Oh boy, this book had big expectations to live up to with a blurb like that and it somehow managed to meet every one of them. The Last Girl is the story of Rachel, a girl who moves to a new school and town after surviving a traumatic home invasion. At her new school she stumbles across a secret club dedicated to watching horror movies and 'making the horror real'. Taking it in turns to pick a victim, the club stages elaborate pranks to get back at people they don't like. A fan of horror, Rachel feels like she's found her people until certain aspects of the pranks start to go too far and remind her of her trauma.
I really really loved this book. Almost every aspect is spot on and delivers exactly what I wanted when I picked this up. The plot feels sort of predictable but it's delivered in such an entertaining way and it makes such good use of the horror tropes that I didn't mind one bit. You find yourself drawn into the mystery and you start second-guessing your assumptions, wondering which horror movie trope the author is going to go with for the reveal. It's very subtle but any of them could work in this way and it adds a clever touch to the mystery aspect.
The characters themselves were great and one of the strongest aspects of this book. I liked how Rachel never had to make any dumb decisions to drive the plot forward, and she felt very grounded in reality as a protagonist. I fell in love with every member of the club in different ways, and I never had any trouble distinguishing them from each other. There is an interesting love triangle of sorts here but it is very downplayed and amounts to romantic tension more than anything explicit. I was uncertain about it at first but I appreciated how it played out in the end and it didn't feel like there was unnecessary romance drama or like it took over the plot.
Two of my favourite characters were actually from outside of the club. Saundra is Rachel's first friend when she starts at the school and she is a happy, gossipy girly-girl. I loved how she wasn't dropped as soon as Rachel joined the club and how she was never implied to be shallow or less important than the club members simply for not sharing their interests. Similarly, Lux is Rachel's bully and the resident mean girl of the school. She receives much less attention and time than Saundra but there are moments where you get to see that she is also a real person with her own stuff going on. I felt all the female characters in this book were very different and all were important in some way, and that was very refreshing to read.
Overall, I strongly recommend this book. There is a lot to offer fans of horror movies here and, while the actual tone and style of the book is a lighter horror than most, there is a strong plot and sense of mystery and tension throughout. It was a lot of fun and I am very excited to see what this author does in the future.
Overall Rating:
.5
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