Rating: 
Summary: Enthralling, captivating, sensually titilating; immense void
Review: ...I have read several other books written by the author. He shamelessly gets right down to the nitty gritty. In an unabashed style, he puts the reader in close company with his characters. With this novel, he had me lapping up each and every word; soaking up the content completely. It was as if I were on the production set of this book as a movie, watching the scenes unfold. The sex scenes were captivating and sensually titilating; the hunt for the missing husband was enthralling - as the reader went from the suffocating humidity of Florida to snowbound New York. The way he took the reader in and out of the present was fabulous. Nonetheless, the spellbinding effect was completely shattered, when at the end of the book - after all the characters and the parts they played had been revealed - the reader was left floundering on dry land like a fish that had been playing too close to the water's edge, expecting the tide to come and go again. Without any forewarning, after reaching the proverbial lead in for the greatest climax ever, the book ran out of steam and ended leaving the reader with feelings of immense void, vagueness, and extreme query.
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed story line.
Review: A wandering story line left me wondering who was alive, and if not, when had they died! It was hard to keep tract of the plot when it jumped from present to past and back over and over again. It wasn't a book I could read without putting it down. It had great characters locked into a disjointed story.
Rating: 
Summary: great book suspense all the way
Review: ed mcbain is a great writer his matthew hope books are great books not his best but one of his good ones
Rating: 
Summary: Matthew Hope meets Steve Carella at last.
Review: Ed McBain tried to tie his two best selling series together with this novel set both in Matthew Hope's Calusa Beach and in the world of the 87th Precinct. While I'm not sure if he completely succeeded I do think this noirish story of a swinging married couple, their young girlfriend (for lack of a better term), their involvement with a murderous ex con, a scheme to steal a priceless art object, and an unsolved murder or two make this still a vintage exciting McBain novel. The friendship that detective Steve Carella and lawyer (kind of PI) Matthew Hope strike up long distance over the phone seems entirely believable and adds some sympathetic empathy for two of the longest suffering "good guy" crime fighters in modern day mystery fiction. I was glad to see these two each find a sympathetic ear. The story itself is a little raunchier in terms of sex than previous McBain's, but I don't think it detracts from the story. Indeed it seems kind of essential in explaining the actions and motivations of some of the characters. I could definitely see the book being cast as a noir type of film with one wondering to the end what the outcome will be. One last note, it isn't necessary to have read any of the other Matthew Hope or 87th Precinct novels before having read this one. It stands on its own well enough, but I do think that it might be helpful to have at least a little bit of a previous acquaintance with Hope and Carella. If nothing else it helps to show the reasons these two would feel a connection with each other. However, once again it isn't necessary for one to enjoy the novel. Without giving away the ending, the title implies that this might be the last Matthew Hope novel. I certainly hope not, I for one would love to see a follow up where Hope visits Carella and the 87th Precinct in the big city. I'll certainly keep my hopes up. No pun intended.
Rating:
Summary: Matthew Hope meets Steve Carella at last.
Review: Ed McBain tried to tie his two best selling series together with this novel set both in Matthew Hope's Calusa Beach and in the world of the 87th Precinct. While I'm not sure if he completely succeeded I do think this noirish story of a swinging married couple, their young girlfriend (for lack of a better term), their involvement with a murderous ex con, a scheme to steal a priceless art object, and an unsolved murder or two make this still a vintage exciting McBain novel. The friendship that detective Steve Carella and lawyer (kind of PI) Matthew Hope strike up long distance over the phone seems entirely believable and adds some sympathetic empathy for two of the longest suffering "good guy" crime fighters in modern day mystery fiction. I was glad to see these two each find a sympathetic ear. The story itself is a little raunchier in terms of sex than previous McBain's, but I don't think it detracts from the story. Indeed it seems kind of essential in explaining the actions and motivations of some of the characters. I could definitely see the book being cast as a noir type of film with one wondering to the end what the outcome will be. One last note, it isn't necessary to have read any of the other Matthew Hope or 87th Precinct novels before having read this one. It stands on its own well enough, but I do think that it might be helpful to have at least a little bit of a previous acquaintance with Hope and Carella. If nothing else it helps to show the reasons these two would feel a connection with each other. However, once again it isn't necessary for one to enjoy the novel. Without giving away the ending, the title implies that this might be the last Matthew Hope novel. I certainly hope not, I for one would love to see a follow up where Hope visits Carella and the 87th Precinct in the big city. I'll certainly keep my hopes up. No pun intended.
Rating:
Summary: Twists, turns and characters from the 87th join Hope!
Review: From the first page, McBain involves the reader in a plot with so many twists and turns that you feel as if you are lost on a winding mountain road. The best thing about the book is the involvement of Carella of the 87th. The worst thing is all of the unbelievably raunchy sex scenes. But, Hope comes out on top and finally gives the reader a clue to what was happening all along. This is one of McBain's best--not as much violence as in previous books but a lot more sex.
Rating:
Summary: I hope it's NOT the LAST
Review: I am a big fan of the murder mysteries series genre: Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, J. McDonald's Travis McGee, Robert B. Parker's Spenser... As teens, my brother and I devoured as many of McBain's "87th Pct" books as we could get our hands on. I hadn't read anything by this author in awhile when I stumbled on "The Last Best Hope" last year. I couldn't put it down -- especially after one of the 87th Pct detectives showed up! I'm only sorry that I didn't know about Matthew Hope before -- I've got a whole lot of reading to catch up on!
Rating:
Summary: I hope it's NOT the LAST
Review: I am a big fan of the murder mysteries series genre: Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone, J. McDonald's Travis McGee, Robert B. Parker's Spenser... As teens, my brother and I devoured as many of McBain's "87th Pct" books as we could get our hands on. I hadn't read anything by this author in awhile when I stumbled on "The Last Best Hope" last year. I couldn't put it down -- especially after one of the 87th Pct detectives showed up! I'm only sorry that I didn't know about Matthew Hope before -- I've got a whole lot of reading to catch up on!
Rating:
Summary: I HOPE THIS SERIES DOES NOT END WITH THIS ONE!!!
Review: I FIRST READ ED MCBAIN WHEN I RECEIVED SNOW WHITE, ROSE RED, ONE OF THE MATTHEW HOPE BOOKS. THAT LED ME TO DISCOVER THE 87TH PRECINCT AND HAS GIVEN ME HOURS OF READING PLEASURE. THE LAST BEST HOPE RANKS TOPS ALONG WITH THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL AS THE BEST OF THE SERIES.
Rating:
Summary: Too disjointed
Review: I have read all of Mr. McBains 87th Precinct novels and have enjoyed them all. This was the first of his "Matthew Hope" series that I have tried and I was very disappointed. It was so disjointed that I kept wanting to put the book back on the shelf. It left way too many things unsettled and too many characters were "just there" for no good reason. Even adding Steve Carella couldn't help this one. I did like the ending, however. In fact it couldn't come soon enough.
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