A Southern Gothic? That's a new subset of thriller I haven't read before.
I found this to be really well written and entertaining. I think Bailey is talented and does a great job at keeping the reader invested.

Haunting, lyrical, and dripping with Southern gothic atmosphere—Anna Bailey’s Our Last Wild Days completely consumed me.
From the moment I stepped into the sweltering, mosquito-bitten swamps of Jackknife, Louisiana, I was hooked. This is not just a thriller—this is a slow-burn character study, a meditation on guilt, grief, and the messy business of making amends.

The Labasques aren’t like anyone else in this tight-knit, judgmental town. Outcasts who survive off the land by hunting alligators and selling their meat, they’ve always been treated like misfits raised by wolves—feral, feared, and shunned. But when Cutter Labasque is found face-down in the bayou, her supposed suicide barely raises an eyebrow… except from one person: Loyal May, her estranged childhood friend who once betrayed her.

Loyal had escaped this town at eighteen, leaving behind a trail of heartbreak, her eccentric mother, and a version of herself the town refused to accept. She built a life elsewhere, only to return ten years later when her mother, showing early signs of dementia, begins digging up the garden with her bare hands in the middle of the night.

Now back in Jackknife, working a thankless job at the local paper, Loyal is assigned to cover a routine case with a phone-obsessed photographer—only to stumble upon Cutter’s body. The sheriff’s department wants it shut and buried. But Loyal can’t accept that—not with the guilt she carries, not with the gnawing instinct that this wasn’t an accident.

As she tries to reconnect with Cutter’s brothers—one numbed by addiction, the other menacing and unreadable—Loyal becomes entangled in a dangerous web of corruption, old town secrets, and smoldering resentments. Her pursuit of justice may cost her more than her peace—it could cost her her life.

Bailey’s writing is unflinching and atmospheric, painting the oppressive humidity and decay of rural Louisiana with tactile, almost cinematic detail. You feel the rot beneath the surface—of the town, of the politics, and of the people desperately trying to hold themselves together. The characters are deeply flawed, achingly human, and unforgettable. Loyal, in particular, is a brilliant creation—wounded but unyielding, driven by remorse and something close to redemption.

This story crawls under your skin like swamp heat—it’s not fast-paced, but it’s relentless. The mystery unravels in unexpected, quietly devastating ways, and the emotional stakes stay razor-sharp.

✨ Final thoughts:
If you loved Where the Crawdads Sing but wanted something darker, grittier, and more morally complex, Our Last Wild Days will absolutely deliver. This is a heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, stunningly written thriller that explores what it means to be loyal—to your past, to the dead, to your own wounded self.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5 rounded up because the writing deserves it!)

Endless thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

What a great book! Our Last Wild Days is my first from Anna Bailey. Based in Louisiana was the first plus before even reading it. I love Louisiana and she described it wonderfully. So well written and includes my favorite thing in psychological thrillers…Twists and Turns! I was seriously hooked from page one. It pulled me in and didn’t let me go until the very last word. I’m sad I finished it. I definitely recommend this one. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you Atria Books, NetGalley and of course Anna Bailey for this eARC.

Loyal has returned to her hometown in Louisiana. She hasn’t been there for a decade since falling out with her best friend, Cutter. She won’t get to reconcile though, as Cutter’s body is found days after her return.

I will preface this with noting that I was not a huge fan of Where the Truth Lies, but I am always willing to give an author another chance because sometimes it’s just not the book for you at that time. I am so glad that I picked this one up because I loved it. It is dark and atmospheric; you really get the feel for the swamp and the town, but it’s also got a great mystery and plot to it. The characters are all great, especially how there are some bad ass tough characters, who you think may be antagonists, but not all of them are…. I am now a huge fan of alligators and can’t wait to read Bailey’s next book!

“I think if you leave a place, it just gets worse and worse in your head, until you hate to think about it, and I don’t ever want to hate all this.”

Our Last Wild Days comes out 5/20.

This novel wasn’t for me. I think a lot of thrillers these days have become very predictable and lack urgency. I don’t think I will be reading from this certain genre again. I didn’t care for the plot or writing style. I was bored and there is nothing worse than a boring book.

Title: Our Last Wild Days
Author: Anna Bailey
Genre: Mystery/thriller   
Rating: 4 out of 5

 The Labasques aren’t like other families.

Living in a shack out in the swamps, they made do by hunting down alligators and other animals. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers and outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want in your community.

