The Last Illusion of Paige White
A Novel
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES “BEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)”
“Compelling, haunting, and beautifully written . . . a clever, page-turning modern mystery as well as a thoughtful exploration of female friendship, family dynamics, and the complex impact of social media on self-identity.”—Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author
If you didn’t post it, did it even happen?
“Maybe this limbo I’m in is me needing to atone for my sins. Maybe I need to go back and remember my life but be more honest with myself this time. Because, stuck in this hazy, perfect world of my own creation, I know that I haven’t been all that honest.”
Gorgeous, charismatic Paige White has always lived a picture-perfect life. Her meticulously curated social pages exude an old-fashioned, wholesome lifestyle set against a picturesque town in Australia. Images of breakfasts lakeside with her daughter, sunny afternoons in the family van, and romantic picnics with her husband are the envy of her thousands of followers.
But when a dark, brooding image pops up on Paige’s page, where she appears waterlogged and disheveled—and shortly after she’s discovered drowned—alarm bells go off.
Jane Masters, Paige’s childhood best friend, has returned for the funeral. Jane left years ago to pursue a bigger life as a journalist in Sydney, putting everyone from her early days in the rearview mirror. But as Jane sinks deeper into the community she thought she’d never return to, she begins to discover that darker things lurk beneath the sparkle of the lake.
Told partially through Paige’s reflections on her life from limbo, The Last Illusion of Paige White is a smart, introspective, impeccably-plotted mystery that will have readers second-guessing what is truth and what is illusion, and their own obsessions with their online worlds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The death of an influencer shakes up a small Australian town in this mesmerizing whodunit from McCausland (The Beautiful Words). When popular Instagrammer Paige White is found floating face-up in the lake by her rural home, the rumor mill starts turning. Though Paige made a fortune cataloging her picture-perfect life with her photographer husband, Andy, and their daughter, Viv, might there have been darkness lurking just beneath the surface? Or could an unstable follower have tracked Paige down and killed her? Paige's childhood friend, Jane Masters—now a successful Sydney journalist—reluctantly returns home for the funeral, then accepts an assignment from her editor to dig up whatever dirt she can. Staying in the shabby family home she fled years earlier, Jane is visited by unwelcome memories of her and Paige's high school friend, Audrey, who died by suicide after relentless bullying from their peers. The pace starts at a crawl, but McCausland gradually layers sizzling tensions and revelations into Jane's investigation, which cast foreboding shadows on the sun-drenched setting. When the truth finally comes out, it's a gut punch. This works equally well as a mystery and a warning cry against the dangers of social media.
