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Book Summary and Reviews of The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

The Last House Guest

by Megan Miranda

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  • Jun 2019, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, a suspenseful new novel about an idyllic town in Maine dealing with the suspicious death of one of their own - and her best "summer" friend, who is trying to uncover the truth…before fingers point her way.

Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors.

Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that's just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While 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.

Another thrilling novel from the bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger, Megan Miranda's The Last House Guest is a smart, twisty read with a strong female protagonist determined to make her own way in the world.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Sharply drawn characters both ground and elevate the bombshell-laden plot, while evocative prose heightens tension and conjures place. [A] searing small-town thriller...Miranda delivers a clever, stylish mystery that will seize readers like a riptide." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An evocative and perfectly readable thriller, but genre fans will find few surprises within." - Kirkus Reviews

"Once again, Megan Miranda has crafted the perfect summer thriller. The Last House Guest is twisty and tense, with a pace that made my heart race. An edge-of-your-seat, up-all-night read." - Riley Sager, author of The Last Time I Lied

"No one can be trusted in the latest chilling thriller from master of suspense, Megan Miranda. The Last House Guest is a lightning-fast mystery, full of menace and unexpected twists and turns that will have readers on the edge of their seats. A riveting read!" - Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl

This information about The Last House Guest was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Anl

Enjoyable
Beach read. Easy to follow, believable characters, plot sucks you in. Narration is interesting. First read of this author I will read more.

Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews

A surprise ending
Avery is left with her grandmother's house after she passes, a wealthy family buys it, and they hire Avery to manage this house and their entire neighborhood of exclusive, rented summer cottages.

Avery is an excellent manager, becomes friends with the Lowman's daughter, Sadie, and is treated like family, and then is faced with Sadie's death that is being ruled as a suicide. Avery knows Sadie wouldn't kill herself and especially on the night of the annual Plus-One end-of-the-summer party.

Avery stuck to her theory that Sadie didn't commit suicide, and she found a few things to prove the police investigation hadn't been thorough and that no one could be trusted.

Her investigation made me nervous, though, because of the way she went about gathering evidence.

We move from chapter to chapter telling the before and after of Avery and Sadie's friendship and of the goings on at the rental community. Was Sadie really Avery’s friend or did she think of Avery as the help and pretend to be her friend? Was anyone really Avery's friend?

I was a bit confused at first about what was going, but once Avery found evidence and clues about what really happened and things were revealed, the interest kicked up.

THE LAST HOUSE GUEST will be for you if you enjoy a beach setting, characters that have secrets, characters that are broken, and a mystery that keeps you guessing.

The ending is definitely a surprise.

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Author Information

Megan Miranda Author Biography

Photo: Magen Marie Photography

Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, The Perfect Stranger, The Last House Guest, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, The Girl from Widow Hills, and Such a Quiet Place. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Other books by Megan Miranda at BookBrowse

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