OUR LAST RESORT is a gripping psychological thriller. I thought Frida and Gabriel were both very interesting characters and learning about the cult they were in gave me a good insight into their behaviors. The reveal of their buried secrets was quite surprising and I found the flow between the past and present timelines to be entertaining and easy to follow. I definitely recommend checking this book out!

Many thanks for my gifted copy.
This review will be shared to my Instagram account @coffee.break.book.reviews closer to pub date.

This was my first time reading a book by Clémence Michallon. The premise definitely intrigued me, especially after hearing so much praise for The Quiet Tenant (which I haven’t read yet). But honestly, I’m not sure how I feel.

There were things I enjoyed — the writing, the dual timeline, and the bond between Frida and Gabriel, which had a nice found-family element.

But I was expecting more. I wanted to read a thriller, after all. It didn’t really feel like that to me. I kept waiting for a big twist or something that would surprise me, but it never came. The story ended up feeling pretty predictable.

Overall, it was an okay read — not my favourite.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. <3

I very much enjoyed The Quiet Tenant, so naturally I jumped at the chance to request an ARC of Clémence Michallon's newest novel Our Last Resort. Once again, Clémence delivers the perfect thriller, complete with a creepy cult backstory, family secrets, exotic settings, and a few unexpected twists. I was hooked from the very beginning and absolutely flew through Our Last Resort. A great psychological thriller to kick off the summer!

First of all thank you so much to NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for this eARC.

TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual Assualt/Rape-- please read with care.

In theory this has all of the makings of what I would LOVE as a mystery/suspense novel. Our main characters escaping a cult, being interviewed for a documentary, murder along the way... sign me up! The cult storyline is incredibly interesting. Right from the beginning we are presented with a situation between our cult leader and a child. It is brtual, gasp-worthy even. But then we enter what is, in my opinion, the slow, slow burn of a read, The book maintains a simmer throughout, we never really come to a boil. So, if you are looking for twists, turns, jaw dropping moments, this might not give you what you are looking for.
We follow two timelines from only one of the main characters point of view. This character is obviously the stronger of our two "protagonists". Frida supports her "brother" Gabriel throughout the entire story. We vacilate between having affection for her as a main character to being incredibly frustrated with her decisions. Their bond is unbreakable until the very end.

This was my first book by this author. I did not read The Quiet Tenant. I know that this book has been raved about on Goodreads and Bookstagram. The content of this book is interesting. But the pacing was just not for me. I was not on pins and needles waiting to get back to the read. There were some interesting components, but overall, I just don't think that this was the right book for me.

** I will post my final review on Goodreads after the publication date.**

I was lured in after LOVE LOVE LOVING The Quiet Tenant, this had a completely different vibe and the writing didn't work for me. I wanted to love it but unfortunately this one fell flat for me

I read about 20% and was just kind of bored, I didn't feel like the stakes were high enough and I wasn't particularly invested in this one. The Quiet Tenant was just okay for me, I liked it but was hoping this one would be even better, but it just felt slow to me.

This was a very good crime novel—though I wouldn’t quite call it a thriller. It’s not a high-speed roller coaster ride, but more like peeling back the layers of an onion. Gabriel and Frida’s story is rich, complex, and emotionally raw. What really stood out to me was the author’s subtle writing style. Instead of relying on twists and dramatic turns, the story unfolds naturally, guided by the depth of human emotion and the complexity of our nature.

I found myself deeply connected to the characters, even when they made questionable choices. The way the author breathes life into them—flaws and all—makes it impossible not to stand by them. There’s something haunting and beautiful in the honesty of it all, and I absolutely loved that.

I’m incredibly grateful to Elliott & Thompson and NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nah I'm very disappointed with this book so I dnf it at 63%. First of all I thought it would be a thriller, but I will say that it's more a murder mystery... It took a while to come into the book and when I did I thought it was very slow... Nothing exciting happened at all. I kept reading with a lot of patience but unfortunately I couldn't get through this book.... To boring and to disappointing for me...

I was a big fan of the authors debut, The quiet tenant. That captivated me, I loved the multiple POVs and the writing style. So going into this book I was excited to see what the author was going to do next.

