Book Review: The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

I picked this book out for myself a while back then wised up and had my mom gift it to me for Christmas. Sure, it took away the surprise a little bit, but at least it was something that caught my eye. And, as it turns out, I really liked it, too!

It’s also starting to come as no surprise to me that I like the mystery/thriller novels that Reese’s Book Club picks out. As a hipster at heart, that irks me a little bit, but I can’t fault good taste. Anyways, a little while ago the club picked out The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda. I’ve never heard of this author, but after this read, I’ll be sure to check out what else she’s done (hopefully, a lot!). In this, Avery is a bit of a loner, living the life of an imposter in a coastal town. Well, at least she feels like an imposter to herself. She lost her parents in a car accident as a teen, and then lost her grandmother after graduating high school.

From there, she sort of wandered aimlessly in anger, and on the precipice of maybe taking her own life, Sadie walks into her life. Well, into the same bathroom anyways. Sadie is everything Avery is not: wealthy, brash, and confident. Only, now Sadie is dead and has been for the past year. Avery thought she had come to grips with the loss, but as a memorial service is approaching she’s not so sure. The story flips back and forth between the night of the party where Sadie was found washed up on shore of apparent suicide, and present day where Avery is slowly coming into knowledge about that night that shifts everything.

I felt that every character introduced in this novel were fleshed out nicely, which almost made trying to guess what happened even harder. You think you’ve got everyone pinned down and then new information comes to light. Near the end I was feeling confident about what went down, but Miranda managed to slip in a few more shocking revelations. This is really a tragedy and a mystery that spans decades, and it was really cool to see how it all fit together. Perhaps my biggest issue with the novel (and really, not an issue), was that it read like a young adult thriller, so I kept picturing these people in high school, when really they were in their twenties. Still, an excellent story. After some digging I found out that the Fanning sisters have acquired the rights to this book and a miniseries is currently under development. No telling how long it will all take, but if it’s done right, it will be awesome! In the meantime, go read this book!