This is a slow moving mystery about all the disappearances in the town of Cutter’s Pass, North Carolina over the last twenty years. Our protagonist, Abigail, works at a popular inn near the Appalachian where she is forced to once again examine the disappearances when the brother of the most recent missing person comes to investigate. Following the breadcrumbs that are slowly revealed leaves Abigail questioning everything and everyone she thought she knew.

Miranda writes some of the best atmospheric mysteries. I instantly felt transported to Cutter’s Pass and The Passage Inn. I also really enjoyed (for the first three quarters) the slow unraveling of the mystery. Miranda brilliantly formatted this book into different sections that helped steer the direction of the story. Also for how intriguing the mystery was, this is also a story about Abigail and how she fits into the close knit community of Cutter’s Pass. Which was a plus for me since I enjoyed Abigail and watching her trying to fit the pieces she was uncovering together.

Like I mentioned above, I really enjoyed the majority of this mystery. And while I think the resolution of the mystery makes sense I also wanted there to be more. I have no issues with the pacing of this story because I was so immersed in this world that Miranda created. However, everything seems to come together at the same time and doesn’t quite have the payoff I was hoping for. I’m such a lover of mysteries that I rarely feel let down by one since my favorite part is seeing how everything comes together. And this one had too many leftover strings of plot for me to feel fully satisfied.

This leisurely paced mystery won’t be for everyone. But if you are looking for something that will transport you to a beautiful setting with an engaging story than this might be one you want to pick up.

I'm a big fan of Megan Miranda's books and her style of writing, but this one didn't quite do it for me. Centered around the small mountain town of Cutter's Pass and the people who inhabit it, there have been several mysterious disappearances in the past few decades, all having to do with one particular hiking trail. A new person comes to town determined to solve the mystery, and all the secrets the people of Cutter's Pass have struggled to keep under wraps are suddenly at risk of being exposed.

I felt this was a bit more predictable than most of her other books. There were a few surprises, but the major mystery I had figured out from the third chapter. I really wanted to love it, but it just didn't quite satisfy me.

First line: He arrived at night, in the middle of a downpour, the type of conditions more suitable for a disappearance.

Summary: The town of Cutter’s Pass has a dark history. Over the last several decades several people have gone missing. They were last seen leaving this tiny town in North Carolina. The latest disappearance was reporter, Landon West. He was visiting town hoping to shine some light on the mysterious disappearances and maybe find some answers.

Abigail Lovett has spent the last ten years working as the manager of The Passage Inn in Cutter’s Pass. And then Landon West’s brother arrives at the inn asking questions. Abby was here when he disappeared but has few answers to his questions. As she gets more involved in the hunt for answers she starts to learn that digging for answers could be more dangerous than the dark woods where so many have disappeared.

My Thoughts: Megan Miranda always writes a solid thriller. I have fun reading it and it is a quick read. I think my favorite part of this story was the atmosphere. The tiny town with lots of local businesses, dark history and hiking trails to a beautiful waterfall. It sounds like the perfect little vacation spot especially during the hot Kansas days.

And also I loved the idea of the picture of the Fraternity Four. The first to go missing in Cutter’s Pass took a photo just before leaving town. They were walking down the street with no idea what lay ahead for them. I’m not sure why but this made me think of the Dyatlov Pass incident in Russia. If you don’t know the story I recommend watching the Expedition Unknown episodes where they look at the location and evidence surrounding its mystery. Even though it is not connected it reminded me of it and gave me chills as I connected the two stories.

FYI: Death and disappearances.

The Last to Vanish is a slow burn thriller set in a small town in North Carolina near the Appalachian Trail. Over the last 25 years, there have been a number of people who have gone missing from Cutler's Pass without a trace. Most recently, a journalist vanished while investigating the series of disappearances. The journalist's brother then comes to town and starts an investigation of his own. This is a slow burn story that I recommend to all thriller fans.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was an easy read even with the different stories being interwoven throughout the book. I was invested in Abby and was surprised by the outcome. Great read!

I didn't enjoy this one as much as Miranda's previous works. It was hard to get into and I didn't connect with the characters. I really struggled to finish and in the end it was just eh.

This was such a good thriller! It kept me guessing and intrigued the whole time! The characters were likable and well developed. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

I can't tell if it's from lack of sleep, but I could not put it down. I tried. Like I put it away and tried to sleep but 30 minutes later I was up reading it again. Read it in one sitting, if you can. It was twist after twist after twist and I gotta say I didn't guess all of them! That never happens for me. I was so into it, definitely a Megan Miranda fan now for sure!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my fair and honest review.
This title is available now! 🖤 go read it!

