I loved every minute of this book. It was extremely smart and each chapter opened up a new perspective of what the future held for the main character Emma. The ending was superbly done and I plan on purchasing the physical copy.

This book had me from the beginning. I thought i had it figured out and BAM i was sooo wrong. This is a great fast paced book.

👩🏻‍💻𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙴𝚆- 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚃 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳 𝙱𝚈 𝚃𝙰𝚈𝙻𝙾𝚁 𝙰𝙳𝙰𝙼𝚂👩🏻‍💻

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
Format: BOTM, eARC & Audio (Libby)
Narrator: Carlotta Brentan & Jim Meskimen
Length: 340pgs/10hrs
Pub date: April 25, 2023
Publisher: William Morrow/Harper Audio
Genre: Thriller

If we, as honest book reviewers, are doing what we set out to do I think The Last Word exemplifies a collective fear we hold. You write a review (although we would NEVER tag an author) and they set out to seek revenge lest you remove your review. Scary, right? (Don’t worry Taylor I LOVED it! *gulp*)

Synopsis
Emma and her sweet pup Laika (🛑 THE DOG IS OK🛑) are housesitting in a gorgeous but out of the way beach house while she deals with some trauma and grief. As her only forms of entertainment, she plays hangman on the whiteboard with the neighbor across the way and pummels through thrillers and horror novels on her e-reader. When she reads one that she finds overly violent and poorly written she leaves a one-star review on Amazon and goes on. But then, her messages ping…

This was absolutely the most thrilling, pulse racing, intense book I have read in YEARS. I had my arc on my kindle and I had ordered it as the BOTM because I’d already heard such great things, and I borrowed the audio from Libby for the full effect. So, I started out just sitting in bed with the hardback reading while I listened. Then when it started getting 🅸🅽🆃🅴🅽🆂🅴 I moved to the kindle because I had to start moving around, something I NEVER do. And by the end I had to ditch the books all together because I just couldn’t deal and listened while I bit my cuticles. 🤣

I took away a half point because the last few chapters get a little “everything and the kitchen sink-ish” (I REALLY do love it Taylor) but at that point the chaos just works.

Do not miss this one! Available now!

Thank you to Taylor Adams and William Morrow for the early review copy.

A story of survival, persistence, and fighting for your life ... literally.

Every once in a while, I pick up a book to review without reading deep into its premise. Who doesn't like a nice surprise? Oh, it's a thriller, OH, THERE MIGHT BE MURDER. Sure, I'm down. I read more books this way, I just go for it.

I don't tend to gravitate toward any kind of horror, in reading or otherwise, but that doesn't mean I won't read it when it comes across my desk. I really enjoyed The Last Word and its characters however, and the writing and story kept me interested the whole way through!

Highly recommend if you've ever left a negative review on an author's book -- what?

⭐️THE LAST WORD⭐️
rating: 4⭐️
genre: suspense thriller
read this if you liked: No Exit

Emma is house-sitting at a secluded home in Washington and has quickly taken up reading to escape from her life. After finishing a book by H.G. Kane she promptly gave it a one-star review. When the author responds to her review, it’s clear Emma has struck a cord. But when weird things start happening at the Washington home she begins to question if it’s happenstance or if it really could be the author behind it… and are his books truly a work of fiction or is there a bit of truth to them?

If you’re looking for a compulsive, highly binge worthy thriller this is the one! 🗡️ Similar to No Exit, this book will grab you from the very first page! Anyone else still freaked out by rest stops after reading that book?? 👀 Anyway, I always enjoy Taylor Adams books because they’re so unique and you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen, which is hard to find in the thriller world these days! I was glued to the pages and couldn’t get enough of this book. 🫣 There are a few times where you need to suspend belief a bit and where you may find yourself skimming pages (I DIDN’T WANT THE DOG TO GET HURT, OK!) but overall this was a really enjoyable thriller!

Emma is house sitting in a secluded beach town. After leaving a poor review on a book her world is turned upside down. She is now living a nightmare. Will she survive?

I loved this book. It was one of the best books I have read all year. It is fast paced and action packed. You need to read this book!

The Last Word is everything I want in a summer thriller. This book is fast paced, fun, raises your blood pressure and keeps you turning the pages needing to know what happens next. Now, I'm not a huge thriller reader, and this one requires you to suspend disbelief, but if you can do that, you will have a blast.

