Rating: 
Summary: A rocking novel
Review: A woman moves back to her suburban hometown and finds you really can't go home again. Particularly if your old boyfriend is still living there.
This is really easily one of the best books I read so far this year. For once, the critics are absolutely right. This was much, much more than just another murder mystery. It's a suspenseful social commentary.
I wasn't just entertained, but surprisingly moved at times, especially by the way it brought back memories of the days right after 9/11. A keeper, for sure.
Rating:
Summary: you must read
Review: An exciting book, i could not put it down. I had to finish it. Now i have recommended it to all of my friends.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Riveting!!!
Review: Blauner is one of those authors that just keeps getting better and better. From SLOW MOTION RIOT to THE LAST GOOD DAY, he brings an extraordinary sense of authenticity to his novels. His latest is his best and most compelling. Great characters, a plot that gets more and more interesting as it develops, and a wonderful ending make this the best novel I've read this year.
Rating:
Summary: Must read for the summer
Review: Blauner is the best. Once again he gives us an intelligent thriller that you can't put down. He seems to get better with every book. He is a master of the little details that make characters and their worlds come alive. Fascinating. A must read for anyone who rides past manicured lawns and wonders what really goes on in the houses behind them. But beware. You'll never hear a suburban sprinkler again without feeling a chill.
Rating: 
Summary: Some nice touches, but I missed the boat I think...
Review: Blauner's novel has some great touches about modern day life, particularly in the shadow of 9/11 (I finished it the day before the 2 year anniversary so the memories are still heavy) and the characters are often sympathetic (I particularly enjoyed Harold, Paco, and Barry). Blauner creates a geniunely creepy Mike for most of the book. However, I found the ending chapters to be like one of those action picture endings--who lives and dies (I shall not reveal) seems to be driven by drama and not realism. It is a good book, but I don't share the love of it that many readers here seem to have.
Rating:
Summary: Characters who Really Live and Breathe
Review: By far Peter Brauner's best, the book compares favorably to something like Updike's RABBIT REDUX.
On every page I had to pause to remind myself that I don't actually live in Riverside, the New York suburb where the action is largely set, but far away in California. That's how convincingly he draws you into the story.
Most writers have no idea how to integrate the working lives of their characters into the give and take of a thriller. Here I was totally taken in by Barry Schulman's working world in the high concept life of a biotech company, by Lynn's photography and the way a reader could actually visualize many of her best pictures, by Mike's life as a small town detective with a big city style crime to solve.
There was a lot of class stuff too, which again most American novelists can't handle. And most of all, the suspense which got to be so overpowering I didn't want to do anything but finish the book. The 9/11 material was handled with distinction; I liked Barry falling all over the commuter who, because he wasn't seen on the train for some time, was believed to have perished at the World Trade Center.
Rating: 
Summary: bewildered
Review: I have written a few books myself and know how difficult the
mystery genre is to pull off successfully. I read the reviews
here and have concluded I must live on another planet. References
to 9/11 have nothing to do with the plot and appear to have been
added gratuitously to a late revision. The smart-alec dialogue is
not real--NOone talks like these characters. The same "smart alec"
theme permeated the non-dialogue as well.
The concept of the author seems to be have been keep the characters shallow and unbelievable, the plot the same, and throw obscurities at the reader to impress him/her with the author's
brilliance. Trouble is, he goes too far. I found about thirty of
them wrong. I put the book down when the author used "magnifying
loop". What he meant was "loupe" which is a magnifying lens. There
are probably many more than thirty if I were to take the trouble to run them down. Anyone want a free book?
Rating:
Summary: great book!
Review: I loved The Last Good Day. It is an amazing read. The writing is great and the characters are so real.Lynn and Barry Schulman are a happy couple who are unprepared for the nightmare that Mike Fallon brings into their lives. The background of 9\11, the local suburbs and recent events are woven together to form a suspensful and exciting murder mystery. I knew I was hooked from the very first paragraph. I highly recomend this book to everyone who likes this genre.
Rating: 
Summary: If you liked Mystic River.....
Review: I thought this was better, in that it was not quite as dark. Without giving away any of the plot, who wants to have a book that ends on such a downer. There may or may not stil be some down in this one, but it wrapped up as nicely as possible. And it was not so frustrating....the plot was not cliche. You know, like just when someone is on to a discovery, they are killed, or when a bad guy is doing something bad and you say- why can't anyone figure him out, etc. This was intelligently written, light years more that this review.
Rating:
Summary: I must be reading the wrong book . . .
Review: I'm getting so tired of buying one bad book after the other. I only took a chance on this one because of the other ratings on this page - and will not buy another Blauner. There is no suspense, there is no mystery, there's just boring page after boring page. I'm over half-way through and really don't care "who done it." I read about 4 to 5 books a month and I guess I'm just going to have to change my genre, because the so-called mysteries and psychological thrillers sorely lack mystery and thrills!
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