A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller “Once again, Megan Miranda has crafted the perfect summer thriller.” –Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Time I Lied The summer after a wealthy young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this “clever, stylish … friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this “clever, stylish mystery that will seize readers like a riptide” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) featuring “dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings” (The New York Times Book Review).
Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors.
Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl–but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable–until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her.
Another thrilling novel from the bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger, Megan Miranda’s The Last House Guest is a smart, twisty read with a strong female protagonist determined to make her own way in the world.
“A riveting read…from master of suspense, Megan Miranda,” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl) The Last House Guest is a smart, twisty read that brilliantly explores the elusive nature of memory and the complexities of female friendships.
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Tempestuous, relentless, and tight!
In this latest novel by Miranda, The Last House Guest, she transports us to the small coastal town of Littleport, Maine where secrets and gossip are rampant, class tensions run high, and the reopening of the investigation into the recent death of one of the wealthy seasonal residents will uncover more suspects and more skeletons than anyone could have imagined.
The prose is tense and sharp. The characters are scarred, deceptive, and conflicted. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style is a suspenseful thrill ride filled with friendship, familial drama, collusion, manipulation, lies, scandals, revelations, and murder.
Overall, The Last House Guest is a dark, twisty, compelling page-turner that delves into the intricate and dynamic bonds between friends and has just the right pace, mood, atmosphere, and surprises to keep you guessing until the very last page.
Avery Greer meets and forms an odd friendship with Sadie Loman. The teens become close over time and remain friends for years.
At the end of one summer, Sadie is found dead … an apparent suicide. Avery feels eyes on her …. Sadie’s brother, for one and a local cop for another , both who wonder if Avery is to blame.
A year later, Avery tries to make sense of Sadie’s death … but she finds more questions than answers. When she starts uncovering secrets that were never meant to be revealed, she doesn’t know who to trust or what to believe.
The books goes back and forth between 2017 .. when Sadie dies … and 2018, present day. It’s well written, full of twists, and a mystery that will keep the reader engaged and trying to make sense of this puzzle.
Many thanks to the author / Simon & Schuster / Edelweiss for the digital copy of this psychological fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Megan Miranda’s newest book, The Last House Guest, is set in the small harbor town of Littleport, Maine. The rich come to spend the summers, and the townspeople earn most of their yearly income by catering to them. The divide between the two is not only financial; there is a lot of resentment towards the vacationers who consider themselves better than those whose town they invade yearly.
One exception is Avery Greer, a young “townie” employed by the Loman family, who considers Sadie Loman, their daughter, her best friend. The story focuses on what happened during a Plus One party (a party held by the townspeople one day after the last day of the tourist season), when Sadie is found dead on the beach. Uncertain whether her death was by suicide or murder, many people are investigated before the police rule it a suicide.
The story is told from the view of the summer of Sadie’s death as well as the next summer. Avery doesn’t believe Sadie committed suicide, and continues to look into her death and the strange break-ins and other occurrences happening at the cottages during the next summer.
Full of secrets, lies, twists and unexpected turns, this book in an easy and entertaining read. I give it 3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review.
Having previously read “The Perfect Stranger” and only just getting away with the storyline, I was a little worried “The Last House Guest” would be similar. Unfortunately it was – slow, dull, tedious and rather repetitive.
Typical of psychological crime thrillers at the moment, is to create a sense of foreboding using a house as a conduit to suspense and I felt the author just tried a little too hard, to create a tense atmosphere using the rental properties in the story. It didn’t work for me and the whole plot felt rather vague and pointless. Even the intrigue into Avery’s background and her history surrounding LittlePort was a little lacklustre. There’s a lot of descriptive sentence fillers that didn’t really go anywhere and although the story ties together nicely with a couple of twists – that you may or may not have seen coming – it was maybe just a little too late for me.
I couldn’t really get a handle on any of the characters and found them all to be unreliable narrators and rather unlikeable with the only exception being Connor who I felt slightly endeared to. With little depth to Sadie’s character in general, it was hard to feel sorry for her death and to want to see justice done over it.
I still haven’t got around to reading Megan Miranda’s “All the Missing Girls” which I still intend to do, as that has some raving reviews but I’m not sure I’d read any further novels by this author again as I found the contemporary style of writing too slow for my own enjoyment. These are only my personal thoughts and opinions and not what the next reader may find.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
I was disappointed in this book. It was a slow starter for me and then the story line fell flat as did the characters. Bad girl Avery Greer turned good girl was best friends with wealthy Sadie Loman. Sadie was found dead at the bottom of a cliff and her death was ruled a suicide. A year later, Avery decides to try and find out what really happened to her best friend. The story is told back and forth from the night of the Plus One Party when Sadie died to present day a year later which at times seemed to jump around a lot. Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 crazy summer stars.
This is a book of mystery, friendship and murder. And to be honest I had no clue who was the bad guy in this book.
I enjoy this author and this book is no different. I do feel like at one point I needed to skim because it was not moving forward fast enough. But then you would catch an important clue here or there and you were totally sucked in again.
This book was good. I really enjoyed the small tourist town and all the characters.
**I received this book as an ARC and in return gave my honest review**
Avery and Sadie are friends. They are complete opposites as Sadie’s family is rich and Avery isn’t. Avery is all alone in the world and Sadie makes her part of her family. After a party, Sadie is found dead. Avery wants to know what happened to her. This is a great mystery/thriller book. It kept me guessing until the very and the twists and turns are awesome! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.