She Treads Softly: Last Seen Alive

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Last Seen Alive

Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas
HarperCollins: 6/26/18
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780062843173

Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas is a recommended psychological thriller.

Libby Hall and her husband Jamie both need a vacation. When there is an offer to swap houses with a couple, the Haywoods, they decide to take a chance on it. Libby and Jamie can't believe their luck when instead of a seaside cottage, they have swapped staying in their flat in Bath to stay at a lovely seaside estate in Cornwall. Soon, though, some disquieting discoveries are made and disconcerting events seem to be happening. When Jamie falls ill and then is rushed to the hospital, it marks the beginning of a change in their plans.

After they return to Bath, odd things begin to happen. It seems the Haywoods may have wished them harm. Libby is becoming paranoid, wondering if Jamie is keeping a secret from her, but Libby has some secrets she has been keeping from Jamie. This is just the beginning of the twists and turns that await you.

On the positive side for those who like psychological thrillers there are plenty of revelations and secrets to be revealed in this novel. It opens with a woman killing her husband, so you know something is going to go wrong. The writing is good; Douglas takes care to explore the psychological aspects of her characters, especially Libby's paranoia. She helps the reader gain some sympathy for Libby, as she is still privately grieving over her lost child after a miscarriage, which was caused by a very public heroic act.

Last Seen Alive started out interesting, but then it started to become a bit too unbelievable. And, again, when Libby wouldn't talk about and hadn't told Jamie what happened in Thailand (the novel will tell you) I already sussed out what was going to be the big reveal. What I really wondered was why would anyone leave personal information out and accessible to people they have never met when doing a house swap, especially if you are already generally suspicious and paranoid about people? Any why wouldn't you met these people first? This sort of marked the beginning of some rather forced revelations/twists.

In my final evaluation, Last Seen Alive would be a satisfying vacation read. Certainly it is a decent airplane book that will hold your attention, but you won't cry if you misplace it along the way.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.