Who doesn't love a book about a small town in the mountains of North Carolina, a cozy inn, and drama galore until there's a murder of course.

Abby Lovett loves her job. She is the manager of The Passage Inn. The only fly in the ointment is the fact that one of her guests has disappeared. She's convinced that it is connected to several disappearances' that happened years ago. Abby fights for information and the more she finds out the more she realizes that she is in the middle of all of it.

This book started off a bit slow for me and it took me awhile to get into the thick of it. I feel like the connections to Abby could have been a bit stronger. Still I loved the writing and the setting of a small inn. Megan Miranda continues to put out a great story and I will continue to read whatever she writes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scriber Books for the opportunity to read this book.

This small town holds a lot of mysteries. Everyone knows everyone and has secrets to keep. I love how the story unfolds with each missing person being it's own section. You follow an outsider who took up residence in this town as she tries to figure out what is happening to all the people who went missing in the woods surrounding Cutter's Pass. The author keeps you engaged and guessing.

The premise of this book had me hooked. A beautiful town in the Appalachians that should be known for its idyllic setting but is better known for the disappearances of visitors. The main character, Abby, runs an inn for the many people who still dare to visit. She loves her job but when one of her guests who was investigating goes missing and his brother comes looking for answers, Abby can’t help but start asking questions. This is the first book by this author, I’ve had the privilege to read. I really enjoyed the mystery and the fairly fast pace of questions and answers. The characters seemed to be anyone you would encounter in a small town. I enjoyed this book and it has made the author a must read for me! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I have always enjoyed Megan Miranda’s thrillers, but this one particularly captivated me. From the isolated small town setting, to the suspicious characters and the long standing legend at the heart of the plot, everything was fascinating and kept me from putting this one down. I thoroughly enjoyed it,

Hmmmm, what to say about this book.
I’m not sure if I was just in a reading slump, so didn’t love this story as much or if it just didn’t resonate with me.

I liked the atmosphere of the story and I could tell what Miranda was trying to do, but I did feel as if there were some plot holes at the end.

I don’t think the characters were connected enough. There are lots of secret histories and relationships, but I found the twist more conditioning than revealing.

It was an extremely short book and I feel that the character development suffered as a result. The pace was also pretty slow. I’d say the story was 90% build up and 10% thriller action. This one just didn’t hit home for me, unfortunately.

I always enjoy a good Megan Miranda mystery/psychological thriller. The Last to Vanish was unexpectedly great! The last book I read by her I felt was predictable, so I went into this with some trepidation. It was not warranted! I did not see the twist coming or who the bad guy was until the reveal.

Abigal or Abby from the inn as the townsfolk know her, lives in Cutter's Pass. The town is adjacent to the Appalachian trail and they get a lot of hikers passing through. Abby works at the inn owned by her deceased uncle and his wife. Twenty five years ago a group of four hikers went missing and since then there have been three more mysterious disappearances. To Abby it seems like there is something wrong with the actual town and is sure the people living there are keeping secrets. Of course there are secrets in a smalltown! But Abby also has a secret of her own,

At times the story is a bit slow and I would have liked more background on a few of the other characters. Or maybe told from a second viewpoint. Overall this was a suspenseful mystery that hit the spot for a late summer release. If you have enjoyed Miranda's past works plan to check this one out! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-last-to-vanish.html

Megan Miranda hiked on the Appalachian Trail when she was a child and now lives in North Carolina. The compelling atmosphere of those mountains became the setting for her newest novel The Last to Vanish.

Abby Lovett came to Cutter’s Pass and the Passage Hotel following the death of her mother when she was looking for a purpose for her life. The inn had been built by some relatives, but Abby knew nothing about the notoriety for Cutter’s Pass as the “most dangerous town in North Carolina.” It was so named because over 25 years, several trail hikers have disappeared, including a group of four college friends, nicknamed the Fraternity Four, a woman in 2012, a photographer in 2019, and an investigative journalist just four months ago Abby had met both the photographer and the journalist in her job as manager of the hotel, but she does not become particularly concerned until the brother of the journalist arrives at the hotel looking for information.

It is then that Abby really becomes interested in the mystery and concerned about the role the hotel (or people connected with the hotel) might have had to the disappearances. She finds an important piece of evidence in an unlikely place, and now she is firmly in the mystery. She discovers how little she really knows about the coworkers, people of the community, and even those closest to her. The tension increases until it culminates in a scene worthy of a scary film.