Emma is housesitting a home for the summer with Laika, the world's best golden retriever, while she lives in insolation working through some grief. One of her coping mechanisms is to read amazon review books. One day she reads a terrible horror novel and leaves a negative review, causing the author to contact her and threaten her into removing the review. When Emma refuses, the author takes matters into his own hands. The action starts almost immediately and I had to know what happened to the point of reading this within 24 hours.

For the animal lovers out there, the dog does not die and there are some trigger warnings for animal harm. I want to be completely transparent that there were tough parts involving Laika to read and if you are sensitive to that at all, please proceed with caution.

All in all a solid summer thriller and so much fun to read.

Taylor. Adam's The Last Word was a disappointing read for me. I have so much respect and admiration for him, and his other books were 4 to 5 stars for me, but I found this story lacking. It wasn't very interesting for me. The ending made it to 3 stars for me only because there was plenty of action and secrets that were revealed but many secrets I had found out on my own.

4 stars

Taylor Adams always leaves me guessing.
This book was great, exactly what I’ve come to expect from him. I did have a few things figured out (but I think that was planed on his part).
This was unputdownable and exciting. I do t think Adams know how to write a bad thriller. I can’t wait for the next.

Taylor Adams sure does know how to write a gripping, edge of your seat book. The concept of this book truly intrigued me, and it was one of my most anticipated reads this year. The first 100 or so pages really had me invested. An author stalking a reader because of a bad review? I was all in, but then the story lost me.

I really struggled with this book as a whole. I can get with unlikeable characters, but Emma for some reason just grated my nerves even in the first few pages. Looking past that, I wanted to see how this cat and mouse game would play out. The more I read, the more confused I became with the narration. I honestly think I’d rather see this in movie or tv form, because a lot of the action in this in my opinion was better fit for on screen. Overall, the irony of me being disappointed in this one is not lost on me. The overall plot is what made me change my rating.

What an absolutely wild ride! I alternated between not being able to put this book down and needing to stop and take a breather. Taylor writes some of the most bonkers thrillers and I am here for it!! Needless to say I won't be leaving a 1 star review anytime soon! And certainly not for The Last Word!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Last Word.

I had to read The Last Word just from the premise alone.

Recently, I've read and heard about vindictive authors striking back at reviewers on social media when readers post negative reviews.

Chill out! Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

What I did like about The Last Word is what Emma brings up that is tried and true in the thriller genre: coincidences are lazy ass writing.

I can't begin to tell you how many thrillers I've read in this year alone (and the year isn't over yet) were based on coincidences and certain characters meeting at the same place at the same time.

On that note, The Last Word relies on certain gimmicks itself.

First, what if Emma didn't bother to write a negative review at all?

How could Deek be sure she would?

Not quite a coincidence but luck. Luck is lazy ass writing, too.

Also, in the real world (not book world), Emma would have packed up her stuff and Laika too and driven to the nearest motel or shelter.

There's plenty of suspense and mama drama, yet the narrative drags due to the background and exposition, and phony book excerpts, which wasn't bad, but still took me out of the story.

Were they necessary? Not really.

This could have been shortened by 50 pages, but then the plot needed more pages to continue on predictably, the twists and turns, and the final showdown.

Another popular trope from these kinds of books besides coincidences: purposely hiding info from the reader.

And the author does this when he doesn't reveal the true reason for Emma's forced isolation and thoughts of self harm until the very end.

I don't call this lazy ass writing; I call this a cheat.

And let's not forget the all familiar cliche; too any twists and revelations.

I liked the ending, because you have to be totally heartless not to appreciate a happy ending, especially after what Emma went through.

This is going to be a top thriller this summer. It created just enough anxious, creepy-crawly feelings to keep me turning pages and shivering (which is a great way to stay cooler in the summer). There are some predictable twists, but just like the main character you'll be second guessing who can be trusted.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬, 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙮—𝙤𝙧 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮, 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨—𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚-𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧.

📍 Read if you like:
• Unputdownable Thrillers
• Twisty Reads
• Eerie/Creepy Atmospheres
• Pulse Pounding Books

After reading No Exit a while ago, I knew I had to read this upcoming book by Taylor Adams. His thrillers are always addicting and heart-pounding. We get twist after twist and I enjoyed this book.

