The Last One Home by Victoria Helen Stone #BookReview #Mystery #Suspense #TheLastOneHome #NetGalley

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Many thanks to Net Galley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

Victoria Helen Stone had a stupendous success with her novel Jane Doe. I haven’t read that book but had surely heard lots about it from my fellow bookworms. The Last One Home is surprisingly a very mild domestic suspense from the same author. In a way, I feel that we have been spoilt ever since the Gone Girl craze, you know, the more shocking the revelations the more thrilled we are. If there are no jaw-dropping secrets that are revealed, we feel as if the story is missing something crucial.

The first part of the book is devoid of any major adrenaline-pumping emotions, in fact, the story has a slower tempo than most suspense stories that it takes time to grow on you. The ranch and the surrounding area could have been used to a more menacing effect but again there seems to be a lack of electrifying events in the life of Lauren even as she’s residing all alone with a weird neighbor and a stalker serial killer on her toes. The threat from the serial killer never materializes fully for the reader, everything is a slow-burn.

Irrespective of all the above-mentioned points, there’s something catchy about the story that I did have a hard time keeping it down. The entanglement of relationships between Lauren, Donna, Michael, and the grandmother was intense and quite captivating. The suspense element of the tale was not exactly an “Oh, MY” moment coz nothing is particularly hidden in the story, most of the facts that form the crux gets established by the first half and it is more or less a choice left to the reader as to whose lies or truths do u wanna go with.

3.5 stars for keeping me hooked on to my kindle.

A razor-sharp novel of suspense about the lies families tell—and those we choose to believe—by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Jane Doe.

Lauren Abrams wants nothing to do with her damaged mother, whose spurious testimony sent Lauren’s father to prison for murder years ago. After a serial killer’s confession to the crime restored justice, Lauren chose to live with her father and grandmother. Now an adult, Lauren has come home to the Sacramento family estate for good, her mother’s lies be damned…

It’s been decades since Donna made her cheating husband pay, but she hasn’t forgotten the past. She knows her estranged daughter has made a terrible mistake by returning to the estate. There’s more to the story of the welcoming old homestead—and her childhood—than Lauren knows.

As Lauren settles in, she is haunted by the questions of what really happened with her father, what her mother might be hiding, and what secrets the family ranch holds. It’s getting so dark, Lauren may not be able to see the truth to save her life.