Miranda does a wonderful job creating the setting for the book. The village of Cutter’s Pass, the Appalachian trail that leads from the hotel, and the nearby waterfall are so well described that the reader settles right in, until the sense of foreboding strangles the beauty of the scenery. Here is a lovely description of an Appalachian morning. “In the distance, the fog was lifting off the mountain, like smoke. Wisps of heavy gray still clung to the trees in sections, muting everything. It was my favorite kind of morning, haunting and beautiful.”

Miranda also develops strong characters, although I had occasional trouble remembering who some of them were—particularly people from the village who play smaller roles in the plot.

The plot, itself, is a slow burn. A couple of times I thought I wanted to quit because the story moved so slowly, but I kept getting drawn in until I just couldn’t stop reading. The Kirkus reviewer suggests that “the plot finally loses itself somewhat in a tangle of strained connections.” However that reviewer calls The Last to Vanish a “richly atmospheric thriller.” Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review and mentions that Miranda is “writing at the top of her game.”

I wouldn’t go so far as to give The Last to Vanish five stars, nor would I say that this was my favorite book of the summer. However, it made me want to go on a hiking trip—just not alone!

Here is Megan Miranda’s website and a list of all her books. The Last to Vanish was the first that I had read although, as it turns out, I have two other of her novels on my Kindle, sent from the publisher. I’ve got a lot more reading to do!

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda is a thriller that is written back to front. The things that happened are n the past. Just now, Abby is concerned with them. She’s been at the inn 10 years.; is almost considered a local. Locals don’t talk about the disappearances. The first one, the Fraternity Four, had occurred over 25 years earlier. Not a trace. Or so it seemed. Then, occasionally, people came looking for them. Only a few. They had disappeared as well. Without a trace. Was it the reporter’s brother, Trey, arriving that had her in such a state? Abby had to know. Then she and Trey discovered a flash drive hidden in his room. By his brother? The photos were not right, though. She had been a professional landscape photographer. These didn’t look like her work. There were other hints. Then Georgia, the day clerk, was gone. Not disappeared. She had just . . . left.

Common sense told Abby and the reader, both, that there was a human involved in these disappearances. People didn’t just disappear without a trace. Multiple times. Abby was level-headed, a good character, well-written. She knew there was an explanation, but she was blinded by her relationships with the people in town. Would knowing change anything? She wasn’t sure but she had to find out. It was well-plotted and gripping. Abby was a terrific sleuth and heroine. It held my attention and made me think. Always a good thing.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Last to Vanish by Simon & Schuster, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #simonandschuster #meganmiranda #thelasttovanish

Absolutely fire. This book will take you out of a book slump and bring you on the rollercoaster that is "The Last to Vanish". Definitely scary and thought provoking.

10 years ago Abby Lovett's mom died, leaving her to restart her life somewhere else and to find a purpose. She decides to move to Cutter's Pass, North Carolina and starts working at an Inn. What she soon finds out is that Cutter's Pass has a reputation and it's not a good one. Over the last 25 years, multiple people have gone missing and most recently is a man named Landon West. When Landon's brother Trey shows up, Abby and the other townies know this will mean trouble and stir up things about the investigations that they are trying to leave in the past. Abby has always felt like an outsider and she soon comes to learn that she doesn't know the community and her coworkers as well as she thinks she does. When incriminating evidence shows up in a locker registered under her name, she knows she must take a deep dive into the disappearances and try to find out what exactly happened.
I found this book enjoyable. It was a bit of a slow burn but once it got going, the going was good. I love that everything was wrapped up at the end and there were a few twists. I wish the characters were explored a little more. It felt like the only one we truly got to know was Abigail. I enjoy Megan Miranda's writing style and look forward to any future writing by her.

This book was fantastic! There were so many unexpected twists and turns. I never even had a good idea of how it would play out. I definitely recommend this if you need a fast paced thriller with so many plot twists!

The Last to Vanish, by Megan Miranda, is a mystery/thriller set in a picturesque and quirky mountain vacation town in North Carolina. Miranda creates atmospheric settings that instill that delicious sense of impending doom. She is equally adept at writing characters that are nuanced, likeable, and ultimately flawed. For both of these talents, I hope this book becomes a movie! Pacing, however, is problematic. It takes the entire first half to set up the action. Although the writing is masterful, it was at times painfully slow. At 51 percent, the pace accelerates and the action leaps forward and continues unabated until the very last page. Miranda skillfully pulls all the loose ends together in a series of twisty turns. I was never even close to figuring out the resolution! If you love twisty thrillers and scary mountain small towns, this novel is for you! Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read a digital ARC. I enjoyed it!