The Last House Guest.

 

 

 ★★★

3.5 ★

The summer after a wealthy young summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion. 

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. 

 

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I haven't read a book by Megan Miranda in years. The last book I read by her was a young adult novel, Fracture, back in 2014. I had no idea she was writing adult thrillers until my friend from work mentioned it to me. When I went to the library, I chose to check out this book. The title, The Last House Guest , made me intrigued. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book because it had been a while since I had read novels by this author, but it didn't take long for me to get hooked on the plot and the mystery surrounding Sadie's death. It didn’t take me long to wonder if Sadie’s death was a result of suicide or something else. 

At first, I had no idea what to think of Avery, and I didn’t sense the connections that readers experience with a character. However, as the novel progresses, my feelings for Avery shift. I didn't think it was fair how she was treated after what happened to Sadie. it made me question if there was anything more. Was there something that they knew about Sadie’s death that they weren’t sharing? As Avery began to research further into Sadie's death, I began to become suspicious of a few people at the party that night, as if they were hiding something. At that point in the story, I couldn't get enough of it, and I needed to know what was going to happen. 

Although The Last House Guest was mysterious, it didn't start that way for me; the suspense took some time to build up. However, once the suspense built up, I found myself reading, unable to put the book down. Overall, I enjoyed the tale and most of the characters and would recommend it to thriller lovers.