So, when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her mother. When she left town at eighteen years old, she betrayed Cutter. Now with a ragtag group from the local paper where she works, Loyal goes in search of answers, uncovering a web of deceit and corruption that implicates those in town. It may be too late to apologize to Cutter, but Loyal has restitution in mind.

I didn’t like any of these characters except maybe Sasha—and what was up with the staples in his hair? Excellent setting description and worldbuilding here…enough that the small town feel almost made me nauseous. Seriously. A place this tiny and run down is a no for me. I don’t really feel like there was any resolution with the whistling/masks in the woods or the dirty cops, so the ending felt a bit unresolved to me, and Loyal wasn’t likable enough for me to get truly invested in this story.

Anna Bailey is the author of Our Last Wild Days.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 5/24).

I’m always always down for a swampy southern gothic atmospheric setting and Our Last Wild Days nailed that.

I loved reading about The Labasques, the people around them and the shady situations they get themselves in. The story starts as a slow burn but it’s done in an interesting way and the payoff is worth it.

Dewall ended up being one of my favorite characters and I wish we were able to know Cutter better.

Such a good atmospheric mystery - definitely can’t wait to read more by Anna Bailey.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I absolutely loved Anna Bailey's Where the Truth Lies, so I knew that I needed to immediately read their newest novel, OUR LAST WILD DAYS. This book is a slow-burning, atmospheric Southern Gothic mystery that plunges readers into the murky depths of small-town secrets and long-buried betrayals.

When journalist Loyal May returns to her rural Louisiana hometown to care for her ailing mother, she’s quickly pulled into a chilling mystery: the suspicious death of her estranged childhood friend, Cutter Labasque. Determined to seek justice where no one else will, Loyal and a team from the local newspaper begin an investigation that slowly unravels a tangled web of corruption, secrets, and heartbreak.

This novel thrives on its rich setting—the humid, haunting Louisiana bayou practically becomes a character of its own—paired with lyrical and creeping writing. While the slow pace and abundance of characters can sometimes make the plot feel unwieldy, the core of the story remains strong. Fans of Southern Gothic fiction, complex characters, and slow-burn mysteries that simmer with tension until the final reveal will find themselves thoroughly immersed. If you enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing or Chris Whitaker's We Begin at the End or All the Colors of the Dark, you will love OUR LAST WILD DAYS.

The bayou breathes through every page of Bailey's mystery—a living entity that both cradles and threatens the residents of Assumption Parish. I found myself simultaneously drawn to and repelled by this landscape, where murky waters conceal secrets as effectively as the town's inhabitants do. Bailey transforms this bayou backdrop into more than setting; the untamed wilderness becomes both witness and accomplice to the darkness unfolding within its borders.

When journalist Loyal returns to the hometown she swore to abandon, her reluctance is palpable. The slow deterioration of her mother's memory serves as poignant counterpoint to Loyal's own sharp recollections of a place she'd rather forget. Yet Bailey brilliantly harnesses Loyal's professional instincts, turning her investigation into estranged friend Cutter's murder into a journey that blurs personal history with professional pursuit.

The narrative weaves complex themes into the mystery's fabric. Questions of environmental conservation clash with economic realities; drug trafficking networks illuminate the town's desperation; and throughout, guilt seeps like groundwater beneath every interaction. Each revelation feels both shocking and inevitable.

What lingers most hauntingly is how Bailey captures small-town complicity—the silent agreements, the averted gazes, the collective mythology that protects the backcountry’s darker truths. The characters move through this moral wilderness with authentic complexity, leaving footprints in the reader's imagination long after the final page.

For those who savor mysteries where setting becomes substance, "Our Last Wild Days" offers that rare terrain where beauty and menace share the same skin.

Thank you, Atria and NetGalley, for my free ARC book.

This book was a very slow read for me, it kind of felt like feet dragging through mud. I do prefer more dialog, there was a lot of prose. The characters were not well developed and honestly not that likeable. There are parts of the story that are underdeveloped as well. I was able to read to the finish, but it was slow going.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I gave Anna Bailey's debut five stars which is a rarity for me. When I began reading her sophomore book, Our Last Wild Days, I was unimpressed or possibly not interested in the setting. A desolate Louisiana swamp setting where accents were abundant and painful, personalities were of little intrigue, and I couldn't connect to the characters' plight. But little by little, each story won me over, and halfway thru, I was suddenly so immersed in the book, I thought... she's done it again... this is gonna be five stars. By the time I got to the end, it was well above 4.5, so yes, it happened again. Bailey is amazing and slow-burn growth for people where you invest in their personal tragedies and outcome. I wish there were another few chapters to share what happened post the murderer's discovery. Big fan now!

