The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark / Blackstone Audio

Published: August 16, 2022

Summary:

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 tiny 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?

My thoughts:

I absolutely loved Ashley Winstead’s debut thriller, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife and knew I would be reading anything and everything she wrote. I actually read her debut romcom, Fool Me Once, and quite enjoyed it. If Ashley writes it, I’m going to read it! I was thrilled that my IRL picked this one to read last month…it had been on my list since it came out last year but I just never got around to it.

This is an extremely dark and twisted book and I cannot tell you how much I loved it…but I think knowing I was going to be discussing it with my bookclub was incredibly helpful. This book begs to be discussed once you read it, or even as you are reading it. There is so much going on and while I could get into it, I think that would definitely spoil quite a bit of the book, so I’m just going to say I loved both the podcast elements and the cultish elements of this book, and I loved how the book pushed every boundary it could and then some. There are so many trigger warnings, and they are listed right at the beginning of the book. Now, I’m not usually one to mention these as I tend to think they are spoilers themselves, but in this case because of the nature of the book, it is worth mentioning. This book definitely isn’t for everyone, so if you are worried, check them out.

I found this book to be a compulsive read and even though there were tough places to get through, the writing is incredible, the story is powerful, and this book further solidified my love of this author. She is most definitely a must-read author…I would read her grocery list if I could. I love her books and cannot wait to get my hands on her 2023 release, Midnight is the Darkest Hour!!!

Audio thoughts:

Wow…this was amazing on audio…even the hard parts! Alexis Van Aiken did an amazing job with the narration, doing a stellar job bringing this book to life.