I do recommend going into this book not knowing too much…

I was immediately intrigued by the idea of a writer stalking a reviewer who gave his book a one-star rating. The atmosphere was super creepy. I couldn’t read the book at first in the dark because I was terrified of seeing figures.

There are so many bizarre moments and twists that I didn’t see coming. Sure, some of them were very predictable, but others I didn’t see coming at all.

I buddy read this with a friend and the whole time we were both eerie and anticipating what would come next.

Emma’s character was quite interesting, she was such a courageous character. I also loved Laika, her dog.

This book was action-packed for sure. The ending was also satisfying in a way. I can’t talk about it without going into spoilers, but I thought it was twisty and entertaining.

I had such a fun time buddy reading The Last Word. It was a thrill of a ride and the whole time I was super entertained. It’s definitely worth the read and I can’t wait to see what this author comes out with next.

Thank you so much NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Murder, child death, animal cruelty, suicidal thoughts, infertility, car accident

Dark and Twisty!! Cleverly written from 2 perspectives with isolated bookish themes. Per usual the dog stole the show! Enjoyed every minute of this bending narrative that caught me by surprise - three times!

Riveting cat and mouse tale of psychological suspense about an isolated woman writer seemingly terrorized online by a writer whose work she has criticized.

This is a fun cat and mouse psychological thriller. Fast paced with alot of suspense and twisty action. It is a bit gory at times. Overall an entertaining read with a "happy" ending.

As with all her books this was fast paced and all I can really say is holy wow! You don’t want to miss this one because it will have you on the edge of your seat.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬💭:
No Exit was one of my favorite thrillers last year, so obviously I had to pick this one up! Not gonna lie, the polar opposite reviews discouraged me a bit. However, i was curious enough to see how i’d feel and did not let that deter me.

Thank you to William Morrow Books for my
copy!

𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛📝:
Emma is house sitting in a remote coastal town in Washington. She spends most of her time reading and after finishing a novel she despised, she leaves a 1⭐️ review and finds herself in an argument online with none other than the author. Strange things start to occur and has left her wondering if this is a coincidence, or could this be the author she’d upset.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫/5. This was a spine tingling novel that hits too close to home! As a bookstagrammer who likes writing book reviews, this ought to teach you to be kinder with them😂 I can honestly say that Taylor Adams knows how to write a page turner. A fast paced one at that! Just how i like my thrillers. With dual POVs of the main MC and the serial killer, it was a fun cat and mouse chase that will definitely entertain. At some level though, there was some predictability and highly coincidental and outlandish storylines that raised confusion somewhere in between. Despite the trigger warnings that I didn’t mind, I enjoyed the whole novel and its very intriguing plot. Pick this one up if you’re up for a fast paced entertaining thriller!

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚: 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴

⚠️ 𝙏𝙒𝙨: 𝘈𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺

Emma Carpenter is not a happy camper. She was raised by an alcoholic mother and, for many years, could not forge normal relationships. As an adult, she made terrible mistakes that cost her everything she valued. Now she is house-sitting in a remote location with her golden retriever as company. Soon, she will have the added burden of matching wits with a homicidal maniac.

Let's give Taylor Adams, author of "The Last Word," the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps this is not meant to be a straightforward tale about a lunatic who targets a lonely female victim. In fact, the heroine herself mocks some of the corny plot devices that Adams employs in this novel. It is conceivable that, in spite of all the blood that is spilled, this is supposed to be a satirical take on the outlandish tropes that make certain far-fetched thrillers more silly than scary.

Whatever Adams' intentions were, this story begins intriguingly. We feel bad for Emma, who is so wracked by guilt that she eats very little and rarely speaks to another human being. However, when for pages on end she matches wits with a sadistic predator, the story becomes increasingly repetitious and absurd. Another irksome issue is the withholding of key information in order to spring bizarre surprises on us later on. Be warned that "The Last Word" has numerous disturbing scenes involving psychopathic behavior, animal cruelty, asphyxiation, dismemberment, and suicidal ideation. Adams wraps up this macabre work of fiction with a conclusion that had me shaking my head in disbelief.