A small town slow burn whodunit that didn’t quite pick up for me, but I appreciated the lyrical descriptions of the setting of the Louisiana Bayou. I felt the humidity in the air, the mosquito itch of the tall grass and swamp waters, transporting me there amongst the locals.

New author for me and she blew me away. Looking forward to reading more of her books. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

"No one hates a women like a man who thinks he owns her."

A dark mystery that started as a slow burn and then completely hooked me in. Loyal has come back to town because her mom is showing troubling behavior - forgetting things, found out wandering at night. Loyal hasn't been back in this town for a while - after she fought with her best friend, was attacked and then did an unforgiveable act. The longer she was gone, the easier it was to not face it and not come back.

But within days of her arrival, her old best friend is discovered floating in the swamp. There's speculation and assumption, there's whispered words like "suicide" and "troubled family." But all Loyal knows is that she let her friend down once, she won't do it again.

This is a very deep, dark look into family, poverty, addiction, and small town rural America. We get a few POV, Loyal, Sasha, Dan and Dewall. All these POV round out the story, giving us a look into what's happening town, out of town, what the police are doing and just how things are tied together when the town is so small, everyone's known each other since elementary school.

And Anna Bailey did an amazing thing - they really made me love these flawed, terrible, human characters. I nearly wept at Cutter's funeral when they were down one. Tears in my eyes as I read about the hand on a jawline. All these little things, the little pieces, made me love this town and feel for those in it. Loyal was an insider who was now on the outside looking in because she'd left. But this story was about all of them, this town that held each other up, protected their own, and failed some in the most fundamental ways. It was a beautiful, horrible, dark story and I loved it.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Received an ARC via NetGalley.

This was VERY good. And it’s one of those stories where it’s not just that I liked it but I think that it’s objectively very good too.

The writing is very vivid and beautiful. The story is beautiful in its own way too. There’s a sadness to it but also hopefulness at the end. I loved the dynamics between the characters. They’re so well developed, you really get a sense of who they are.

The focus isn’t as much on the what happened (though it does wrap in a satisfying way) but more on how people handle the aftermath.

I really can’t say enough good things about it.

5 ⭐️
Expected publication date - May 20, 2025

WHAT I LOVED - The atmospheric, creepy vibe. It takes a lot for me to be truly creeped out, but the figures wearing masks in the woods and the whistling at night was very unsettling to me.

WHAT I LIKED - The slow burn. The current story also had snippets of the characters' pasts, without an overwhelming amount of information thrown out there.

WHAT I DISLIKED - I would have liked to see where everyone was a year or so later, but with that being said, I was not disappointed with the ending.

WOULD I RECOMMEND? Absolutely. If you have ever wanted to feel like you were deep in the swamps of Louisianna, this book will take you there! Take some bug spray! And probably a weapon

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦 Is perfect for readers who enjoy:
- Atmospheric, rural bayou setting with secrets
- Southern gothic novels
- Flawed characters
- Slow burn
- Multiple POV
- Crime fiction/mysterious death
- Corruption/abuse of power

A gorgeously written, emotionally raw story about broken lives and deep secrets in a remote mountain town. The prose is beautiful and melancholic, and the characters linger long after the final page. The pacing is slow, but purposeful. If you’re looking for a quiet, impactful read with themes of identity and loss, this one hits the mark.

4 stars

This is my first book by this author, and I will make it a point to not let it be my last.

The central characters of this novel are named Loyal and Cutter, and if that fact alone also makes you want to read this, you are in the right place. Bailey takes readers right into the belly of the Louisiana swamps - wide jawed predators and all! - and creates an environment that is instantly riveting and unsettling. This was one of those books that I was thinking about often when I wasn't able to be actually reading it.

Loyal and Cutter were best friends, but when they were 18, they parted ways in all the ways. Loyal is back in town for tough personal reasons, and things get harder when Cutter's body is found. While this is immediately determined to be the result of a self-induced situation, those who really know Cutter can't imagine that's possible. Cutter's death also closely precedes another town tragedy, and this pattern fully unsettles the whole community, but no one more so than Loyal.

There is so much to like about this book. The pacing is right, the characters are well drawn, and the sense of place is outstanding. Though there is enough backstory, I found myself wanting to know more about the early connections between the characters. Overall, I loved this read and how much I felt like I was sitting in the characters' world right alongside them (though for obvious reasons, I'm glad that was a feeling and not a reality)! A recommended read for sure!

I mostly loved it! The second half was a little slower than the first but overall very good. It was very atmospheric. The setting was very well described. I would definitely recommend this one.