The Last Word by Taylor Adams
Published by HarperCollins on April 25, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological
Pages: 352
Format: eBook

After posting a negative review of a horror novel, a woman staying at an isolated beach house 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?

I really enjoyed The Last Word! I requested it initially because I have witnessed authors doing terrible things to reviewers in the past and I wanted to see how this author depicted it. The story wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, as the main character isn’t a book blogger or reviewer, she just left the odd review on Amazon instead and that was enough for the author to come after her.

This felt like a campy horror/slasher in an isolated setting, which was very enjoyable and made for a fun, fast paced read. I spent most of the book worrying about the dog because I didn’t care too much about the main character and whether she lived or died, but I was definitely having a good time!