Want a Rollercoaster Ride????

 

TITLE: The Last Word

AUTHOR: Taylor Adams

PUBLISHER: William Morrow

PUBLISHING DATE: April 25,2023

PAGES: 340   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: 

After posting a negative book review, a woman living in a remote location begins to wonder if the author is a little touchy—or very, very dangerous—in this pulse-pounding novel of psychological suspense and terror from the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and Hairpin Bridge. 

Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden retriever Laika, house-sitting an old beachfront home on the rainy Washington coast. Her only human contact is her enigmatic old neighbor, Deek, and (via text) the house’s owner, Jules. 

One day, she reads a poorly written—but gruesome—horror novel by the author H. G. Kane, and posts a one-star review that drags her into an online argument with none other than the author himself. Soon after, disturbing incidents start to occur at night. To Emma, this can’t just be a coincidence. It was strange enough for this author to bicker with her online about a lousy review; could he be stalking her, too?

As Emma digs into Kane’s life and work, she learns he has published sixteen other novels, all similarly sadistic tales of stalking and murder. But who is he? How did he find her? And what else is he capable of? 

MY THOUGHTS: I can't really remember back to when I read a more frustrating book!  Emma and her Golden Retriever, Laika are house-sitting on the Washington coast.  Emma is clearly running from something in her past and she is content to spend her days alone with only Laika and her books for company.  Although there is a reclusive neighbor whom Emma communicates with via notes back and forth on a white board with both parties using binoculars to read the messages.  One day, Emma downloads and reads a horror novel from a little-known author and leaves him a 1-star review.  This leads to an online argument with the author and eventually escalates to a game of cat and mouse where Emma has very few people to rely on.

First and foremost, the dog lives.  I had to look up that spoiler before I even started the book, but I will tell you, there were times reading when I felt like I had been lied to and that poor Laika was sure to meet her demise. Throughout the novel, the readers get some brief flashbacks from Emma which provide clues as to why she has basically shut herself off from the outside world, but the majority of the book is Emma trying to outsmart the disgruntled author.  

So up until about the last 15% of this book, I was pretty sure I myself would be providing a poor rating for The Last Word.  I felt such anxiety worrying about Laika, or Space Dog as Emma often refers to her, that I didn't think I could continue reading. I also found the book somewhat predictable at times, and at other times such a hot mess that it was hard to predict anything.  Then I reached the last 15% and my anticipated rating bounced around so much I felt like I was riding a rollercoaster.  It went from 2 stars, to 1 star, to a brief moment where I was contemplating 4 stars and even now, I'm not sure what to give it.  And overall, I'm not sure it really matters.  I'm not sure if Adams is the author for me though.  I really enjoyed No Exit, but this one and Hairpin Bridge kind of fell short for me. If you like thrillers with lots of twists and turns, this might be the one for you.

RATING: 3 PAWS

The BEST part of the whole book!