Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Last Girls Standing

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

37 reviews

ginabee's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

There are two survivors after a massacre at a summer camp leaves all the other counselors dead, Sloan and Cherry. Sloan and Cherry, who are dating, care deeply for each other. Sloan struggles with not remembering the night, and begins wondering if Cherry was involved.

This book was more a portrait of a toxic relationship than a thriller or a mystery. I found the dialog between them repetitive, and it frustrated me the only person who recognized their relationship was toxic was villanized.

I found the representation of trauma problematic - it relied on stereotypesz. The trauma was also not being addressed in any healthy way.

I stuck with this book because I wanted to find out what happened. The ending was ambiguous and unsatisfying. I can handle ambigous endings but I think this one missed the mark because I'm not sure what the entire book was building up to.

To me, this book had poor character development and not much plot either. I liked the lesbian representation and Dugan describes all skin colors, including when someone is white as all the MCs were. Those are about the only 2 things I liked about the book.

Initially I was thinking I'd recommend this book to Colleen Hoover fans, but because of how trauma is depicted I don't think I'll be recommending it to anyone.

Content Warnings

humblebookdragon's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

notlikethebeer's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Jennifer Dugan is easily one of my top authors, and seeing as thriller/horror is one of my favourite genres, I was really excited to read this! I will admit, I think it was slightly mis-marketed; whilst there are clear thriller/horror/mystery elements, it really focuses on something more interesting: the aftermath of the thriller. It's not your stereotypical 'thrills around every corner', it's much slower and - in some ways - more insidious, but not necessarily in the way of a psychological thriller. It was a slow coming-to-terms with what had happened (as best as one can, given what Sloan went through?!) at the same time as trying, desperately, to make some kind of sense of it all, and find some kind of answers. And honestly, it really bloody shone in that way. Unfortunately, my favourite part is impossible to talk about without spoilers! -

but I really loved the ending, both the idea that there <i> were </i> no answers, and the way that Sloan became indoctrinated into the cult, almost a self-fulfilling prophecy

. I hope this isn't Dugan's only foray into this genre, because I would love to read more from her.

Content Warnings

moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

kat_tas_trophe's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

islandbookwyrm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Last Girls Standing pays homage to Friday the 13th and the extreme climate change movement in this slasher thriller.

While it's an odd combination, this book mainly focuses on Sloan, who lost her memory of that awful day and her girlfriend and fellow massacre survivor, Cherry, as Sloan attempts to remember what happened through hypnosis.

As the story goes on, the plot twists so slightly that you will feel like you are starting to question what is happening with the character's motives and what actually happened during the massacre.

This is a very thrilling and compelling read, the ending is rushed, confusing, and abrupt but leaves an opening for a sequel.

Content Warnings

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Thank you Penguin for this ARC
A sapphic horror novel that depicts trauma in one of the worst lights I've ever seen in a book, with a depressing end message.
Sloan and Cherry are the lone survivors of a summer camp massacre. Deeply traumatized they find solace in each other, but Sloan has holes in her memories, and begins to question what really happened.
I honestly have no idea what I just read. And not in a "wow that was so fantastic and different, but in a I had no idea where any of this story was going".
I do think the premise is interesting, as well as the writing. Just like Sloan, I felt completely lost and unsure of who to trust. There are a lot of great tense moments, and so much gaslighting. I was ready to point fingers at literally everyone in this book.
I don't know Dugan's background, I don't know if she has experienced trauma and CPTSD such as Sloan has. I'm not sure if writing this in a way was cathartic for her. For me someone who suffers from CPTSD, I found this book to be an inaccurate and quite frankly offensive depiction of trauma. There is so much wrong in how this book depicts what it is like to go through trauma therapy, and how the characters react to trauma.

The end message of the story seems to be one of "you'll never recover from your trauma and instead spiral and continue hurting others". So that was great to read. Sloan just ends up cracking and killing Cherry, to what end? To show that we can't heal? To show that we will continue hurting others?

I do think the ambiguous ending hurt the book, and just further leaned into the "you won't heal from trauma" stereotype.
If you decide to read this, please check your triggers/content warnings.
Personally I didn't have a good time reading this, and wouldn't personally recommend it.

Content Warnings

tofugal's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m a fan of Jennifer Dugan’s YA and adult romance novels, and I loved the premise. Unfortunately, the book didn’t measure up to my expectations. I was hoping for a sapphic spin on the Christopher Pike teen horror books I grew up loving. At the very least, I thought we’d eventually get more glimpses of the campground slaughter scattered throughout as Sloan unraveled the mystery.

Instead, it hyperfocused on Sloan and Cherry’s toxic, codependent relationship and Sloan’s rapidly declining mental health. Both were frustrating to read about.

This not a thrills and chills book. This is a mess with your mind book.

Perhaps my disappointment was my own fault. While the title and cover both scream “horror” the book is correctly advertised as a YA psychological thriller.

Part of the problem was that the most interesting part of the story happened before the book started. And since the Sloan had no memory of the events, I was robbed of what drew me to the book in the first place.

I considered giving up several times, but like Sloan, I wanted answers. Heck, I needed answers. After slogging through Sloan’s trauma and screwed up romance, I deserved answers.

There were no answers. The ending was WTF, and not in a good way. And as if that wasn’t irksome enough, this book also checks all three boxes of my least favorite lesbian cliché that has been overdone to death.

Jennifer Dugan is a talented writer, but this wasn’t the right story for me. I’ll stick to her romances from now on. If you’re looking for a gay Gone Girl, however, this book might be for you.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The two survivors of a sleep-away camp mass killing are now in a romantic relationship. One with no memories of what happened. As she tries to unravel what happened that night, she gets deeper into a possible conspiracy going back to her birth family.
Wow! It was a twisty book! It was also a very dark and emotional book. I didn't really like the ending, and in the end, we didn't get a lot of answers. It was an okay book.

Content Warnings

More...