Last Seen Alive is book 5 in the Ellery Hathaway series continues the story of Detective Ellery Hathaway and FBI Agent Reed Markum. These are not stand alone books and should be read in order to fully grasp the intention and background as each book lends itself to the next.

Someone witnessed a kidnapping that occurred 14 years ago but remained silent. Abigail Hathaway’s life story was no longer private following her survival from abuse and captivity. Francis Michael Coben took pleasure in abducting and torturing young girls in Chicago until he was successfully put behind bars. Abigail Hathaway was the girl who was found and survived. There were books and movies made about her life and experience.

To escape the attention of her past, Abigail “Ellery” Hathaway becomes a patrol officer in the quiet town of Woodbury in MA. Her brother Daniel who was sick with leukemia died 6 months after she returned home. Her father had abandoned the family and left her feeling abandoned when she needed support the most. She was saved by now FBI agent, Reed Markham, who was only a newbie when he became determined to find the abducted girl. He received a lot praise and notoriety after the girl's safe return. The relationship between Ellery and Reed is one filled with intense emotion and complications which are revealed over the course of the previous books.

Presently, it's been 17 years since Coben was locked up in a prison for life on death row in Terra Haute for his tortuous killing spree of young girls. Although Ellery and Reed parted ways, his work for the FBI brings him back to Boston where Ellery now works. It seems that Francis Coben is playing games by offering to provide information. "He's been locked up for seventeen year now. Life on death row in Terre Haute is torturous in its isolation and tedium. Coben's decided to cook up a little excitement for himself. So he whips out his pipe and plays the one tune he knows will us all to the dance. I'll give up the missing girls," Detective Reed tells TV reporter, Kate Hunter. Yet, again, Ellery is asked to assist with the interview which enrages her since she just discovered evidence a "Coban"-like killer, a copycat. The last thing she wants is to provide a psychopath an avenue to receive more attention. With the possibility of obtaining information regarding the other missing girls and possibly a clue to the new copycat killer, she agrees to talk to Coban. There's always a risk when meeting up with a sociopathic killer and this time proves to be risky than before. ( )

A while back, I was first introduced to one of Joanna Schaffhausen's books, which was one of the previous books in this Ellery Hathaway series, and ever since then, she's become one of my favorite authors and an auto-buy one too. This thrilling conclusion to the amazing Ellery Hathaway series did not disappoint, it was one of the best wrap-ups of the end of the series that I've read.
I could not put this book down. I was already invested having read all of the previous books in this series and thrilled when I was gifted an ARC from the publisher to read and review! Once I started this book, I didn't stop reading until I was done and I devoured this last book in the series within a few hours. I still find myself thinking about it and wanting to read it again. I'm thinking it may not be long until I reread the whole series because why not - it's an awesome story and Joanna Schaffhausen is a fantastic author.
Having read the whole series, I can't tell. you for sure how it would go if this was your first book, but I think it could be read and mostly understood even if it was your first Ellery Hathaway book. My opinion, though, is why only read this one when you could read and get even more out of the story with having read the entire series. Trust me, this is one series you don't want to miss out on.
In this conclusion to the series, we find Ellery continuing to work on living a normal life, trying to date normally without her past causing problems and both she and Reed are still trying to move on without each other. The chemistry and romance between these two is both sweet, swoon-worthy, and a bit more steamy than I like to read at times.
They come together again working a case and this time, they're both main players as the case ties into Coben, who had abducted, tortured, and tormented Ellery when she was a child. It's a rollercoaster ride reading through this book following how they try to handle and deal with things as they go through this experience with Ellery agreeing to meet and talk with Coben in hopes of discovering more information on the other girls who Coben killed and Ellery ends up finding and accepting herself and things to finally hopefully find a happily ever after. Some of the best parts of this book were of Ellery going through healing and doing work on herself to get to the place where she is willing to try to give herself a real chance at happiness and living a full life again and committed to doing her best to stop giving Coben any power or control over her anymore. Also, Reed is ever the hero, swoon-worthy, caring, patient, and kind while trying to help Ellery, give her space, and still learn from his own mistakes as well.
This is one series you don't want to miss out on and this book is, I think, perhaps my favorite of the 5 in the series. Make sure to have this on your list, pre-order it, or buy it as soon as it comes out, and while you're waiting for this to come out, you could read the previous 4 books so you're ready for this one if you haven't already.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press-Minotaur Books for letting me read and review this unputdownable and amazing book. All opinions and thoughts are my own. ( )

A super fun read; great characters and a plot that carries you to the end! Will be anxious to check out other books from this author. ( )

After the previous book in the Ellery Hathaway series, I was left unsatisfied with the ending. I was afraid that Joanna Schaffhausen was done with Ellery and intended to leave her in limbo.

I'm happy to say that wasn't the case, and Last Seen Alive was a wholly satisfying read!

Thanks to St Martin's Press for providing an ARC via NetGalley.

Wow, this author can write!!! I've read book 4 and now book 5 in the Ellery Hathaway series. I just bought the first three books in the series and look forward to backtracking into Ellery Hathaway's story! This book had me riveted and my husband bring me snacks to keep up my strength! At several points, I literally had to get up and just catch my breath! Needless to say, this is one scary (and some happy!) rollercoaster ride! Highly recommended! Although, if you're a perfectionist you might want to start at book 1! ( )