Years ago I ran a different book review blog and as it goes there were a several instances where I read a book that I absolutely hated. On one occasion, an author had sent their book to me in exchange for an honest review, so I did just that – keeping it factual and leaving the snark out of it which anyone who knows me knows that takes a lot of effort. They were PISSED and emailed me incessantly to remove the review threatening legal action. Long story short, though I had the email string where they’d asked for the review in the first place and knowing they had no leg to stand on when it came to suing me, I ended up removing the review and asked them to not contact me again – and then blocked them.

So when Emma Carpenter – our main character in The Last Word – leaves the single star review and then is almost immediately contacted by the author asking her to take it down, I had a little PTSD. When she replied, I cringed. And then when she kept replying – almost egging him on, I literally said, “Girl, you better stop!” several times. But she didn’t, but about halfway through the first quarter of the book she really wished she had.

Emma is house-sitting on the Washington coast for a woman whose ad she answered online. The woman lived in Portland and needed someone to stay at her home for a few months during the off season. Most of the people in the neighborhood left when the season changed from summer to fall and then to winter. Emma is pretty isolated, aside from the old man who lives a few yards away. Emma doesn’t know him – they’ve never met in person – though the two have been exchanging messages and playing hangman using whiteboards and telescopes to see each other’s answers. Emma is perfectly fine with the whiteboard relationship. She’s recently been through a traumatic event and isolation (aside from her amazing dog) is what she needs right now. She passes her time with walks on the beach, and free or cheaply priced ebooks that she reads on her kindle. Or at least that was how she spent her time before she left her one star review. Now has to deal with freaky things like an unknown stranger in a demon mask showing up on the security camera, and strange sounds in the house. She’s also almost positive that she’s seen a man standing in her bedroom at night, but that’s crazy, right? How could he have gotten in? It has to be stress and her overactive imagination.

It’s not long before someone shows up at her place one night during a torrential rainstorm, claiming to be her neighbor, but Emma knows better. Her sixth sense tells her not to trust the man – and rightly so because it wasn’t her neighbor. This is when the game of cat and mouse ensues. Despite her best efforts, this guy is going to get into her house one way or another. As expected, the guy is the author of the books and it soon becomes apparent to Emma his books may be based on actual murders he has committed and she could quite possibly wind up in his next book.

I loved reading this book. Was it perfect – no. Were there plot points that were likely implausible – absolutely – did I care? Hell no. I was having too much fun to give any kind of shit. Nothing was so over the top that I couldn’t suspend disbelief enough to get past it.

What I loved the most was that the twists did not stop coming. I felt pretty confident right out of the gate that Deek – the old man neighbor – was in on it, but then the big, hulking H.G. Kane showed up, blowing that theory out the window – or did it? Yes, but then no, but then there was another twist and a death and before I knew it I did not know which way was up, who was dead or dying or what my name was – not until the last few pages was I finally able to breathe and get some peace. If you like a twisty turny action-packed book, this, my friend, is your jam. I loved it, and I will definitely read more by this author.