The Last House-Guest Review! // a beachy thriller that disappointed me

Hi friends! I’m excited to talk about a recent read, because it’s quite a good beach read. And I read it in summer. Am I actually getting better at reading seasonally?? Who knows??

TW: murder, talk of suicide, grief

Littleport, Maine is like two separate towns: a vacation paradise for wealthy holidaymakers and a simple harbour community for the residents who serve them. Friendships between locals and visitors are unheard of – but that’s just what happened with Avery Greer and Sadie Loman.

Each summer for a decade the girls are inseparable – until Sadie is found dead. When the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name before the facts get twisted against her.

This is my first Megan Miranda book, and one of my first adult mysteries! However, I have mixed thoughts on it.

first…the characters.

This is told from the perspective of Avery Greer, who was best friends with Sadie Lowman, a girl who died and committed supposed suicide one year before the events of this book take place. We get to see flashbacks from that night, but the majority of the book takes place in the present.

Avery is…well, allow me to be brutally honest for a moment.

no one:

avery: SADIE AND I WERE BEST FRIENDS AND THE LOWMANS LOVED ME AND I’M NOT BETTER THAN EVERYONE BUT I KINDA AM

She’s boring, and close-minded. I didn’t hate reading from her perspective but my gosh, I didn’t care either. She wore Sadie’s dress to Sadie’s funeral. If that doesn’t scream obsession, I don’t know what does. Although we discover her own struggles with grief, that doesn’t justify the way she treated other characters, such as Faith and Connor. She was a bit of an elitist, a bit hypocritical. I didn’t hate her, but she wasn’t exactly the most likable protagonist ever.

other characters include:

Parker is kinda a piece of trash. Albeit charming trash. Ben the detective is obnoxious. Connor deserves better, Faith confuses me, and the Lowman parents are additional trash. Okay, so maybe I only really liked Connor.

The atmosphere and pace is perfect for the beach. The story takes place in a beach town, and so you can almost hear the waves lapping at the shores. However, the story itself is just intriguing enough to keep you reading, but it isn’t super suspenseful or mind-bending. So, it’s both an advantage and a fault.

Mostly, I’m a little disappointed with how simple this was. The plot twists were fairly predictable for the most part, and the plot itself was rather slow. However, it was quick, easy, and had a hint of intrigue to keep it going. It’s just…average? If that makes sense? Like, I don’t regret reading it but I probably won’t remember it*.

fast-forward to me one month later: yeah…i don’t remember much of this AT ALL

That’s it! Tell me:

Do you have a favorite beach thriller? Or beach read in general?

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