The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
Littleport, Maine is like two separate towns: a vacation paradise for wealthy holidaymakers and a simple harbour community for the residents who serve them. Friendships between locals and visitors are unheard of - but that's just what happened with Avery Greer and Sadie Loman.
Each summer for a decade the girls are inseparable - until Sadie is found dead. When 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.
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The Last House Guest screams summer from start to finish. What's more summer than a suspicious death in a small vacation town tucked into the mountains right by the sea where rich families vacation every year during the warmer seasons? I haven't read an entire book in one evening in a VERY long time. But with this book? I couldn't put it down!
I have become extremely picky when it comes to thrillers. The main characters are usually hard to relate to, way too involved in themselves, hold petty grudges, and the "murder" or whatever event triggers the investigative plot usually ends up being so underwhelming that it takes away from the O.M.G. shock that you're supposed to be feeling. This book, in my opinion, managed to tactfully avoid the stereotypical "thriller" narrative. I actually liked the main character and the situation surrounding Sadie's death was creepy as hell.
Avery Greer is a local in the town with a tragic past, the town has taken everything from her and yet she can't bring herself to leave the only place she's ever called home. Her last tie to the town was her rich friend Sadie Loman who committed suicide the year previously. Now, managing properties for the Loman family in their absence, she starts to notice strange things occurring in the guest houses she's meant to be taking care of. This sets Avery on a quest to find out if these occurrences are connected to the Loman's and triggers her hunt to find out what really happened the night that Sadie died. The problem is, she has burned every bridge in that town with her troubled past and everyone seems to suspect her.
Avery was a relatable character. One thing I find so frustrating about thrillers is that we never find out much about the main character until like the last part of the book, this wasn't the case, we learned who Avery was, and her backstory right from the beginning and it helped me grow to love her throughout the book. The people in her life weren't just props to move along the plot but had actual meaning and purpose for being in the book. Some characters may have seemed irrelevant but they then later came back into play. I'm usually good at figuring out the "who dunnit" but this book kept me guessing right until the end.
The only thing I wasn't the biggest fan of was the multiple flashbacks to the night of the incident. Every single flashback was out of order and it made it a bit complicated to follow. Some seemed irrelevant and felt like they were put there to be "red herrings" to lead you astray which I guess is clever but I just found it distracted from the pace of the story. The flashbacks were my least favourite part of the book but mostly because the present timeline was so interesting I hated being away from it.
I will definitely be reading more by this author, I like her writing style and I think she's absolutely nailed the suspense aspect. Admittedly the flashbacks weren't my favourite part and I think there was better ways to learn about what happened that night without re-living it... but that's just personal opinion. 4.5 stars for this one!