For me, this just didn’t hit the right way. The past vs present timeline was at times confusing and almost like I was reading two different stories. Yes, the cult felt intriguing and interesting to begin with, but I don’t think it was explored enough and therefore, didn’t have the impact I thought it would on the present timeline.

The characters also just weren’t at all likeable for me. Again, the past timeline does help you to understand them and their weird behaviour at times. However, I don’t think it really gave us much more than that.

The overall, murder mystery was okay but again it wasn’t anything mind-blowing and I honestly at points felt quite bored reading this.
I think some people will love this, but it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for a review.

What a wild ride! This thriller had me itching to keep reading. The present day story was fine but the cult flashbacks and all the time leading up to current day really did it for me. While some of it wasn’t hard to guess what was going to happen, it didn’t detract from me wanting to actually find out the truth. I didn’t love The Quiet Tenant but am so glad I gave this a shot! Definitely recommend

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher Elliott & Thompson for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The story revolves around Gabriel and Frida, who, after growing up in a cult, share a childhood trauma that unites them like siblings. Hoping for a relaxing getaway at a desert resort, they unexpectedly find themselves embroiled in a murder investigation.

As a mystery lover, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, particularly the dual timeline that alternates between their time at the resort and their shared past escaping the cult. The narrative captivated me, compelling me to keep reading. Despite a predictable ending, it offered a powerful emotional insight into their complex relationship.

This book fell so flat for me. After loving The Tenant so much I had high hopes. This book is a shockingly quick read but the plot is slow and boring and "twist" had zero shock value.

DNF at 50 pages. Unfortunately Our Last Resort did not work for me. After enjoying this author’s previous work a lot, I was looking forward to reading Our Last Resort. I found it really quite boring and slow. Additionally, I was expecting a thriller, and this turned out to be more of a mystery. I just found myself dragging through the pages, forcing myself to read without enjoying it. Overall, after how exciting and fast paced The Quiet Tenant was, Our Last Resort really let me down.

Thank you to Netgalley and Elliot & Thompson Publishing for the ARC of this book.

Frida and Gabriel grew up as siblings in a cult they eventually escaped from. They’ve been tightly bonded and fiercely loyal ever since, although they’ve grown apart in recent years. When they meet up at the Ara Hotel in Escalante, Utah, they’re hoping to reconnect and renew their relationship. But the desert paradise turns into a nightmare when the wife of a powerful media magnate is found dead. Suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel… because this isn’t the first unusual death that’s happened close to him.

After loving the author’s masterful debut “The Quiet Tenant”, this was a highly anticipated read for me. This book is beautifully written, with a vibe that feels almost literary but still very accessible. If you approach this book as a thriller, you may be disappointed, but if you come at it knowing it’s a slow burn mystery with a lot of backstory about trauma bonded “siblings”, I think it’s more likely to work for you. From that standpoint, I think a lot of readers are going to love this book.

Unfortunately, I am not one of those readers. The dual timelines are well crafted, but neither of them felt fully satisfying to me. The cult timeline doesn’t feel original or delve far enough into the cult’s behaviors and manipulations. The cult leader is very David Koresh coded and the narrative even references Waco specifically. The present timeline at the Ara Hotel isn’t suspenseful enough to be compelling, given that there aren’t many characters and therefore very few potential murder suspects.

Thank you to NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for providing me an advance copy of this book.

I was captivated by this book and stayed up well beyond my bedtime until I finished it. A read in a day book if you are intrigued as I was by the characters, the peculiar cult setting and the enormous friendship which is the main focus of the book. Through all of the twists and turns, it kept me guessing until the last quarter. It was not at all, what I was expecting. The reader did a terrific job at character description and I felt that I knew the characters thoroughly, and was heartened by the eventual ending. I would highly recommend this read.

I love a good cult story, and this one had all the makings of a gripping, layered read. With eerie parallels to David Koresh and a few direct nods to Waco, Michallon leans into the unsettling familiarity of a charismatic, manipulative leader—and in that regard, Emile was crafted so well. The cult elements were strong and grounded in disturbing realism, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

That said, I’m still on the fence about Michallon’s writing style. I had similar feelings when I read The Quiet Tenant—technically solid, but something about the flow doesn’t fully click for me. The prose veers into ethereal and almost frantic territory, especially as the tension rises. While that might work for some readers as a stylistic choice that mimics trauma and confusion, I found it occasionally pulled me out of the story.

