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A review by caitlynischeckedout
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
4.0
Gosh this was a hard one to rate. And not just because I’m afraid the author will come after me, ha!
The premise of this pulled me in immediately. I couldn’t wait to get this in the mail and bumped it up to the top of my TBR quickly. I was so invested in figuring out the ending I read it pretty much straight through, I could not put it down. It was tense and I *needed* to find out what was going to happen but at the same time, it felt like a lot of it was more drawn out than necessary. Was it just that good at tension? I’m not sure, but I was getting impatient closer to the end and found myself wanting to skim to skip through some scenes.
I think the author’s goal was to make the villain cringey and unlikeable and he definitely succeeded at that. I was visibly cringing and had to set the book down at several points to recover, hahah! This book also includes the author’s story in between chapters, which is both interesting and creepy also. I do like that you got to see how the narrators differed in their viewpoints and the story they were telling.
I also couldn’t help but like Emma as a main character. She made some mistakes but I liked that she never laid down and gave up, she kept fighting! I liked the message that even if it’s just for your dog- keep fighting.
I do feel that one of the plot twists was a bit overdone. I’m not a big fan of the schizophrenic villain trope. It’s been done so many times and just vilifies the mental illness. And it was a red herring! Which just made it feel even more unnecessary. I also feel like the ending went on forever. I thought the plot points were interesting but I was ready to get to the end by that point.
What made it so hard to rate though was the way I tore through it! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! So even though there were some points I wasn’t a fan of and you have to suspend some serious disbelief at points, I’m rounding upwards and I think I will be checking out the author’s other works!
The premise of this pulled me in immediately. I couldn’t wait to get this in the mail and bumped it up to the top of my TBR quickly. I was so invested in figuring out the ending I read it pretty much straight through, I could not put it down. It was tense and I *needed* to find out what was going to happen but at the same time, it felt like a lot of it was more drawn out than necessary. Was it just that good at tension? I’m not sure, but I was getting impatient closer to the end and found myself wanting to skim to skip through some scenes.
I think the author’s goal was to make the villain cringey and unlikeable and he definitely succeeded at that. I was visibly cringing and had to set the book down at several points to recover, hahah! This book also includes the author’s story in between chapters, which is both interesting and creepy also. I do like that you got to see how the narrators differed in their viewpoints and the story they were telling.
I also couldn’t help but like Emma as a main character. She made some mistakes but I liked that she never laid down and gave up, she kept fighting! I liked the message that even if it’s just for your dog- keep fighting.
I do feel that one of the plot twists was a bit overdone.
What made it so hard to rate though was the way I tore through it! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! So even though there were some points I wasn’t a fan of and you have to suspend some serious disbelief at points, I’m rounding upwards and I think I will be checking out the author’s other works!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Vomit, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Death and Child death