The Last Word
an utterly addictive and spine-chilling suspense thriller from the TikTok bestseller
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3.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'I. Am. Speechless. This book is RELENTLESS. Page after page of twists and turns' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I still have whiplash from this book' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Easily the best book I've read all year' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Emma enjoys the isolation and quiet of house-sitting. The only company she needs is her dog and her books.
But when she leaves a one-star review for a poorly written and gruesome horror novel, her peaceful escape turns into a nightmare. Not only is she being harassed by the angry author online, she's noticing disturbing incidents in the house. Scratches in the night. A figure crawling around in the shadows.
It soon becomes clear that it's all connected. This is a fight between author and reader. So who will have the last word? . . .
A pulse-pounding suspense thriller from the critically acclaimed author of TikTok bestseller No Exit. Fans of Stephen King and Riley Sager will be gripped!
Readers cannot get enough of The Last Word:
'To say that this action-packed, anxiety-induced story kept me white-knuckled and on the edge of my seat would be an understatement . . . Just when you think you have the story unravelled, BAM! Another mind-bending twist is hurled at you' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Another high-stakes game of cat and mouse from the one and only, Taylor Adams. And as usual, Adams delivered another wildly entertaining read that I could not put down until I finished it' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This outstanding psychological thriller from Adams (Hairpin Bridge) finds schoolteacher Emma Carpenter house-sitting at Strand Beach, Wash., where she avoids thinking about her problems by walking her dog along the beach and by binge-reading the never-ending supply of 99 cent self-published books she downloads from the internet. Then she reads Murder Mountain, a serial killer novel by H.G. Kane. The download site asks readers to rate the book. Emma—after making sure zero isn't an option—gives the book one star. Two hours later, she gets a reply from the author asking her to take down her review. Kane's messages become menacing after she refuses. Emma's creeping horror at being targeted by a madman increases when he arrives at her door, quoting lines from their internet exchanges. As the tension rises, spectacular plot twists open up new possibilities while effectively demolishing existing expectations. Along with the nail-biting suspense, the book provides some genuine fun by treating readers to overwrought excerpts from a unpublished manuscript about the crimes that take place at Strand Beach. Adams remains a writer to watch.
Customer Reviews
Island in the rain
3.5 stars
Author
American. Four previous titles in crime thriller/horror genres. No Exit (2018) has been published in 32 languages and adapted for the screen by Hulu.
Summary
Female protagonist Emma is house sitting a house on an island off Washington state in winter, which means short days, long nights, mucho wind and rain, and very few people. For company, she has Laika the Labrador, the old guy next door she communicates with using a whiteboard and telescope, and a series of cheap titles she downloads to her Kindle. She submits a one star review for one of them: a final girl horror title. The author replies almost immediately, asking her to reconsider. She won’t. He keeps asking, in progressively more threatening ways. Weird stuff starts happening. He couldn’t have found her, could he? The property owner tells her, by phone, that weird stuff happened last winter too, blames vagrant beachcombers, and orders a stun gun for our gal, as you would. Yada, yada. The lights go out. The interweb goes off. The phone line is cut. Blood, gore, backstory, coincidences aplenty, even more plot twists and turns. Just when you think it’s over, there’s another one. And another.
Writing
Crisp, well-paced genre prose. If you’re into plot convolutions, this is the book for you. I thought it was a tad OTT, but kept reading till the end.