The dual timeline structure combined with a narrator who seems unreliable by design adds a sense of disorientation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it just feels a bit too all over the place. I did appreciate the emotional nuance in how survivors of cults were portrayed—the fear, the second-guessing, the ache of trying to rebuild a self after years of manipulation. That part felt raw and real.

Unfortunately, the twist didn’t really land for me. It wasn’t shocking, and while the resolution was fine, I didn’t walk away feeling particularly impacted. Still, I respect the narrator’s tenacity and the way Michallon explored survival, identity, and grief.

Overall, Our Last Resort had a strong concept, but the execution wasn’t quite what I hoped. I gave this one a shot after The Quiet Tenant didn’t fully hit for me—and while it offered some compelling elements, it still fell a bit short of leaving a lasting impression.

Our Last Resort is an absolutely riveting blend of psychological suspense and emotional depth. Clémence Michallon has crafted a thriller that is as much about murder and mystery as it is about memory, trauma, and the bonds that hold us together—or pull us apart.

The novel centers on Frida and Gabriel, once inseparable, now tentative strangers reunited at a luxurious desert retreat in Escalante, Utah. They’ve come to the Ara Hotel looking for healing after years of silence and shared tragedy. But when a young woman—Sabrina, the glamorous wife of a powerful older man—is found dead, paradise quickly unravels into a nightmare.

What makes this story so compelling is how it moves seamlessly between timelines: the eerie, insulated world of a cult where Frida and Gabriel grew up as pseudo-siblings, their harrowing escape and the tabloid scandal that followed, and the chilling present, where Gabriel finds himself the prime suspect in Sabrina’s murder. As the past resurfaces, long-buried secrets start to crack open—and Frida is forced to ask herself whether she ever truly knew the person she’s always defended.

This is a masterclass in slow-burning suspense. The pacing is taut, the character work is rich and believable, and the unraveling of three connected mysteries is handled with impressive finesse. Each revelation is more shocking than the last, and yet it all fits together in a way that feels both inevitable and devastating.

The final chapters had me completely breathless. And the ending—bittersweet, haunting, and deeply human—lingered long after I turned the last page.

A must-read for fans of layered thrillers with heart, Our Last Resort proves Michallon is a rising star in the genre.

The author of The Quiet Tenant strikes again with another gripping mystery. Throw in a cult and a resort out in the middle of a desert, and you have set the scene for some suspense.

Frida and Gabriel are forever bonded by their joint experiences. This dual timeline story gives you the insight into both their childhood and their adult lives. One timeline depicts their early years and coming-of-age traumas in the cult. The second timeline follows their adult journeys that are forever impacted by their past. In this case, it involves murder. At first I found myself questioning the amount of drama that can happen to two people. However, that level of brainwashing and abuse in your early years does make everything plausible. I was invested and eager to see how this all played out.

One thing to note, this story does contain some sexual abuse.

Thank you to Elliott & Thompson for providing an advanced digital copy via NetGalley. These opinions are entirely my own. I'm here for whatever Michallon writes in the future.

(3.5 stars)

This mystery follows two siblings who witness a murder on the resort that they are staying at to reconnect. Their past is mysterious too and we get alternating chapters to their past life and their present. The book was pretty slow moving and I was less intersted in their past stories than their present which was an ongoing investigation. I liked the setting of the resort which was very calming and aesthetic. The book was a slow mystery and not a thriller so expectations should be for a mystery while reading this one.

This one was better than expected.

I'll admit the writing style was a little twee - I really wasn't sure I was going to stick with it at first.

But the cult bits drew me in and the oddness of our MC started to appeal to me.

And while, at first, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot going on plot wise, the author began to pull various strings together and gave us one extremely satisfying secret. I was very, very pleased with that one. I didn't see it coming, but I should have.

I ended the book feeling very satisfied.

* ARC via Publisher