Linzie (suspenseisthrillingme)'s Reviews > The Last Girl Left

Five years ago, Tessa Chamberlain was the lone survivor of a beach house massacre that left three of her friends dead—and Tessa with an inescapable, unending dread. Now she’s going back to face her fears.

Renting the same beach house where she almost died, Tessa returns to lonely Cassadaga Island off the coast of Maine long after the tourists and summer residents have departed for the winter. But as the fog rolls in and the nights grow longer, she wonders if she made a terrible mistake. There are footsteps on the porch, creaks from the second floor, and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

If only someone believed her. Because the terrors Tessa thought were long behind her are starting again. And this time, trapped and alone, she might not be lucky enough to survive them.

Oh. My. God. From the atmospheric feel to the ever ratcheting unease, the authors of The Last Girl Left had me in the palm of their hands. After all, the flawless writing, short chapters, and isolated murder house setting kept me glued to the pages. But it was the plot itself that deemed this book a winner. Starting out with a prologue straight out of a horror film, it came alive right before my eyes as the foreboding grew along with the sense of paranoia. Was Tessa imagining it all? Or was returning to the scene of the crime the very worst possible mistake?

One of the strongest pieces to this psychological thriller, however, was Tessa herself. Struggling with a believable dose of PTSD, she was drowning in life. Stuck in the past but unwilling to do the work to move forward, she had me cheering her on from the sidelines. As the plot’s pace picked up and the terrifying events descended upon her, her fear simply oozed from the pages. She wasn’t, though, the only dynamite character. Filled with suspicious individuals left, right, and center, I found myself giving a serious side-eye to each and every one.

With creepy events that propelled the plot forward as only a book with a strong psychological edge can, this popcorn thriller grabbed me and didn’t let go. Add in the amnesia angle and random flashbacks throughout, and there wasn’t a thing wrong with this novel. I absolutely love when a character learns the twisted, twisted truth right along with the reader. This time around, the reveal was near utter perfection. Did it come slightly out of the blue? Well, yes—but only to drop my jaw to the floor. All in all, this was the perfect high-octane ride that kept my fingers flying and my eyeballs speeding. Needless to say, all of my book besties at Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse were right. This is a definite must read. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Thank you to A.M. Strong, Sonya Sargent, and Thomas & Mercer for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

PUB DATE: Out now!

Scroll down for my potentially plot spoiling trigger list.








































































































Trigger warning: PTSD, anxiety, gaslighting, stalking