Throwback Thursday: The Last to Know by Wendy Corsi Staub

Author: Wendy Corsi Staub
First published in 2006 by Zebra
Re-issued by Harper October 2012

Townsend Heights is the perfect small town. The sort of peaceful, suburban existence Tasha Banks dreamed of living when she left her fast-paced career for full-time motherhood. But now, Tasha's perfect dream is turning into a terrifying nightmare. Someone is targeting women in Townsend Heights -- and not just any women. A serial killer is looking for a particular kind of prey...young, stay-at-home mothers...exactly like Tasha. One by one, Tasha's friends are disappearing, only to die in horrific ways. Suddenly, terror is transforming Townsend Heights into a sinister place of fear and foreboding -- a place where evil lurks behind every corner, hiding behind the mask of a familiar face -- a face that may be the last one Tasha ever sees.

 The Last to Know was actually a pretty good mystery.  I wasn't liking it so much in the beginning because I felt there were too many characters to keep track of and I was having problems following it.  But, eventually, everyone fell into place.  It seems that all of the characters involved have secrets.  The trick is to figure out which ones are relevant to the murders and which ones aren't.  I liked that part of the book because it kept me guessing.  I was pretty sure I had it figured out who the killer was about halfway through, but because of some twists and turns  thrown in, I doubted myself a couple of times.  In the end, I was happy to see I was right.  

The storyline is a little convoluted and I would hate to give anything away.  My only complaint is that the Stay at Home moms came across as extremely whiny.  I'm not sure if this is how the author perceives SAHMs or if she was making a comment on suburbia.  But, I know a lot of SAHMs and they aren't like that. 

I listened to the audio book.  Even though it was 14 discs long, I felt like it went really fast. If you missed this one by Ms. Staub, I definitely recommend it.  Give this throwback a shot!