Book Review - The Last Stage of Grief is Murder by Tam Barnett

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Title: The Last Stage of Grief is Murder

Author: Tam Barnett

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 4th January 2026

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Time won't heal his broken heart, but revenge might...💔💀

Ivor has never loved anyone the way he loves Becky.

Then his world collapses – Becky is found dead.

Consumed by grief, Ivor is determined to find out what happened.

What he discovers is darker than heartbreak: controlling lies, family secrets and a past that refused to stay buried.

But Ivor has his own demons. And as his obsession with the truth deepens, his heartache for Becky curdles into something far more dangerous. Murder.

This was an interesting story, that for me took a while to really get going. 

I struggled to properly connect to Ivor, he is a significantly bigger drinker than I am, and the more we learn about Becky from her diary entries, the less sympathy I had for her. 

And I always struggle a bit when there are two main characters I'm slightly disconnected from. 

That being said, I was keen to find out the truth about what happened to Amy, Becky's twin all those years ago, and in doing so, I had even more characters to not like (and I wasn't keen on a few of them to start with). 

The story is told as the present day time line from Ivor, who is still in love with Becky despite them being split up, but he is hopeful they will get back together, until she turns up date.  And he becomes completely obsessed and unhinged and is convinced she was murdered, he seems convinced he knows who by and then tries to prove it. 

While at the same time very slowly learning more about Becky, and how he didn't know her properly at all. 

And we also get Becky's diary entries from her first meeting of Ivor up until the day of her demise, and it charts their relationship 

What is very clear is there are many untruthful characters, and almost as many booze addled ones! 

When Ivor though isn't in a drunken mess, he has some sparks of being a really nice guy,  and I enjoyed the way he was trying to help one of his colleagues. 

As Ivor moves through the stages of grief, the story comes full circle back to the prologue and title! But I'll leave you to discover just what he does.  I will say the last chapter or so was quite surprising and I enjoyed the way the book was left. 

Honestly I've definitely enjoyed this authors other books more, there is nothing wrong with this one, it's still good and I was happy to read it, but it didn't hit all the right spots for me. 

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.