Emma Carpenter made an awful mistake a few months ago and is trying to figure out how to live with it. She leaves her old life behind, taking all her money and her beloved dog, Laika, with her. If she can’t live with it, she has come up with a way to end her life and her troubles. In the meantime, she is housesitting for Jules, whom she has never met. The house is situated near the end of a long lane on the beachfront. Both beautiful and remote, it’s a place where she should be safe to ponder her next steps.

"Taylor Adams does a masterful job of telling this unusual tale. It has so many plot twists and turns that oftentimes it feels like it’s doing back flips and cartwheels, tying the reader’s brain in knots trying to predict what will happen next."

While there, Emma indulges in one of her current pastimes --- reading horror stories in e-book form. Jules’ neighbor, Deek, communicates with her solely by messages exchanged through their windows on white boards. During one of their silent conversations, he suggests she read the horror novel Murder Mountain by H. G. Kane, which she does. She thinks it’s terribly written, so she posts a less-than-flattering review of it online and gives it a one-star rating.

It isn’t long before Emma gets a message from Kane himself, asking her to take down the review. She refuses to do so. He continues to badger her, even demanding that she retract the review. She will not budge. Emma has felt strange vibes almost as soon as she stepped inside the house. But since posting the review and hearing from the author, she begins to see and hear things. Are they just figments of her imagination, or are they real? If it’s the latter, are they connected in some weird way to the review? Emma feels like she’s living inside a real-life horror story.

Taylor Adams does a masterful job of telling this unusual tale. It has so many plot twists and turns that oftentimes it feels like it’s doing back flips and cartwheels, tying the reader’s brain in knots trying to predict what will happen next. The story is alternately gory and laugh-out-loud funny (maybe it wasn’t supposed to be, but parts of it did make me laugh). Plus, it’s creative as Adams plays with the idea of having a narrator tell the story.

THE LAST WORD will satisfy mystery fans, lovers of ghastly tales, and those who appreciate novels with plenty of curveballs. Enjoy!