In THE LAST HOUSEWIFE, Ashley Winstead brings us the story of Shay Evans, a woman with a complicated past that has carried over into a complicated present. When she finds out the second woman from the college group of three she was part of dies, she flees her life in Texas to find out what happened. Contrary to what the police believe, Shay is certain Laurel would not have committed suicide.
It’s her childhood friend Jamie's podcast that really spurs her into action. He, too, has his suspicions about Laurel’s death and the events surrounding it, and together they begin to seek the truth. Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me. Shay kept making decisions that had me rolling my eyes and wondering at the intelligence I was assured she had. I found her to be unlikable, and while that’s not a dealbreaker for me, I do need a compelling story to offset it. I didn’t get that here. I liked Jamie much more than Shay, and I found myself disgusted when it felt like she was looking for reasons to put him down in her own head. There was also a line near the beginning of the story that so starkly spoiled the twist at the end. I kept thinking there was no way this was going to play out, because the author wouldn’t be so blatant about it. But it was, and it took away the element of surprise. The last thing was the subplot. I wasn’t into it. And this isn’t the story’s fault. This is a plot I used to read in a different capacity, and it’s one I’ve moved on from and no longer enjoy. Pure personal preference.
Let me tell you what I appreciated about this story. The atmosphere was so well done. It felt like it was a living, breathing story, and I think the author did a stellar job with that part of it. I also appreciated that this didn’t get overtly political. (At least in my opinion.) This was a reminder that ‘Hey - all people can be bad! It’s not limited to one group.’ And in a time when things are rife with that, I can’t tell you how much I appreciated this book going against the grain.
While I didn’t find quite the love I was hoping for this book, THE LAST HOUSEWIFE is going to find its audience. And they’re going to love it!
From the author of the acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost.
While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay's built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever.
Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend's life, she's pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay's obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning. But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?
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