one of them drove me out of my mind he was so darned annoying, but I actually found myself feeling sorry for, and liking one of them, Scooter, by the end of the story. I can't really say much since that may give away some spoilers, but there was a lot more to this seemingly bumbling fool who follows his buddy no matter what, than we see when we first meet him.

I love Heather Graham and have for years, and I especially enjoy the direction she's gone lately, veering into thriller territory. While I probably wouldn't classify The Last Noel as her best book ever, it is extremely well done and her characteristic voice shines through clearly. There is a touch of romance, though not much, since the focus on this story is the psychological element of a family in the grips of villains with nothing to lose.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2008. All rights reserved.

This was just an okay book for me. It was short and didn't leave a great deal of room for expanding the story. This felt like more of a novella then an actual novel. There was suspense in the story but it wasn't too intense and the romance was hardly there at all. The story setting really didn't leave much time for romance anyway. Kat is portrayed as completed devastated when Craig left her in the past but I didn't really feel the depths of her pain. Again, I think it was because the book was so short. The plot really keeps this book from being longer and more in depth. Pick this one up from the library as I did.

Heather Graham is obviously a master of suspense as indicative by this book. I loved it! The tension began right at the beginning and continued to build until the very end.

The characterization was just as masterful. The story is centered around a very typical family dynamic. Dad is too harsh. Mom just wants her family together. The kids can hardly stand one another or stand being around their family. I think anyone could relate to these characters.

I was drawn in by the suspense and by the way this family pulled together when in danger. This book is truly worth reading. I highly recommend this holiday thriller. It was great.

The Last Noel by Heather Graham is about a dysfunctional family that is taken prisoner in their vacation home on Christmas Eve by a band of jewel thieves with guns. The thieves have just killed a man and are looking for a safe place to wait out a New England snowstorm. The book is kind of schmaltzy-- the family decides to continue having their Christmas Celebration as if there were no men with guns holding them prisoner. One of the bad guys is a Joe Pesci-like character who is excited about taking part in a family Christmas. Even the lead bad guy wants to have a turkey Christmas dinner. The third guy has a history with a member of the family, a young woman, Kat, with whom he had a very serious love affair before he broke it off without warning.

Kat is an extremely annoying and stupid young woman. At first the bad guys don't know she's in the house because she is able to hide when they break in. However, while the family engages in singing Christmas carols around the piano (they're not going to let men with guns spoil their Christmas, remember?) she sits up on the second floor landing and listens with tears running down her face. When her former boyfriend is brought into the house, injured with a concussion, she sneaks down the stairs to talk to him when everybody is out of the room. She moons around over his adopting a life of crime and sulks about it. She could have left when the family was singing Christmas carols as that would have covered up the noise but she was too busy crying on the landing. There were several other opportunities for her to leave, but she didn't avail herself of them-- the excuse being that it would be too dangerous for her to go out in the blizzard, and there was nowhere nearby she could go for help. Wuss! Then, while the family is having a cozy game of Trivial Pursuit, Kat decides to make a break for it. The head bad guy hears a suspicious noise outside, sends the Joe Pesci character and LoverBoy out to see what is going on and LoverBoy catches her and brings her into the house.

Now Kat has managed to get a text message out to the local sheriff's department, but it is Christmas Eve, remember, and only two officers are on duty. One is a crusty, female sergeant with just a couple of years to retirement, and the other is a fresh-faced rookie. They case out the joint and sneak into the house, preparatory to doing... something. They don't know what they are going to do yet. They don't bother to notify anybody else about the text message and go in without back up.

Despite the book's predictability and hokiness, I enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun to read a feel-good book, even if you know how it's going to end. This is one of those times.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

The O'Boyle family wants to spend one more Christmas together at their house in the mountains. The children are all growing up and before long will want to spend the holidays elsewhere. While Skyler is trying to make it a holiday to remember for her husband and children, danger is about to find them.

Not too far away, a robbery gone awry leaves the store owner dead and the felons escaping through the mountains, until their car crashes in a snow drift, stranding them within sight of the O'Boyle home. With a nor'easter blowing in, the felons seek refuge at the O'Boyle home, and thus usher the holidays in with terror.

Guns trained on her family, Skyler hopes and prays her family will find their way out of this living nightmare. Their only hope, daughter Kat has managed to escape and seeking help. But with the storm growing worse, will she be able to get to help in time? Or will this be The Last Noel for the O'Boyle family?

The Last Noel delves deeply into the bonds of family. Here we have a family that has grown distant from each other and has lost the true meaning of Christmas. No one except Skyler really wants to be there and some family members can barely get along. When their holiday getaway is invaded by criminals with a knack for terrorizing, the O'Boyle family learns the only way they'll make it out alive is if they remember what being a family really means and work together to erase the nightmare.

Surprisingly, the villains in the story add significantly to the story. Granted, one of them drove me out of my mind he was so darned annoying, but I actually found myself feeling sorry for, and liking one of them, Scooter, by the end of the story. I can't really say much since that may give away some spoilers, but there was a lot more to this seemingly bumbling fool who follows his buddy no matter what, than we see when we first meet him.

I love Heather Graham and have for years, and I especially enjoy the direction she's gone lately, veering into thriller territory. While I probably wouldn't classify The Last Noel as her best book ever, it is extremely well done and her characteristic voice shines through clearly. There is a touch of romance, though not much, since the focus on this story is the psychological element of a family in the grips of villains with nothing to lose.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2008. All rights reserved.

On Christmas Eve, Skyler and David O'Boyle, their youngest child sixteen years old son Jamie, their twenty-two years old twins Kat and Frazier, and their Uncle Paddy come together for the holiday. The six have a good time teasing one another and arguing as they imbibe with good cheer.

That night a blizzard isolates the O'Boyle party in their cozy home. However, much more than snow arrives when three desperate thugs (Quintin Lark, Scooter Blane and, Craig Devon) who just killed an octogenarian shopkeeper Lionel Hudson hold the O'Boyle family hostage. Only Kat escapes, but she is stunned as Craig is her college boyfriend. As the nor'easter gets worse, Quintin and Scooter act increasingly psychotic and obviously are no strangers to violence. Fearing for her family, Kat prays for a Christmas miracle that her text message makes it to the police and that they can arrive in a timely manner when road conditions are treacherous and visibility is zero.

Heather Graham provides a powerful suspense thriller that uses dark humor to somewhat lesson the overwhelming tension of the strong house invasion plot. Readers will realize how in an instant the Yuletide bantering changes into a fear for their lives as the criminals make no pretension of how dangerous they are (mindful of the classic movie The Petrified Forest). THE LAST NOEL is a tremendous drama with a neat late twist as the chances of the O'Boyle clan surviving is extremely slight at the same time the pastoral snow keeps falling.

Harriet Klausner

This was my first Heather Graham book and it knocked me out! It took about 6 hours to read it in basically one sitting. I felt as if I was with the family throughout their horrific ordeal. I look forward to finding another heart stopping mystery by Heather Graham! She is great!

I thought The Last Noel was great. And the writer on the fly leaf is gorgeous. There were pleasant surprises and a story line that I thought was predictable, yet often took a twist that surprised me. It was a very enjoyable read that I finished in one sitting. The story was uplifting and warm. I enjoyed it very much.

Curt Gibson
Author of Daddy's Tavern
http://www.freewebs.com/blackjackcooper/

The Last Noel is a tension-filled thriller, front start to finish. The audio version is narrated by Christopher Lane, who does a very good job differentiating between the characters. Several points of view are used, and the story, though short, is a satisfying Christmas tale.